• Facts, the ideal illusion. What do the people on this forum think?



    Yes, I do agree with your points. Facts are the nature and necessity of decision-making.
    But:
    What it means for something to be unknown and how not the knowing, but the unknowing is where the fruits of life can be found.Plex

    I would argue that the awareness and acceptance of not truly knowing things is where a lot of meaning and acceptance can be found. I also tend to state that the unknowing is a source of endless curiosity and discovery. When we accept that things are just as they are, facts. We tend to process it and not think about it as much having the result of lessened learning and understanding of our world. I am not saying you should keep thinking about things and never move on. But simply the mindset revolving around processing information can greatly increase the likelihood of creativity, discovery, and interest developing and being used.

    It's s fact that these marks on this page are words. I know it for certain since I wrote some of them, they're published and open to read.jkop

    Are you sure about that? For something to be certain you have to be able to define the thing you are certain about. If you do not know what something is you cannot say it is present or has certain values. As said by the Patterner:

    there will always be more questions to ask, and more to think about.Patterner

    If you can truly define something, you can answer all questions, which are infinite. Lets propose a situation using your example:

    "It's s fact that these marks on this page are words. I know it for certain since I wrote some of them, they're published and open to read."

    So how do you know those are words? Maybe because you can read them. Then what defines reading? Maybe the scientific description of the processing of information. But yet every research has variables it is influenced by. And even if the research was perfect, there are still infinite questions to ask about it. It simply does not stop. I could also make it simpler by saying: "How do you know anything is real", "or do you perfectly know every variable of reality?". If you can answer every possible question, every shape that infinity presents. Who knows, but right now I have no reason to believe infinity is a realistic thing to obtain. If you cannot define anything, you can not state any properties of anything as a "perfect" fact.

    Also known as 'nonsense'.Wayfarer

    Also known as the face of reality which many people do not like, but yet cannot escape. People want to know, want to understand. But knowing every detail possible for infinity is not a realistic manner of thought. Or do you have an argumentation to support your statement? I am always open to hearing it.
  • Facts, the ideal illusion. What do the people on this forum think?
    First of all, sorry for the late reaction, and thanks for all the replies!

    Including this?creativesoul
    Yes, truly I do not.
    So... then are you saying that it's not bad to smack an old lady in the head with a shovel, or to kick puppies, or to knowingly and deliberately cause unnecessary harm?

    Do you know that you do not believe in good and bad?
    creativesoul

    No, I am not stating that kicking a puppy is not bad. I am simply implying that it is a manner of perspective and culture. You cannot say eating pork is bad just because you or a certain group thinks that way. Perspectives are not a source of defined answers. Simply because morality on its own is an abstract truth that has different meanings for different folks. Just like you used an old lady and puppies as an example, showing how you would see that as a more "extreme" bad thing to emphasize your argumentation. But maybe I believe puppies are terrible beings, maybe I do not think they are cute (I do ;)) Mabey for cultural reasons I kill them, who knows. You can simply not define a perspective, which in nature I believe all "facts" are. More a source of interpretation and mental processing than the actual piece of information that is brought.

    As cited:
    Here’s what Steven J Gould had to say about facts:

    In science, "fact" can only mean "confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent."
    — Stephen J Gould
    T Clark

    There is no complete certainty, we round the numbers of reality by decimals. Trying to know as much as possible but never can every degree of accuracy be defined. It is simply infinity. Like the title says: "Facts, the ideal illusion". It is an ideal scenario to know things as facts, but calling it facts is the illusion many people tend to base their reality on.