Facts, actual facts, and alternative facts

As almost everyone knows, the phrase “alternative fact” was recently coined – and widely derided as being an attempt to legitimise a falsehood or lie. This essay attempts to unpack the controversy.

We begin by asking: What is a fact? This is quite easily answered. A fact is a state of affairs in the world. For example, the cat sat on the mat.

Since a fact is a state of affairs in the world, the word “actual” in the phrase “actual fact” is redundant. A state of affairs in the world is by definition actual.

A fact is different from a statement expressing that fact. If the state of affairs in the world is that the cat sat on the mat, then the statement “the cat sat on the mat” is true. But if the state of affairs in the world is not that the cat sat on the mat, then the statement “the cat sat on the mat” is not true, hence false.

The words “true” and “false” can be attached only to statements, not to facts. There is no such thing as a false fact, precisely because facts are states of affairs in the world. All facts are by definition trivially true, but the adjective “true” is meaningless – because it cannot be contrasted with the adjective “false”.

It follows from this that it is not possible to say that the phrase “alternative fact” means a falsehood or lie. This is because facts are not capable of being called “true” or “false” (only statements can be called those).

Nor is it possible to say that facts have alternatives (except perhaps in other possible worlds). This is because a fact is the state of affairs in the world. What is (or is not), is (or is not); there can be no other.

So what can the phrase “alternative fact” mean?

Let’s consider the word “alternative”. It is used to indicate the sense “either A or B”. Which then brings us to the question: What were A and B? Specifically, were A and B statements or facts?

In the context of the coining of the phrase “alternative fact”, A was the statement “the crowd did not stretch from the building to the memorial”, and B was the statement “the crowd was larger than what you claim”. The alternatives are statements, not facts.

So how did facts and lies get into the story?

When the statement A was uttered, it was declared to be a description of a fact (which by definition is trivially true). Hence, anything contradicting A must be false and a lie.

But that was precisely the dispute: whether or not the statement A described the fact. The opposing contention was that the statement A did not describe the fact; that the fact was described by statement B.

So here is what the phrase “alternative fact” means: Here is a statement (B) that is an alternative statement to the earlier statement (A). Further, statement B describes the fact, whereas statement A does not describe the fact.

And here is the moral of the story: Merely uttering a statement does not make that statement true.

END