what is a fact?

Question

People here insist that we don't pawn off theories as facts. Well, what is a fact? We can't know anything with 100% certainty. Is the theory of relativity not a fact? If so, then what criterion makes something a fact?

Answer 1

Dinosaurs existed = theory!!!?

What planet do these bible bashers come from?

Answer 2

You are touching a very important point here. The scientific view of things sometimes gets.. how to say it? .. stuck on itself. A lot of times we forget that X is a theory, and there is some supporting data, which enables us to use that theory to predict some behavior, or model it, but that doesn't make the theory truth.
A typical example given in early economic courses is the pool game. We can have the theory that the pool player is a physics genius that calculates every shot based on Newtonian physics, and if you use the data gathered in a game, and the player is good enough, you could in the future predict some of his moves based on some physic calculations, but the player just plays from experience.
Another example: gravitation could have been explained by Newtonian physics, but now Einstein's relativity explains it better and adjusts to data better, so now, we can tell that that theory wasn't as accurate, but before Einstein, a lot of scientists assume they had discovered 'how the world worked'.
An that given that physics, considering that is based in mathematics, its much more exact than other sciences. Medicine for example, in most cases has to do a statistical study to figure out if factor X has anything to do with reaction Y. And even with great statistical math, those can't never be 100% reliable.
So a lot of the scientific knowledge we have as a society is just based in a set of assumptions that may or may not be real, they just happen to do a good job in explaining certain aspects of reality.

Answer 3

Fact: Information verified by direct or indirect observation and supported by evidence. Theory: Facts that account for evidence about a natural process.

It's impossible to know or disprove something 100%. But that doesn't make it a good reason to believe in things for which no evidence exists (santa clause, underwear gnomes, invisible gods, etc).

Though sometimes I think there is real evidence for the underwear gnomes.

Answer 4

A theory is only the most accepted knowledge at the moment. Most of what we claim to "know" are just theories. A fact is true and that's a fact!

Answer 5

A fact is something that can be done, or was done. Usually, theories are proven as facts after you can do (and usually, redo over and over) what the theory states.

Relativity is not a fact. Can you prove it since we can't travel to the speed of light?

Answer 6

A fact is something with a truth value which is mind-independent. For example, the existence of the planet Mars is a fact because the truth value of the statement "Mars exists" does not depend on who is considering the statement - It is true, even if person X mistakenly thinks it's false.

Contrast this with opinions, which are mind-dependent - e.g. the truth value of the statements "Pizza is delicious" or "abortion is immoral" depends on the subjective values of the person considering the statements, so they may be true for one person and false for another.

Answer 7

a fact is when a group of people agree to agree.

someone claims here that they are a woman...if we all agree on what makes someone/something a woman, then that thing/person becomes a woman...until overwhelming opinion says she's a turnip or something else. (transexual comes to mind...a woman by any other name?)

it was a fact that susan smith was a tragic mother whose kids were murdered by an unknown black man. she was worthy of a world-wide outpouring of love and sympathy. then our "facts" showed her to be a merciless murderer.

your mother and possibly other family members know for a fact that you were the cutest baby in your neck of the woods. the rest of us, upon review of the factual evidence of your early photos, determine that it is a fact that you are the spawn of e.t.

pro-choice advocates say it is a fact that an embryo is not a human being, while their adversaries hold to the fact that life begins at conception...

Answer 8

fact: 1 + 1 = 2.
theory = dinosaurs existed

Answer 9

Hi, Robert it is a fact that i am very tired and i need to go to bed before i drop. Now this is a true fact.

poppy1

Answer 10

Well it is a fact that I am female so fact is whatever is true not false is fact. Proven truth is fact.

Answer 11

Physical proof helps. That's why to this day, no religion can prove that there is a man living in a cloud.