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Fact or Fantasy?

By Dean L. Gano

What is a fact? To most people a fact is something that is obvious.


Anyone can see it. But what may be a fact to one person, may not
be to another. We have all experienced the situation where we end
up arguing over whether something is a fact or not. I think what
happens is we are confusing statement facts with event-based
facts. If I say the Pope is Catholic, it is a fact. There can be no
dispute because it is in the definition of the word Pope. If I say the
stop sign is red, it is a fact. There should be no dispute. These kind
of facts are statements of fact that are tied directly to the accepted
definition of the term used.

Sometimes we inject our own perceptions into a situation and make


statements that we want to be factual, but are not tied to a
definition. The boy was injured by the motorcycle may be stated as
a fact by his mother. From her perspective she sees boy injured,
sees damaged motor cycle and concludes a causal relationship.
When we use "facts" associated with causal relationships, we must
add evidence to support the causal relationship because it is not
inherent in the statement.

The primary difference between these two kinds of "facts" is how


they are used. If the fact is a stand alone statement like: Stop sign
is red, then from a problem solving perspective it matters not
because it is not tied to any other statement or relationship and
therefore provides no value in problem solving. As soon as we use
a "fact" in relation to other "facts," then we need to understand the
relationship and provide sensed evidence supporting the existence
of the "facts." For Example: Red sign caused me to stop, presents
a causal relationship and evidence could be observation that a red

“Fact Or Fantasy”, Reasoning and Problem Analysis –September, 1998


Copyright © 1998 Apollo Associated Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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stop sign exists, observation that I stopped, and my statement of
the causal relationship.

When you hear statements of fact that stand alone, they have no
value to problem solving, and hence can be ignored, but if the "fact"
is presented as a cause or if we are expected to infer something
from a stated "fact," like the water was dark, then we need to clarify
the relationship or inference and then obtain evidence for each
cause. Don't be fooled by creative story tellers. They
subconsciously use this strategy to convince you of their
perspective. From a problem solving perspective, a fact is an
evidenced based cause.

“Fact Or Fantasy”, Reasoning and Problem Analysis –September, 1998


Copyright © 1998 Apollo Associated Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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