What are the meanings of finding implication inference and interpretation?

Answer 1

Think of these words in terms of CSI or Sherlock Holmes. Some evidence is discovered. What does it mean? If the evidence tells us something, that is implication. "The existence of this letter implies that the person was alive." If the investigator draws a conclusion from the evidence, that is inference. "I infer from this letter that the person was alive." These are very similar concepts but implication is something the evidence does and inference is something that the investigator does. The same distinction applies if the evidence is someone talking: the investigator may say "Are you implying that your brother is a drunk?" but "I infer from what you say that your brother is a drunk." Sometimes evidence is ambiguous. The investigator may infer different things from it. These alternate inferences are called interpretations. Finally, at some point, someone has the job of making an official judgement based on the evidence, to decide among alternate interpretations and state which is the correct one. These statements of fact are called findings. This is the word you will hear used by judges or people who are issuing a final report, who have decided what the facts really are.