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(1)Whatisthedifferencebetweentruthandfact?Quora

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TonyMiller,SoftwareDeveloper
5.9kViewsTonyisaMostViewedWriterinEpistemology.
OriginallyAnswered:Whatisthedifferencebetweentruthandfact?

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Truthisapropositionthatistrue(how'sthatforcircular,butusuallymeaningthe
propositionaccordswithreality),independentofopinionorourabilitytoknowthattruth.
Factisastatementofourknowledgeaboutthetruthvalueofsomeproposition,andwe're
assertingthatwehaveahighdegreeofconfidenceinourknowledge.

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Epistemologyissuchagiant,uglyrathole.

Whatisthedifferencebetweenfactandreality?

Thefundamentalproblemisthatourbrainsareenginesofdiscernmentthatworkonfairly
Bayesianlikeprinciples(atleasttoalargeextent,notnecessarilyeverybitofthem),
gearedtowardssurvival.Thishasprovenverysuccessful(overlargegroups,atthe
expenseofmuchindividualsuffering),atallowingorganismstosurvivebymeetingtheir
basicneedsoffoodanddangeravoidance.Wereallyonlyoperateonthehumanscaleof
thingsandwe'realmosttotallyignorantaboutavastarrayofphenomenaatsmallerand
largerscalesandtimeframes.Becauseitservedsurvivalfunctionswehavethisabilityto
formabstractions.Onagoodday,ifwe'reextremelycareful,itseemslikewecangetpretty
closetoknowingsomeTruthsabouttherealityinwhichwefindourselvesinalotofcases
however,we'reacompletemess.
Ialsothinktherearedifferentkindsoftruths,propositionsthatrelatetorealityareone
type,andpropositionsthatrelatetosomeabstractaxiomaticsystemareanother.Non
Euclideangeometryisonesuchexample(ormaybeitisEuclideangeometrythatis
unhingedfromreality:).Propositionswithinsomeaxiomaticsystem(internalcriteria)are
onlyrelativelytrueorfalse,butpropositionsaboutrealityseemtobeadifferentsort
becausethereisanexternalcriteriaagainstwhichtomeasurethem(theproblemisthat,
thatexternalcriteriaisonlyaccessiblethroughoursenses).

Whatisthedifferencebetweenamatterofopinion
andamatteroffact?
What'sthedifferencebetweentruthandreality?
Whatistherelationshipbetweentruthandcynicism?
Whatisthedifferencebetweenknowledgeandtruth?
Whatisthedifferencebetweentruthsandbeliefs?
Areallfactstrue?CanIhavemytruthwhichis
differentfromyours?
MoreRelatedQuestions

Onareallygoodday,youraxiomaticsystemalignswellwithrealityandyoucanmake
inferencesbetweenthembutthoseinferencesgettestedagainstrealitybeforetheyare
acceptedasvalid.
Truthineithercontextshouldbeindependentofourknowledgeoropinionofthattruth.
Butaxiomatictruthsrequirethecreationofsomearbitrarymeasuringstickagainstwhich
wemeasurethattruth.
Andwhatof"truths"like"thistableissolid"?Well,yes,itis...tome.Butitisn't"solid",it
isacloudofquantuminteractionsthatmakeitappearsolid.Sosolidfrom100yearsago
isfalse,but"solid"inthefullerunderstandingofphysicswehavetodayistrue...butwhat
ifthatunderstandingismisleadingaswell?Becausewelackaperfectknowledgeof
physics,allsuchstatementsareprovisional.
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Fact,ontheotherhand,ismoreofastatementofourknowledgeaboutsomepossible
truthasbeingindisputably(notabsolutely,buttoahighdegree)true.
Fortunately,thereareverybroadswathesofrealitythatIthinkrestonprettysolid(thereis
thatwordagain)groundsasbeingfacts,soit'snotlikewe'recompletelyignorantofallof
realityandhopelesslylostinaseaofsolipsism.
Theadvancementofscienceinthecontrolofmaterialsisstrongevidencethatour
knowledgeaboutreality,howeverimperfect,isimproving.

