Fact

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A fact is something that is the case. A fact is the state of affairs reported by a true statement.

Aspects of factuality

As an introduction, the following comprise some basic concepts in the analysis and application of fact:

• discussion: matters of fact ordinarily have application to a particular discussion, hypothesis, issue or dispute involving one or more parties;
• existence: any assertion regarding fact is expected to coincide with a known or knowable circumstance or "state of affairs" contained in the universe;
• evaluation: through observation, investigation, or appeal to consensus, a party to a discussion determines whether or not an assertion indeed coincides with existence, and thus whether a contingent proposition rises to the level of established fact;
• stipulation: some matters of fact may depend upon, or consist of a set of assumptions either expressly or implicitly agreed upon by the parties to a discussion;
• relevance: matters of fact are either material or immaterial to the discussion at hand, and may be stated with varying degrees of precision and particularity; and
• synthesis: the process by which relevant and established facts are combined to form the conclusions necessary to advance a discussion, classify a hypothesis or resolve a dispute.

Fact in philosophy

In philosophy, a "fact" can be defined as something which is the case, ie. the state of affairs reported by a true proposition, or as a proposition or statement that can be demonstrated as true according to the rules of logic or some other formal decision procedure. Generally, the term "fact" is distinguishable from the terms "proposition", "claim", "averment", and "allegation" in that the latter terms (and their synonyms) suggest statements that are not necessarily demonstrably true.

The relationship between non-trivially true statements (i.e. not definitions or tautologies) and facts is one of the provinces of epistemology .

Any non-trivial true statement about reality is necessarily an abstraction composed of a complex of objects and properties or relations. For example, the fact described by the true statement "Paris is the capital city of France" implies that:

• There truly is such a place as Paris;
• There truly is such a place as France;
• There are such things as capital cities;
• France has a government;
• The government of France is legitimate, and has the power to define its capital city;
• The French government has chosen Paris to be the capital.
• There truly is such a thing as a "place" or a "government".

The truth of all of these assertions, if facts themselves, may coincide to create the fact that Paris is the capital of France. Difficulties arise, however, in attempting to identify the constituent parts of negative, modal, disjunctive, or moral facts.

The fact-value distinction

Main article: fact-value distinction

Factual statements are can be distinguished from opinions or falsehoods; they can also be distinguished from values. The fact-value distinction is a concept used to distinguish between arguments which can be claimed through reason alone, and those where rationality is limited to describing a collective opinion. In another formulation, it is the distinction between what is (can be discovered by science, philosophy or reason) and what ought to be (a judgment which can be agreed upon by consensus). The terms positive and normative also express this distinction. Positive statements make the implicit claim to facts (i.e. water is made up of two hydrogen and one oxygen atoms), whereas normative statements make a claim to values or to norms (i.e. water ought to be protected from environmental pollution).

The factual-counterfactual distinction

Main article: counterfactual conditional

Factuality — what has occurred — can also be contrasted with counterfactuality — what could have occurred, but did not. A counterfactual conditional, subjunctive conditional, or remote conditional, is a conditional (or "if-then") statement indicating what would be the case if its antecedent were true. This is to be contrasted with an indicative conditional, which indicates what is (in fact) the case if its antecedent is (in fact) true.

Fact in science

Further information: scientific method and philosophy of science

In science a fact is an objective and verifiable observation, in contrast with a theory, which is an explanation of or interpretation of facts. Scientific facts are believed to be independent from the observer in that no matter which scientist observes a phenomenon, all will reach the same necessary conclusion. Some scholars in the philosophy of science question whether scientific facts are truly objective or are always "theory-laden" to some degree. Thomas Kuhn and others as well pointed out that knowing what facts to measure, and how to measure them, requires the use of some other theory (e.g. age of fossils is based on radiocarbon dating which is justified by reasoning that radioactive decay follows a Poisson process rather than a Bernoulli process). This issue is tagged "the theory-ladenness of observation".

Fact in investigations

In investigations a fact is an item of information that can be verified as either true or false. For example, the statement "the President is standing in the back of the classroom" is a fact because it can be verified as true or false by turning around and looking. In this context, "fact" does not imply truthfulness - only objectivity. If it is subjective (" The President is a snappy dresser") then it is either an opinion or a conclusion and cannot be verified.

Whilst a decision is pending on any matter under consideration by an authoritative body, there may yet arise crucial considerations. An interested party may be severely disadvantaged by misunderstanding the fluidity of the state of affairs.

Fact in law

Matters of fact have various formal definitions under common law jurisdictions.

These include:

• an element required in legal pleadings to demonstrate a cause of action;
• the determinations of the finder of fact after evaluating admissible evidence produced in a trial or hearing;
• a potential ground of reversible error forwarded on appeal in an appellate court; and
• any of various matters subject to investigation by official authority to establish that a crime has been perpetrated.

Fact in psychology

Matters of fact have application in psychology. In this context, "fact" is the personal awareness that proceeds from the routine operation of healthy cognitive function. Unhealthy or maladaptive cognitive function is considered the basis of delusion, characterized by the retention or awareness of "facts" that do not coincide with objective "states of affairs." In this context the term "fact" is more technically described as "false belief."

Retention and internal representation of fact is the role of Declarative memory, which includes both Semantic memory and Episodic memory.

Fact in philosophy

By definition, the very concept of 'fact' is philosophically as subjective as the truth upon which a fact can be said to be based, and indeed the systems within which such a position is held to be true.

Any philosophy with elements of Nihilism, such as the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche may posit the idea that absolute truth may not necessarily exist, and therefore neither may facts. Many philosophers have considered that the notion of 'a fact' is perhaps invalid and everything believed to be fact can be reduced to individual or shared perspectives and opinions.

Note that it is a logical contradiction to state 'there is no such thing as a fact' as a fact, but it is not a logical contradiction to posit something along the lines of 'there is only perspective' as a perspective.

Rhetorical use of the word "fact"

Because more respect is generally accorded to facts than opinions, people may describe their opinions, based on personal experience, as "fact" even though they have not been evaluated or verified beyond the limits of individual perception. Such "facts" would be better described as beliefs, or strongly held convictions.

See also

• De facto
• Reality
• State of affairs
• Truth