Denoting a verb that assigns the status of an established fact to its object (normally a clausal object), e.g. know, regret, resent.
〔语言学〕（动词）叙实的。与CONTRAFACTIVE , NON-FACTIVE 相对
Contrasted with contrafactive, non-factive
Example sentencesExamples
As we saw above, seeing is a somewhat more debated example of a broad mental state: but if seeing is, as some claim, factive, then if I saw Caesar cross the Rubicon, Caesar and the Rubicon exist.
This is because knowledge and direct perception predicates are factive, in that they presuppose the truth of their complements.
The indefeasibility approach offers a new slant on the idea that knowledge should be infallible, offering something intermediate between the merely factive character of knowledge and the Platonic demand for absolute infallibility.
Definition of factive in US English:
factive
adjectiveˈfaktiv
Linguistics
Denoting a verb that assigns the status of an established fact to its object (normally a clausal object), e.g. know, regret, resent.
〔语言学〕（动词）叙实的。与CONTRAFACTIVE , NON-FACTIVE 相对
Example sentencesExamples
This is because knowledge and direct perception predicates are factive, in that they presuppose the truth of their complements.
As we saw above, seeing is a somewhat more debated example of a broad mental state: but if seeing is, as some claim, factive, then if I saw Caesar cross the Rubicon, Caesar and the Rubicon exist.
The indefeasibility approach offers a new slant on the idea that knowledge should be infallible, offering something intermediate between the merely factive character of knowledge and the Platonic demand for absolute infallibility.