On the 21st of March, Professor Chen Bo from Peking University presented a lecture on “Fact, Evidence, and Judicial Sentence”. Professor Chen argued that “fact” was important not only because it is the basis of distinguishing truth from falsehood in the correspondence theory, but also because it is used as evidence in the proofs in our daily life. Moreover, “fact” is also important as a type of evidence in legal affairs. After demonstrating the importance of fact, Professor Chen explained his theory of logical truth and judicial epistemology from various aspects, including the ontological concept of fact, the correspondence between thesis and fact, the epistemological concept of fact, and the idea of fact in legal procedures. He then introduced the theories of fact of Russell and Wittgenstein, and pointed out that the idea of fact has an subjective facet. Professor Chen also gave his own opinion about the correspondence between thesis and fact. He acknowledged the existence of atomistic thesis, but denied the existence of atomistic fact. After the lecture, Professor Chen communicated with the students on relevant issues.
