success word

A word whose application entails the truth of an embedded clause, or the achievement of some result. I remember, know, realize, perceive that p all imply the truth of p. Many words describing our knowledge of things presuppose success or achievement. We can only know what is true, remember what happened, or perceive what is there. Other words have to be found for illusions of knowing, remembering, or perceiving, suggesting that success is a kind of default state. The point is sometimes used to query the intelligibility of Cartesian doubt (see method of doubt). See also factive.