Oneoftheinterestingthingsabouthumancognitionisthatwehavemeaningful
exchangeswithotherhumanswhennobodyreallyexactlyagreesontheexactmeaningsof
termsorthetruthvalueofstatements.Mostpeoplecannotevendefinemostofthewords
theyusetheyjust"know"whattheymeantothemandtheirbraingeneratesthesyntax
subconsciously.Butit'sthisamazinglyfuzzyprocess.
Icansay"it'shotoutside"andyoucansay"let'sgetacolddrink".Hotandcoldare
entirelyrelativeandIcouldbehotwhenthepersonRIGHTnexttomeiscoldbutwe
havethisvagueideaofwhatitmeansto"behot"soweknowwhattheotherpersonmeans
withoutknowinganyexactdetails.
Weoperateinthisveryvaguespaceofpseudomeaningconstantlyandwedon'tevenbat
aneyeuntilthereisclearevidenceofamiscommunication.
Written21Apr2012ViewUpvotes
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KirkMcDermid,Philosophyprofessor.AoSPhilosophyofScience,Epistemology
1.2kViews

Factsarethingsstatesof(partsof)theworld.Truthisapropertyofclaimsaboutthe
world.(SeeFacts(StanfordEncyclopediaofPhilosophy) )
So:itisafactthattheEarthisthethirdplanetfromtheSun.(Thisisanelementofthe
actualstateoftheworld.)"TheEarthisthethirdplanetfromtheSun",asaclaimabout
ourworld,istrue.Truthonly'attaches'toclaimsfactscan'tbe'true'(orfalse),theyjust
'are'.Thisexplainswhyyoucan'thave"falsefacts",butcanhavefalseclaimsaboutthe
"facticity"ofsomething."TheEarthisthefourthplanetfromtheSun"isfalse,asaclaim
(abouttheworld,abouttheexistenceofafact.)Thereisnofactthatcorrespondstothat
claim(hence,thereasonit'safalseclaim.)
Factsare"truthmakers"ofclaims(onthetraditional"TheCorrespondenceTheoryof
Truth ")theyaretheobjectsintheworldthatmakeclaimstrue(orfalse,iftheydon't
exist.)
Written25Apr2014ViewUpvotes
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QuinnRusnell,liveseveryday
389ViewsQuinnisaMostViewedWriterinEpistemology.

