Facts and Opinions

A fact is a specific detail that can be proven as true based on OBJECTIVE evidence.
An opinion is a feeling, judgment, belief, or conclusion that cannot be proven true by objective evidence.
Objective proof can be one or more of the following: physical evidence, an eyewitness account, or the
result of an accepted scientific method.

Fact Opinion
Objective Subjective
States reality Interprets reality
Can be verified Can NOT be verified
Presented with unbiased words Presented with value words

“Spinach is a form of iron.” “Spinach tastes awful.”

Biased Words
What are the two (2) divisions of opinion?
awful favorite
amazing frightful
better fun
best horrible
bad miserable
Opinion
beautiful never
believe probably
disgusting think
exciting smart

Belief Illusion

Beliefs
*Beliefs are your map of reality - they are the lenses through which you perceive the world.
-your beliefs are the most important part about you
-beliefs have started wars, bridged communities, ended slavery, and so forth
*Beliefs + Desires = Actions
-Problem: there is such thing as False Belief
-we want our beliefs to be true - connects us to reality
*Philosophers have encouraged us to therefore examine our beliefs

Knowledge
Knowledge is an attainment concept
Ex: In basketball we shoot in order to score. Shooting is the activity; Scoring is the attainment intended
-In life, we believe in order to know. Believing is the activity; Knowledge the intended attainment
*Knowledge = Properly Justified True Belief
-You cannot know something unless you truly believe it.
-Belief alone isn’t sufficient for knowledge - you can’t believe something that is false either.
 REALISM
-IS THE VIEW THAT OBJECT EXIST IN REALITY INDEPENDENTLY OF OUR CONCEPTUAL SCHEME
(ONTOLOGICAL)
Ontological
-relating to the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being:
Ontology is the branch of philosophy that studies concepts such as existence, being, becoming, and
reality.

MEANING OF REALITY
The World or State of Things as they actually Exist
The State of Having Existence
Meaning, Reality can be Defined as the Totality of all Things. Opposed to that which is merely
IMAGINARY.

KINDS/THEORY OF REALITY

What do we mean when we say we “know” something?

If P is any proposition, what requirements must we meet to claim P?

a) We must believe that P is the case

(knowledge implies belief, but belief
does not imply knowledge-assumption
b) We have evidence for justification or
warrantability (sufficient reason for
belief … how much is enough?)
c) Knowledge requires truth!
Knowledge is warrented, true belief. To understand knowledge, we must understand warrantability
and truth.

HOW WE WOULD BE ABLE TO COME UP

INTO A CERTAIN TRUTH?

MODES OF WARRANTABILITY

Logical warrantability – laws of logic

Semantic warrantability – analyzing the meaning of words
Systemic warrantability – derive warranty from logical interdependence of all propositions in a
deductive system
Empirical warrantability – confirmatory relation to specific qualities of first-person experience,
sometimes conformation needed outside self

->Warrantability does not imply truth

->Warrantability = justification and evidence
->Warrantability comes in degrees, truth does not

What is Truth?
Truth is closely connected to knowledge and belief
“The contemplation of truth and beauty is the proper object for which we were created”
-William Hazlett
Truth - A fact that has been verified or Conformity to reality or actuality

THEORIES OF TRUTH

THE CORRESPONDENCE THEORY OF TRUTH - Truth is an agreement between a proposition and a fact.
Bertrand Russell states that there is a realm of facts that exists independent of us (e.g. MANILA is the
capital of PHILIPPINES) … “the truth” of a belief depends on whether the belief corresponds to the
independent fact.

THE COHERENCE THEORY OF TRUTH - A statement is true if it is consistent with other statements that
we regard as true. Brand Blanchard (1892-1989) said that “an agreement between judgments is best
described not as a correspondence but as a coherence.”

THE PRAGMATIC THEORY OF TRUTH - There is no absolute truth … truth is dynamic changing, subjective
and relative. A statement is true if people can use it to get the results that they need.

THE INSTRUMENTALIST THEORY OF TRUTH - Related to the Pragmatic Theory of Truth. Scientific
Theories are true if they enable us to accurately predict what will happen ...they work! No one believed
that Copernicus’ theory was an accurate description of the solar system but it explained the motion of
the celestial spheres.
The Instrumentalist View – A doctrine that ideas are instruments of action and that their usefulness
determines their truth.

THE REALIST VIEW - Related to the Correspondence Theory of Truth Scientific theories are true or false
in so far as they describe what really exists. The goal of science is to explain the world as it really is. The
scientist “discovers” the scientific truth.

THE CONCEPTUAL RELATIVIST VIEW - Related to the Coherence Theory of Truth and the work of
Thomas Kuhn. A true scientific theory coheres with the conceptual framework accepted by a community
of scientists. Our theories about reality influence what we think we are seeing when we observe reality
…. we cannot independently know the real world.

A DISTINCTION MUST BE MADE BETWEEN TRUE AND FALSE IDEAS, BECAUSE BEING ABLE TO KNOW
THOSE THINGS, IT WILL DISTINGUISH US FROM MERE ANIMALS OR IRRATIONAL BEINGS.
-kramyaj