On 2/18/2014 7:10 PM, Russell Standish wrote:
On Wed, Feb 19, 2014 at 02:34:57PM +1300, LizR wrote:
On 19/02/2014, Russell Standish <[email protected]> wrote:
Which ones? How can unobserved facts exist?
You can observe their consequences without observing the facts. E.g.
millions of people have observed that the sun shines without
understanding or knowing about nuclear fusion.
Yes - but obviously nuclear fusion is an observed fact (somewhere in
the Multiverse).
No, it's part of our best theory of the world.
But maybe you mean how can facts exist that are not grounded in
observation at some point?
Yes, that is what I mean. But Brent talked about unobserved facts, so
we'd better let him elaborate what he means.
Facts are often inferred, as who murdered Nicole Simpson, it's hard to even say what
constitutes a fact without invoking a theory. So sure there are, on the same theory that
allows us to infer facts, facts that are not observed.
I think we're talking past one another. You're talking about ontology as the ur-stuff
that's really real. I'm talking about the stuff that is assumed as fundamental in a theory.
Brent
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