Inordinaryusage,"truth"and"fact"areofteninterchangeable.Forexample,ifItellyou
somethingyoualreadyknowlike"trafficisgettingunbearableinthiscity",youmight
respondeither"that'sthetruth","that'strue",or"that'safact".Inphilosophy,however,
truthisavalueassignedtoaproposition,whileafactisatruepropositionlike"Socrates
isaman".Thatmeansthatalltruepropositionsarefacts,andallfactsaretrue
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propositions.
Buttruthcanalsobeassignedtopredicateslike"isaman",subjectslike"Socrates",
prepositionalphraseslike"withahat",andwhateverbasevariablesareallowedinthe
logic.Wecancallthesestructurewhichcanbeassignedvalueswellformedformulae(wff
forshort)inthesystem.Notallwffare"facts"sincenotallwffarepropositions.In
propositionallogic,therereallyisn'tanysignificantdifferencebecauseallwffare
propositions.Sowemightsaythatifthewffistrue,itisalsoafact.Thereissomequestion,
however,whetheranalyticallytruepropositions(propositionswhicharetrueontheirown
suchas"SocratesisSocrates")canbefacts,orwhetherafactmustbeasyntheticallytrue
propositions(propositionswhicharetruebasedonsomethingelse,usuallyempirically
verifiableobservationsuchas"It'srainingtoday").
Truthhassomespecialformallogicalpropertiesdependingonthelogicinwhich
functions,anddiffersfromothervalueswhichmightbeassignedsuchasfalse.For
example,truevaluesareusuallypreservedininferences,meaningthatiftheantecedentof
theinferenceistrue,thenitsconsequentcannotbenottrue.Falsevaluesarenotpreserved
inthisway,meaningthatiftheantecedentofaninferenceisfalse,itsconsequentmightbe
notfalse.Soforanynumberofvalues,everyvaluecanbeinterpretedaseitherpreservedor
notpreservedthroughanoperationsuchasinferenceinthatsystem.Multivaluesystems
whichcontainatleastonepreservedvaluearesometimescalledpreservationallogics.
TheyhavetheadvantageofpreservingBooleaninferencewithoutcomitingtothelawof
noncontradiction,makingthemusefulforparaconsistentapplicationslikeinductive
reasoningwhereincompleteinformationcanleadtoclassicallycontradictoryconclusions.
Preservationisttheoriesoftruthclaimthatpreservationisbothnecessaryandsufficientfor
assigningtruth.
Exactlyhowtruthisassigned,andwhatontologicalstatusitisgiven,dependsonthe
systeminwhichitfunctionsandtheinterpretationofthevaluesofthesystem.Typically,
valuesareinterpretedsemantically.Sowhilewecanformallyassignthevalues0and1toa
wellformedformulainbooleanlogic,thesemanticinterpretationof0asfalseand1astrue
ismadeoutsidethesystem.Weusuallycallthisthemetalanguageforthesystem,and
oftenthat'swheremetaproofsaboutthesystemaremade,forexample,forcompleteness
andconsistency.
Partoftheinterpretationoftruthdependsonone'struththeory.Truththeoryisatthe
coreofphilosophysinceithasapplicationforeveryfield.It'salsohighlydebatedand
manydifferenttheorieshavebeenproposed.Themostpopulartheoriesinclude:
1. Correspondencetheory.Correspondencetheoryusuallysaysthatawffistrueifit
correspondsintherightwaywiththeworld.Sometimes,moreloosely,itissaid
thatapropositionismadetruebyfacts.Inpractice,awffisverifiedorits
negationisfalsifiedbydirectobservationorindirectreasoningfromobservations.
Inacorrespondencetheoryoftruth,existenceandtrutharenearlybutnotquite
identical.Justliketwophenomenamighthaveastrongcorrelation,truthand
factscorrelate.Thiswasthetheoryfavouredbyearlylogicalpositivists,butitgoes
atleastasfarbackasPlato.Theprimaryissuehttps://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Co...
2. Coherencetheory.Coherencetheorypositsthattruthissomethingcontingenton
adomain.Apropositionistrue,forexample,onlywithinasetofpropositions.A
theoremofsomeaxiomaticlogicistrue,forexample,becauseitisderivablefrom
therulesofthelogicanditsaxioms.Truth,then,isasharedvaluewhichmakes
allthesentenceswhicharetruetrue.Onecouldthinkofcoherencetheoryas
statingthattruthisaninternalpropertyofasystem,notsomethingexternalto
thesystemaswithcorrespondencetheory.Thosewhofavourpossibleworld
semanticsusuallyalsofavouracoherencetheoryoftruth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co...
3. Identitytheory.Similartocorrespondencetheory,identitytheorystatesthattruth
andfactsarethesamething,withnointermediaryrelation.Identitytheoryis
mostcommonlyusedincontemporaryphysicalisttheoriesinphilosophyofmind,
suchasthoseofDanielDennett,whichstatethatthemindisidenticalwiththe
brain(notcaused,correlated,correspondent,supervening,emergent,orsome
intermediaryrelation).
http://plato.stanford.edu/entrie...
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4. Pragmatictheory.Pragmatictheoriesoftruthclaimthattruthdependsonwhat
weretryingtouseitfor.Whatsitsvalueandfunction,orapplication?Truthis
notsomethinginandofitself,anditdoesntexistintherealworldapartfromthe
cognitiveandlinguisticsystemsweusethemin.Thevalueoftruthinasystem
dependsonhowwellitappliestowhatthesystemismeanttodo.Usuallythe
functionproposedisasemanticonesimilartocoherencetheory.Somethingis
truewhenitsuccessfullyrefers,whethertosomefictionalentityorsome
observableone.Factsarethosewhichsuccessfulrefertotheobservableones.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pr...

