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The next installment in Robledo's guide to facts. More later! :)
Statements 3 & 4, however, are more problematic. Whatever the weight of support for either side, there remains the possibility of two optimally informed and impartial judges failing to agree (see [[cognitive command]]). Without recourse to any direct method of proof, neither statement can be said to have a truth value and thus neither can be asserted as a fact.
Statements 3 & 4, however, are more problematic. Whatever the weight of support for either side, there remains the possibility of two optimally informed and impartial judges failing to agree (see [[cognitive command]]). Without recourse to any direct method of proof, neither statement can be said to have a truth value and thus neither can be asserted as a fact.
== Disputed entities, terms and properties ==
Assertions of fact become more difficult in cases where an opponent has room to question the validity of an entity, term or property contained within the statement. If we consider the following statements:
1. [[Pol Pot]] was [[evil]].
2. [[God]] created the [[universe]].
3. 5 + 6 = 11
4. Man evolved from [[ape]]s.
Statement 1 is an apparently straightforward identification of a documented historical figure (Pol Pot) with the property of evil. In order for it to be true, however, a proponent must provide some non-trivial account of the property of evil and how we might come to know it. This is far from easy. Providing a exhaustive list of Pol Pot's "evil" deeds would be insufficient - indeed, it begs the question of how we know those deeds to be evil themselves.
In statement 2, the roles are reversed. This time it is the very existence of the subject-entity that allows room for dispute. As all philosophical "proofs" of the existence of God are highly controversial, if not outright failures, the usual fallback position is an assertion of [[faith]]. As it is equally impossible to disprove the existence of God (see [[verification transcendence]]), a [[stalemate]] is the result.