■ Claim: Any piece of information referred to as a fact should be mistrusted, since it may well be proven false in the future. Reason: Much of the information that people assume is factual actually turns out to be inaccurate.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based
When acknowledging a clear disparity between a fact that is “assumed” and one that is “referred to,” it is debatable whether the reason completely buttresses the claim. To make it clear, it may be misleading to say that no fact should be trusted because people’s assumptions of facts mostly turn out to be inaccurate. Additionally, the claim that facts should be mistrusted carries some flaws that should be taken into consideration.
People have an inclination toward presupposing a fact. It is easy to see how people often confuse a hypothesis with a fact or draw an equivocal conclusion from a fact and consider it proven or developing groundless explanations of a fact. Take how people often misunderstand the correlation between exposure to media violence and children’s aggressive behaviors. Many end up drawing a causal relationship between the two and regard it as a fact that children who watch TV a lot are more violent. Disregarding other possible explanations, they assume the most plausible account to be a fact. Likewise, what is assumed to be factual is likely to be inaccurate and can only countenance the assertion if it was “any piece of information assumed to be a fact should be mistrusted.” This also insinuates that information that is referred to as a fact as in the claim, on the other hand, is less likely to be inaccurate.
Indeed, although arduous work and diverse verification process of scientists or experts in any field before establishing a fact raises its accuracy, humans are fallible and facts are certainly subject to further changes or even complete rejection. Nonetheless, apprehension about falsity will only impede extension of knowledge and progress of human species. It is only when people accept recognized facts, extend and develop it further that they can acquire insight into the actual verity. When the fact is further applied in practice and used, it will be easier to see limitations and inaccuracies, if at all. A these questions, too, will have to be based on some solid grounds, that is, recognized facts, mistrust in the facts as asserted in the claim is confronted again.
To sum up, not only is the reason inadequate to fully support the claim but also the claim itself needs reconsideration given the necessity of having established facts to develop any ideas, whether it is verifying or discovering the falsity of the fact. Trusting and building on drawn facts will have to come before any progress in human knowledge.
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