More on true/false facts

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Mon Jun 3 14:17:11 UTC 2013


Like Larry on opinions, I defend schoolteachers on "false facts":

At 6/2/2013 10:08 PM, Neal Whitman wrote:
>My son said that according to "all" his teachers who had ever taught
>fact vs opinion, there could be "false facts."
>
>Based on my son's further explanation, this seems to be an attempt
>to finesse the awkward situation for statements such as "2+2=1." In
>principle, I approve of having a category for students to use here,
>but "false facts" isn't it, to be prescriptive

I take "false fact" as shorthand for "a false factual statement", an
assertion of some fact that is in fact wrong.

(I would, however, be prescriptive about "true facts"!)

Joel

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