Inadditiontothetheory,thedomainmattersaswell.Onecouldclaimthattruthappliesto
onlyonedomain,andsoonestheoryoftruthappliestothatdomain.Oronecould
distinguishbetweendomainsthenotionoftruthisusedin,andapplydifferenttheoriesto
differentdomains.Onemightarguethattruthisjustasemanticvalue,andthereforeonly
dependentonthesemanticdomaininwhichthewffistrue.Butonemightusethe
pragmatictheorytocoverthereferenceandthecoherencetheorytocoverthereferent.
Theresalsoamessyrelationshipwithexistence,andonewhichdoesnthelptoclearly
demarcatetruthfromfacts.Inpredicatelogic,truthisofteninterpretedasexistence,
meaningthatapredicateistrueifandonlyifitcanbepredicatedofatleastonesubject.
"Socratesisaman"istruebecauseSocratesexistsandbeingamancanbecorrectly
attributedtoSocrates.Itgetstricky,however,ifyouconsiderexistencetobesomething
otherthansemantic.Normallywethinkofexistenceassomethingwhichistrueabout
somethingwhetherornotanythingispredicatedofit.Something'sexistencedoesnot
meananythinginandofitself.However,whenwepredicatesomethingofafictionalentity,
suchas"Zeusisaman",wewanttosomehowsaythatsuchaspredicateisnottrue
because"Zeusisnotaman"istrue,notbecauseZeusdoesnotexist.Sothisisacasewhere
eitherweassigntruthapartfromexistence,weunderstandexistenceasdependentona
semanticdomain(ratherthanbeingdependenttheactualworld),orwedistinguish
betweentruthandfactsuchthattruthispredicatedbyexistenceinasemanticdomain
whilefactsaresyntheticpropositionspredicatedbyexistenceintherealworld,however
weinterpretthat.
Sowhiletruthisavalueattributedtoawffinadomain,factsaretruewffs,orthe
successfulreferenceoractualreferentsoftruewffs,madetruebysomerelationtotheir
existenceinthespecificdomainoftheactualworld.Boththerelationoftruthtofacts,as
wellastheexactdelineationoftheactualorrealworldremainproblematicinphilosophy.
Thedistinctionisimportanthowever,notjustforattributingtruthtofictional,butalso
attributingittothenegationofcounterfactuals.Ascientifichypothesis,forexample,
mightassumeacounterfactualinordertodisproveit,indirectlyprovingitshypothesis.
OnethingIhopetohaveshownisthattheactualdistinctionbetweentruthandfactsis
verymessyandcontested.Sonexttimesomeonetellsyousomething,asamatteroffact,
youcanaskthemwhattheymeanbyfacts.Moreoftenthannotit'sarhetoricaltechnique
totrytoconvinceyouthatwhattheysaidisobviouslytrueandneedsnofurther
investigation.
Additionalreferencesandfurtherreading:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entrie...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth
https://explorable.com/truthand...
http://www.iep.utm.edu/plurtru/
Written26SepViewUpvotesAskedtoanswerbyAnonymous
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GavinJensen,Profession:Designer.Hobby:philosophy.
1.2kViews

Fact=trueproposition.
True=thestateofcorrespondingtoreality.
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Itisredundanttosaythatsuchandsuchisa"truefact".Atruefactisjustafact.There
aren'tanyfalsefacts.
Soweareessentiallysayingthesamethingwhenwesay,"proposition(X)istrue"and
"proposition(X)isafact.Thefirststatementmeansthatstatement(X)correspondsto
reality.Thesecondstatementmeansthatproposition(X)isapropositionthatistrue
(meaningitcorrespondstoreality).
Theconceptsoftruthandfactassumethatthereisarealityindependentfromany
observer.Thereforeboth'truth'and'fact'refertowhatisobjective.Theword'objective'
referstothatwhichisthesameforeveryoneasopposedto'subjective'whichreferstothat
whichisdifferentfrompersontoperson.
Itiscontradictorytosay,"suchandsuchistrueforme,butnottrueforyou."Why?
Becausetheconceptoftruthassumesandindependentrealitythatisthesamefor
everyone,buttosaythattruthdiffersfrompersontopersonmeansthatthereisnotan
independentrealitythatisthesameforeveryone.Therefore,thatnotionisselfrefuting.
Written20Aug2012ViewUpvotes
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PaulKing,ComputationalNeuroscientist,SoftwareEntrepreneur
7.2kViewsPaulhas40+answersinPhilosophy.
PaulisaMostViewedWriterinEpistemology.

Afactisastablepieceofinformationabouttheworld"stable"inthesensethatthe
informationdoesn'tchangeaccordingtopointofvieworotherunrelatedcircumstances.
Truthisanabstractconceptrelatingtologicandbelief.Tosaythatsomethingis"true"
maysaymoreabouthowwetreattheinformationwerelyonitthananyintrinsic
propertyoftheinformation.
Updated2May2013ViewUpvotesAskedtoanswerbyShubhamTandon
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