Brute fact

Brute fact

Brute facts are opposed to institutional facts, in that the former do not require the context of an institution to occur. The term was coined by G. E. M. Anscombe and then popularized by John Searle.

For instance, the fact that a certain piece of paper "is" money cannot be ascertained outside the institution of money in a given society. And that piece of paper will only be money as long as the members of that society believe that it is so. Being money is an institutional fact. On the contrary, being a piece of paper is a brute fact.

The status of brute fact is relative to another fact, such that what is a brute fact in some contexts may not be in another.

There is a strong connection between the opposition between brute fact and institutional fact, and the Humean opposition of the is and ought problem, the distinction between fact claims and value or normative claims, and the distinction in law between matter of fact and matter of law. Institutional facts are arguably conventional.

The more common but less technical definition of brute fact is "a terminus of a series of explanations which is not itself further explicable" Oxford Companion to Philosophy 2005 "Brute Fact".

ources

* Anscombe, G. E. M. (1958): "On Brute facts". "Analysis" 18: 69-72.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • brute fact — noun A fact alone, presented without explanation • • • Main Entry: ↑brute …   Useful english dictionary

  • brute-fact — adjective brute fact The fact that we can agree about veridical perceptions with others possessing similar conceptual schemas is strong evidence that the brute fact features of our perceptual experience have an important correlation with a… …   Wiktionary

  • brute fact — noun An inscrutable datum of experience; a thing that is undeniably the case, but which is impervious to reasoned explication. The rationalist, Kantian definition of truth, therefore, fails. At the bottom of every fact there is an act of reason,… …   Wiktionary

  • brute fact — Brute or bare facts are supposed to obtain without doing so in virtue of any other facts obtaining. Supervening facts by contrast obtain because other facts do. There is no generally agreed list of (absolutely) brute facts, although it is… …   Philosophy dictionary

  • Fact — For other uses, see Fact (disambiguation). A fact (derived from the Latin Factum, see below) is something that has really occurred or is actually the case. The usual test for a statement of fact is verifiability, that is whether it can be shown… …   Wikipedia

  • brute — brute1 [bru:t] n a man who is cruel, violent, and not sensitive brute 2 brute2 adj [Date: 1400 1500; : French; Origin: brut rough , from Latin brutus heavy, stupid ] 1.) brute force/strength physical strength rather than intelligence and careful… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • Brute-force search — In computer science, brute force search or exhaustive search, also known as generate and test, is a trivial but very general problem solving technique that consists of systematically enumerating all possible candidates for the solution and… …   Wikipedia

  • brute — [[t]bru͟ːt[/t]] brutes 1) N COUNT (disapproval) If you call someone, usually a man, a brute, you mean that they are rough, violent, and insensitive. Custer was an idiot and a brute and he deserved his fate. ...a drunken brute. 2) ADJ: ADJ n When… …   English dictionary

  • Mental fact — Mental facts include such things as perceptions, feelings, and judgments. Mental facts are ultimately caused by physical facts, in that mental facts depend on physical and biological functions which are required for consciousness. The physical… …   Wikipedia

  • Social constructionism — and social constructivism are sociological and psychological theories of knowledge that consider how social phenomena develop in particular social contexts. Within constructionist thought, a social construction (social construct) is a concept or… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”