The word fact derives from the Latin factum. It was first used in English with the same meaning: “a thing done or performed” – a meaning now obsolete outside the law. The common usage of “something that has really occurred or is the case” dates from the mid-16th century.
Wikipedia: Fact
Fact, truth, real, information, evidence are not synonyms.
… the most dangerous of errors hitherto has been a dogmatist error–namely, Plato’s invention of Pure Spirit and the Good in Itself. … But the struggle against Plato, or–to speak plainer, and for the “people”–the struggle against the ecclesiastical oppression of millenniums of Christianity (FOR CHRISTIANITY IS PLATONISM FOR THE “PEOPLE”)
Nietschze
What if, just what if, there is truth in the above? Has the Christian tradition baptised Plato’s world view? Where is the encounter with Jesus? Where is contemporaneity/presence?
Although I feel that my tragedy is the greatest in history, greater than the fall of empires, I am aware of my total insignificance. I am totally convinced that I count for nothing in this universe, yet I feel that mine is the only real existence. If forced to choose between the world and myself, I would reject the world, its light and laws, unafraid to glide alone in absolute nothingness. Although my life is a torture, I cannot renounce it because I do not believe in any absolute values for which I could sacrifice myself’
On the Heights of Despair,, Cioran
Where are my memories when I am not using them?
And how do I know what to remember when?
… what cannot be forgotten is that truth for Christians is not just another object but a concrete person, Jesus of Nazareth. …
Skepticism, Relativism, and Religious Knowledge:
Skepticism arises from our desire to know without the self being transformed. Ironically skepticism is but the result of our anxious desire to secure certainty by being “at home in the world.”
A Kierkegaardian Perspective Informed by Wittgenstein’s Philosophy
In a world of action, what does the call of Jesus to “follow me” mean? In the world of instant, what does it mean that everything belongs to God?
I like Weil – a rebel. She did not join the Church but confessed Jesus as Lord. Do moderns need to learn, from her, that waiting in hope is something to be desired?
Oh, that is not right ….
Me:
I am watching the X-Files. Yes, a little late but better than never.
One of the themes, of course, is the question of life outside of our understanding of “this world”. BTW: I am always amazed when aliens look like us!
Sully’s answer is normally something like, “That is outside of the laws of physics/science.” I wish she would add, “As we understand them.”
And that, for me, is the question: Are the laws of science/physics absolute and necessary? Or are these laws based on our small perspective, and could they be different in another context? In essence (see what I did there!), the question is. are these absolute within all contexts?
Perhaps it is a form of cultural narcissism to assume the experience of the world could not be different from my experience. And, maybe, to assume the laws of science apply to all contexts – even alien ones. And, worst of all, to assume that all aliens look like us. (Unless the alien is Species 8472.)
Anyway ….
Knowing whether or not man is free doesn’t interest me. I can experience only my own freedom.
Camus
We are born biological beings but we must become existential individuals by accepting responsibility for our actions. This is an application of Nietzsche’s advice to ‘become what you are’. Many people never do acknowledge such responsibility but rather flee their existential individuality into the comfort of the faceless crowd.
Flynn, Thomas.
Existentialism: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
a fool and his prayer book 