A fact is a true datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance.[1] Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by experiments or other means.
For example, "This sentence contains words." accurately describes a linguistic fact, and "The sun is a star" accurately describes an astronomical fact. Further, "Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States" and "Abraham Lincoln was assassinated" both accurately describe historical facts. Generally speaking, facts are independent of belief and of knowledge and opinion.
Facts are different from inferences, theories, values, and objects.[2]
- ^ "Definition of fact | Dictionary.com". www.dictionary.com. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
- ^ Mulligan, Kevin; Correia, Fabrice (2021), "Facts", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2021 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 18 November 2022,
Facts, philosophers like to say, are opposed to theories and to values (cf. Rundle 1993) and are to be distinguished from things, in particular from complex objects, complexes and wholes, and from relations.