We're not really helping, are we ogged? Fontana, who besides Wittgenstein comes to mind? I suppose you could go to Searle and 'brute' vs. 'linguistic' fact...
A statement with a truth-functional value? is closest to the mark. What I'm really after is that little bundle of metaphysical/epistemological/linguistic accounts that philosophers have used to describe "what is the case." Crudest example: a "fact" is something we can see.
Hello! I need to reach you (or somebody responsible for this blog) regarding permission to quote from the blog in a book. I'm serious. I've been all over your blog and cannot find an email link, so I'm bothering you in the comments. Please email to maha@mahablog.com.
A fact is that which has been (or can be) observed and/or measured. That which has been (or can be) observed is of either an empirical nature or of opinion based on past experience. Fact has the presumption of reproducibility.
I remember hearing Bob Brandom insist at a talk, to general incredulousness, that "a fact is just a true claim." This seemed to be his considered view. In 1990. I don't have _Making It Boblicit_ on my desk at the moment, but I imagine he repeats the claim there. And if it's true that that's what a fact is, you'll have an example of a fact right there -- I mean, in the claim itself.
We're not really helping, are we ogged? Fontana, who besides Wittgenstein comes to mind? I suppose you could go to Searle and 'brute' vs. 'linguistic' fact...
Posted by baa | Link to this comment | 05- 3-04 11:26 AM
They don't have to say "fact." I thought you'd be all over the Hegel, baa.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 05- 3-04 11:28 AM
I think I've misunderstood: what exactly are you looking for defintions of? Reality? A statement with a truth-functional value?
Posted by baa | Link to this comment | 05- 3-04 11:53 AM
A statement with a truth-functional value? is closest to the mark. What I'm really after is that little bundle of metaphysical/epistemological/linguistic accounts that philosophers have used to describe "what is the case." Crudest example: a "fact" is something we can see.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 05- 3-04 12:04 PM
Hello! I need to reach you (or somebody responsible for this blog) regarding permission to quote from the blog in a book. I'm serious. I've been all over your blog and cannot find an email link, so I'm bothering you in the comments. Please email to maha@mahablog.com.
Posted by maha | Link to this comment | 05- 3-04 1:20 PM
A fact is that which has been (or can be) observed and/or measured. That which has been (or can be) observed is of either an empirical nature or of opinion based on past experience. Fact has the presumption of reproducibility.
Posted by SK | Link to this comment | 05- 3-04 2:42 PM
Ok SK, that's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for, but it needs to be attached to a particular philosopher.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 05- 3-04 2:44 PM
The Baconian Method by Francis Bacon
Posted by SK | Link to this comment | 05- 3-04 2:48 PM
Excellent. Thank you.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 05- 3-04 2:49 PM
I remember hearing Bob Brandom insist at a talk, to general incredulousness, that "a fact is just a true claim." This seemed to be his considered view. In 1990. I don't have _Making It Boblicit_ on my desk at the moment, but I imagine he repeats the claim there. And if it's true that that's what a fact is, you'll have an example of a fact right there -- I mean, in the claim itself.
Posted by Ted H. | Link to this comment | 05- 3-04 10:05 PM
[redacted]
Posted by [redacted] | Link to this comment | 05- 4-04 8:55 AM
There's Alasdair MacIntyre (After Virtue): "belief in [facts] is one with belief in witches and in unicorns."
Posted by à gauche | Link to this comment | 05- 5-04 8:22 AM