Mr. Moderate

A fact is “a piece of information presented as having objective reality.” ~ Websters Dictionary

A fact has a type of existence that is independent of any particular person, or if the fact is not related to people at all, a fact is altogether independent of humanity. That is what the phrase “objective reality” actually means: no person necessarily needs to exist for a fact to exist. A fact is distinguished from an opinion which is entirely subjective. My opinion necessarily requires my present or previous existence for it to exist. A “subjective reality” is just one person’s opinion about reality. True opinions are entirely subjective and thus cannot be wrong in any real sense. I like the color blue and the Florida Gators. Those are my opinions. You cannot prove opinions wrong, and generally speaking, you are wasting your time if you even try.

Those people who do not like certain facts will attempt to convert at least the despised facts into matters of mere opinion. This is entirely perverse because it misrepresents what facts actually are. Those who claim that “evolution is only a theory” are misrepresenting what the word “theory” means in a scientific context.

In science, a theory is a “generalization … strongly supported by thoroughly tested evidences.” ~ From the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Thus a scientific theory is a description of a large body of facts and how they relate together to make a workable concept for describing and/or understanding how nature works. Science usually does not claim that theories are themselves facts, although they are far more solid than mere opinions. Thus, scientific theories are “fact-like” statements since they must be based upon “throughly tested evidences” (facts). It is in this sense that biologists frequently refer to the Theory of Evolution as “a fact.” It is “a fact” as distinguished from a mere subjective opinion.

“In science, ‘fact’ can only mean ‘confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.’ I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms.” ~ Stephen Jay Gould

A fact is not subject to voting it to be true or false. No legislature can pass a law requiring that the mathmatical value of pi shall henceforth be equal to exactly three. It is the nature of reality that the mathmatical value of pi shall always be a bit more than 3.1415 no matter what any human being might think about the matter. Similarly, legislatures cannot pass laws declaring that the Theory of Evolution is wrong, false, or otherwise mistaken without looking quite silly to rational people. The only thing which can contradict the Theory of Evolution is a set of one or more facts consisting of “thoroughly tested evidences” and which run counter to the modern understanding of the Theory of Evolution. At that point, science will abandon the Theory of Evolution and look for a new theory that describes not only all of the old facts, but all of the new contradictory facts as well. This is the nature of scientific method.

And yes, it is certainly possible for facts to be wrong. That is why Gould, above, refers to “provisional assent.” Nobody is required to believe any fact is absolutely true if they have proof that the alleged fact is wrong to any significant degree. However, the proof of the wrongness of any particular fact must consist of one or more contradictory facts, not mere opinions. In the absence of such valid proof of wrongness, people are morally required to give provisional assent to anything that is reasonably described as an objective fact. Otherwise, it is the right of rational humans to believe that such people are not merely mistaken, but willfully perverse in holding to discreditied fact-like statements.

“You’re entitled to your own opinions. You’re not entitled to your own facts.” — Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Unfortunately, some people are all too ready to entirely mix up facts, opinions, opinions about facts, and facts about opinions until no sane person can keep straight exactly what is being discussed. This is a very bad habit indeed, and any such habit ought to be avoided at all costs.