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Fact or Not, Divided by a Thin Line
By Life-Musings.com | October 20, 2008
How many times in life do we make the distinction between fact and opinion, or between fact and a mere theory?
For example.. the existence of the human soul - that surely is merely a theory, right?
Or the existence of God - another theory which has not been, and probably cannot be, proven empirically.
Physical matter being made of molecules - that is a fact, right?
Who was there, who wasn’t there, what happened, when it happened, and where it happened - these are historical facts, right?
Fact. What IS fact?
The truth is, there are very few facts, per se. Instead, more often than not, there is only interpretation of available information, and how information is put together and presented.
Take for example, ‘heat’. Today, we understand heat to be the vibration of molecules in a physical substance. The hotter a brick is, the faster its molecules are vibrating. Or, rather, it would be more accurate to say - the faster its molecules are vibrating, the hotter a brick would feel.
But not too long ago in the history of science, it was accepted fact that heat is in fact a substance. Yes, caloric was taken to be that red substance which is associated with a hot metal rod. Hmmm.
How about theories such as the Earth being at the centre of the universe, or the Sun orbiting the Earth instead of vice versa?
What about the belief that the Earth is in fact flat?
Gasp.
What is accepted fact today was once upon a time only a theory, a thought, an opinion, or a dream.
And what is accepted fact today may one day return to the realm of dreams or even hallucinations.
What then, do we seek when we look for objective fact?
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Topics: All Life Musings, Facts of Life, Questions about Life, Science, The Human Psyche |
April 4th, 2010 at 6:36 am
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