What is a fact?
Some of the important ideas we are studying this week are the most basic, such as thinking, belief, knowledge, doubt, fact, fiction, hypothesis, evidence, truth, theories. Pick one of these topics and write a paragraph about some questions you have -- e.g. what is an idea that you have heard about that you have some doubts about? What is something that people seem to think is a ‘fact' that you have doubts about and do not see as ‘factual'?
Or consider the reverse: what is something that you see as a ‘fact' that most people in society seem to regard with doubt? How do you see the relation between fact and fiction -- between what is true and stories we tell -- also between truth and popular and influential ideas in society?
What are some current controversies where people disagree about what is a ‘fact' -- for example the recent 2016 Presidential election? Do you think that both sides in the dispute have good reasons to support their factual claims? Why or why not? Consider the terms "post-fact," "post-truth," and "truthiness" -- what do these terms say about contemporary society and the problem of critical thinking in our time?