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The definition of a scientific fact is different from the definition of fact, as it implies knowledge. A scientific fact is the result of a repeatable careful observation or measurement by experimentation or other means, also called empirical evidence. These are central to building scientific theories.
The fact–value distinction is also closely related to the moralistic fallacy, an invalid inference of factual conclusions from purely evaluative premises. For example, an invalid inference "Because everybody ought to be equal, there are no innate genetic differences between people" is an instance of the moralistic fallacy.
Facts, also known as states of affairs, are complex entities; for example, the fact that the Earth is a planet consists of the particular object the Earth and the property being a planet. Fact ontologies state that facts are the fundamental constituents of reality, meaning that objects, properties, and relations cannot exist on their own and ...
In contemporary philosophy, a brute fact is a fact that cannot be explained in terms of a deeper, more "fundamental" fact. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] There are two main ways to explain something: say what "brought it about", or describe it at a more "fundamental" level.
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A scientific theory differs from a scientific fact or scientific law in that a theory seeks to explain "why" or "how", whereas a fact is a simple, basic observation and a law is an empirical description of a relationship between facts and/or other laws. For example, Newton's Law of Gravity is a mathematical equation that can be used to predict ...
[14] [15] Fact is also used in a wider sense to mean any theory for which there is overwhelming evidence. [16] According to Douglas J. Futuyma, [6] A fact is a hypothesis that is so firmly supported by evidence that we assume it is true, and act as if it were true. In the sense that evolution is overwhelmingly validated by the evidence, it is a ...
For Marcel Mauss, Durkheim's nephew and sometime collaborator, a total social fact (French fait social total) is "an activity that has implications throughout society, in the economic, legal, political, and religious spheres." [8] Diverse strands of social and psychological life are woven together through what he came to call total social facts.