I'm not sure "fact" is the right concept or at least how the word has come to be used in common parlance. I've been home all day, and thus spending too much time posting here, and everything I've griped about comes down to the rejection of Realism. Take the dictionary definition of "fact":
Knowledge or information based on real occurrences.
Something demonstrated to exist or known to have existed.
A real occurrence; an event.
Notice the trend: "real", "demonstrated", "real". Realism supports the existence of universals, numbers, and propositions. These three are "mind independent." Universals being things like a circle; there is no need for a human mind to exist for a circle to exist. Numbers being things like the number seven; there is no need for human mind to exist for the number seven to exist. And finally propositions being things like "trees are green"; require not human mind to exist for the proposition to be true.
Ok, why all this crap? Because if you're not a realist you wind up being some sort of nominalist. And that is the sort of person that says: "some women have penises and some men have babies." Such statements used to be confined to defenders of Realism given as a hyperbolic example of nominalism, but now it's part of our public discourse.
Well you said that better than I could. I guess I’m a realist because women don’t have penises. I guess I should’ve said it seemed to be accepted logic.
I'm not sure "fact" is the right concept or at least how the word has come to be used in common parlance. I've been home all day, and thus spending too much time posting here, and everything I've griped about comes down to the rejection of Realism. Take the dictionary definition of "fact":
Notice the trend: "real", "demonstrated", "real". Realism supports the existence of universals, numbers, and propositions. These three are "mind independent." Universals being things like a circle; there is no need for a human mind to exist for a circle to exist. Numbers being things like the number seven; there is no need for human mind to exist for the number seven to exist. And finally propositions being things like "trees are green"; require not human mind to exist for the proposition to be true.
Ok, why all this crap? Because if you're not a realist you wind up being some sort of nominalist. And that is the sort of person that says: "some women have penises and some men have babies." Such statements used to be confined to defenders of Realism given as a hyperbolic example of nominalism, but now it's part of our public discourse.
Well you said that better than I could. I guess I’m a realist because women don’t have penises. I guess I should’ve said it seemed to be accepted logic.
Observable reality, fundament truth