“If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance with his instincts, he will accept it even on the slenderest evidence.”
– Bertrand Russell, (1872 – 1970)

Bertrand Russell was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, social critic, political activist, and winner of the Nobel Prize. In the quote above, he is commenting on perceptual reality and our attraction to “alternative facts” because of it.

Russell’s contributions to logic, epistemology, and the philosophy of mathematics established him as one of the foremost philosophers of the 20th century. To the general public, however, he was best known as a campaigner for peace and as a popular writer on social, political, and moral subjects.