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Fact
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In history and journalism, "facts" refer to recorded, independently-verifiable events or statistics. In science, "facts" are observations or data, (fact: at sea-level, water boils at 100 degrees [[Celsius]], while other liquids boil at different temperatures) and theories are built to explain facts (theory: why water boils at 100 C, why different liquids have different boiling points).
During The 18th century [[Enlightenment]], the statement "facts are stubborn things" was widely repeated. It encapsulates an Enlightenment belief that incontrovertible empirical data could be found on any question and that such facts would irresistibly lead public opinion in an enlightened direction by dispelling the mystifications and superstitions of earlier, barbarous ages. In the Early Republic in the United States, the phrase was often directed against the allegedly dangerous speculations and innovations of Jacobin-Jeffersonian philosophy.<ref> Jeff Pasley, "Department of Not Giving John Adams Too Much Credit" in ''Common-Place (july 2009) [http://www.common-place.org/pasley/?p=1593 online]</ref>
==Quotes About Facts==
"We all know that facts have a liberal bias." -- Stephen Colbert
==Further reading==
* Pasley, Jeff. "Department of Not Giving John Adams Too Much Credit" in ''Common-Place (july 2009) [http://www.common-place.org/pasley/?p=1593 online]; shows the slogan was very widely used in the 18th century.
==References==
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