In philosophy, a state of affairs (German: Sachverhalt),[1] also known as a situation, is a way the actual world must be in order to make some given proposition about the actual world true; in other words, a state of affairs is a truth-maker, whereas a proposition is a truth-bearer.
Whereas states of affairs either obtain or fail-to-obtain, propositions are either true or false.
[2] Some philosophers understand the term "states of affairs" in a more restricted sense as a synonym for "fact".
[2] It is controversial which ontological status should be ascribed to states of affairs that do not obtain.
In fact, in the Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy,[9] Sosa defines a condition to be a state of affairs, "way things are" or situation—most commonly referred to by a nominalization of a sentence.