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November 2009 
What is the difference between truth and fact?
Posted on Sep 2nd, 2008
by 
Naumadd
Naumadd
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for September 02, 2008:
Contrary to the way these two words are ordinarily used in our cultures, there is no difference at all. What is true is fact and what is fact is true. They are synonyms in my own mind and the minds of many others and ought to be used synoymously in all minds claiming to reason. All too often, there are and have been many who wish to lay claim to "truth" without the messy bothering with fact. They know who they are. There are no shortcuts to authentic wisdom. There is no truth without fact.
If your "truth" is somehow superior to fact, what you claim to have isn't truth. Abstract truths must have a clear chain of reduction from fact, otherwise, they are branches without a trunk, tree without root, wisps of fancy without endurance.
If your "truth" is somehow superior to fact, what you claim to have isn't truth. Abstract truths must have a clear chain of reduction from fact, otherwise, they are branches without a trunk, tree without root, wisps of fancy without endurance.
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I would say that the word truth is relative to each person’s beliefs. What is true for one person maybe very different for another. I believe a fact is something that is used with one’s logical mind, something that one has seen, experienced, & proven to be correct by scientific research. I believe the famous Italian playwright, Luigi Pirandello, summed it well when he wrote a play called, “You’re right if you think you’re right”.
that is some hard truth you're serving up for us today. I like & am at the same time absolutely taken with your sentence: ' wisps of fancy without endurance'. that made me smile.
Swan & Tara, Thanks so much for your comments. I expected I'd get some rather harsh rebuttal on this subject. There are some very intense feelings among many on the subject of truth as having little to no relationship with fact. Those of that opinion wish to preserve the sanctity of what they wish to be true versus what is genuinely true. This is the act of cutting truth off at the knees or spinning truth out of thin air to lend legitimacy to what they only want to be true, not what can be shown to be true, hence, merely thinking it does not make it so. There's is a redefinition of “truth” and “fact” to ultimately dispense with both altogether. My thanks for the calm response.
Anyway, I'd like to clarify something about truth/fact as it relates to relativity. Truth or fact is always contextual - no exceptions. This means it is always specific context or a collection of specific contexts that makes a thing true or factual. Even our abstractions must have concrete roots. Relativity is a given when one speaks of something as being true or factual. Obviously, what is true or factual in one context will, in the least, be slightly altered by another context thus creating a variation on the original truth or fact - or - creating an entirely new truth or fact according to the new context. I think you'll find very few if any “universal truths” or “universal facts” because one is quite literally never in the quite the same context from one moment to the next. This is the result of change which is everywhere and everywhen.
As I like to say, the only thing that does not change is change itself. It is, perhaps, the only truly universal truth/fact.
Again, truth and fact are synonymous. Both are contextual and relative - always. It is, indeed, their specific context, their relativity that give them authenticity. Outside of specific and relative context, again, claims to “truth” are mere supposition and fantasy.
How interesting to come on this discussion when only this afternoon I pondered for a moment the concept of fact and truth. Is Truth, in the deepest and most profound sense, its' own defense and fact unstable only in that which is perceived as “fact” being but a measure of what is known at the moment, but may evolve upon further observation and yet, that is the evolution of truth, is it not? were my ruminations. Yes, then, they are synonymous and it is only in the vernacular that they shift in meaning and separate.
Peace~
I can sure relate to your frustration around the loose use of these words. And it's a sticky wicket, because as you say, these terms - all terms - are bound to their context relative to the people using them. If you are in a group (or society) that perceives different shades of meaning between the words “truth” and “fact”, then they have different meaning in the conversations you have with those people. If you are speaking in order to communicate accurately to that group, or listening and wishing to understand what they are trying to say, then you must take into account the meanings they hold for these words.
I'm a fan of using different terms when exploring deep conversations in groups that require a distinction between concepts like truth (generally interpreted to be self-declared) and fact (generally interpreted to mean group-agreement). I like the terms assessment and assertion for these roles, and I define them for the group before we start so there are no semantics in play.
For example, if I point to a window and say, “That's a window,” the group will generally agree that is a fact, or what I'd call an assertion. We all agree on the term and the meaning.
If I point to the same window and say, “That is a beautiful window,” that may well be truth for me, but may not be someone else's. The term “assessment” is handy for that. An assessment is an opinion, true for one or more people but can also be untrue for one or more people.
Keeping the shades of differences between these terms available to the conversation is a wonderful way to keep open the possibility of fully listening and understanding what others are saying without the burden of conflict over terminology. Language is just an agreement of sounds to meaning; when it becomes a disagreement then lots of words may be spoken but understanding and communication generally stops.
If nothing else, questions like “what is the difference between truth and fact?” are great jumping-off points for conversations and exploration!