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Fact vs Inference Separation
The ability to distinguish between objective facts and subjective interpretations that people present as facts.
Understanding the skill
Why this matters
- You stop confusing someone's opinion with actual reality.
- You can disagree on interpretation while agreeing on facts.
- Clarity about this distinction ends a huge number of arguments.
What goes wrong
- Accepting framed interpretations as facts.
- Not noticing when someone labels an inference as fact.
- Conflating 'commonly believed' with 'actually true'.
Best practices
- Ask: Could someone see the same facts and reach a different conclusion?
- State the naked fact before anyone's interpretation of it.
- Notice loading in language—facts don't need adjectives that trigger emotion.