Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy)
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| - | [[Image:The Heart Has Its Reasons by Odilon Redon.jpg |thumb|right|200px|''[[The Heart Has Its Reasons]]'' (c.[[1887]]) by [[Odilon Redon]], a phrase from the ''[[Pensées]]'' ([[1669]]) by [[Blaise Pascal]]]] | + | {| class="toccolours" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5" |
| - | {{Template}} | + | | style="text-align: left;" | |
| - | {{other uses}} | + | "By [[Subjectivity|inner experience]] I understand that which one usually calls <i>mystical</i> <i>experience</i>: the states of [[ecstasy]], of [[rapture]], at least of meditated emotion. But I am thinking less of <i>confessional </i>experience, to which one has had to adhere up to now, than of an [[experience]] laid bare, free of ties, even of an origin, of any confession whatever. This is why I don't like the word ‘[[mystical]]’."--''[[Inner Experience]]'' (1943) by Georges Bataille |
| + | <hr> | ||
| - | '''Subjectivity''' is a central [[philosophical]] concept, related to [[consciousness]], [[Agency (philosophy)|agency]], [[personhood]], [[reality]], and [[truth]], which has been variously defined by sources. Three common definitions include that subjectivity is the quality or condition of: | + | "[[Objectivity (philosophy) |Objectivism]] [...] misses the fact that human [[conceptual system]]s are [[Metaphor |metaphorical]] in nature and involve an imaginative understanding of one kind of thing in [[term]]s of another." ([[Metaphors We Live By |Lakoff and Johnson 1980]]: 194) |
| - | * Something being a ''[[Subject (philosophy)|subject]]'', narrowly meaning an individual who possesses conscious experiences, such as perspectives, feelings, beliefs, and desires. | + | |
| - | * Something being a ''subject'', broadly meaning an entity that has [[Agency (philosophy)|agency]], meaning that it acts upon or wields power over some other entity (an ''[[Object (philosophy)|object]]''). | + | |
| - | * Some information, idea, situation, or physical thing considered true only from the perspective of a [[Subject (philosophy)|subject]] or subjects. | + | |
| - | These various definitions of subjectivity are sometimes joined together in philosophy. The term is most commonly used as an explanation for that which influences, informs, and biases people's judgments about truth or reality; it is the collection of the perceptions, experiences, expectations, and personal or cultural understanding of, and beliefs about, an external [[phenomenon]], that are specific to a [[Subject (philosophy)|subject]]. | + | |} |
| - | + | [[Image:The Heart Has Its Reasons by Odilon Redon.jpg |thumb|right|200px|''[[The Heart Has Its Reasons]]'' (c.1887) by Odilon Redon, a phrase from the ''Pensées'' (1669) by Blaise Pascal]] | |
| - | Subjectivity is contrasted to the philosophy of [[Objectivity (philosophy)|objectivity]], which is described as a view of truth or reality that is free of any individual's biases, interpretations, feelings, and imaginings. | + | {{Template}} |
| - | + | The distinction between '''subjectivity''' and '''objectivity''' is a basic idea of [[philosophy]], particularly [[epistemology]] and [[metaphysics]]. It is often related to discussions of [[consciousness]], [[Agency (philosophy)|agency]], [[personhood]], [[philosophy of mind]], [[philosophy of language]], [[reality]], [[truth]], and [[communication]] (for example in [[narration|narrative communication]] and [[journalism]]). | |
| - | ==Philosophy== | + | *Something is '''subjective''' if it is dependent on a [[mind]] ([[bias]]es, [[perception]], [[emotion]]s, [[opinion]]s, [[imagination]], or [[experience|conscious experience]]). If a claim is true exclusively when considering the claim from the viewpoint of a sentient being, it is subjectively true. For example, one person may consider the weather to be pleasantly warm, and another person may consider the same weather to be too hot; both views are subjective. The word ''subjectivity'' comes from ''[[Subject (philosophy)|subject]]'' in a philosophical sense, meaning an individual who possesses unique conscious experiences, such as perspectives, feelings, beliefs, and desires, |
| - | The rise of the notion of subjectivity has its philosophical roots in the thinking of [[Descartes]] and [[Kant]], and its articulation throughout the modern era has depended on the understanding of what constitutes an individual. There have been various interpretations of such concepts as the self and the soul, and the identity or [[self-consciousness]] which lies at the root of the notion of subjectivity. | + | *Something is '''objective''' if it can be confirmed independently of a mind. If a claim is true even when considering it outside the viewpoint of a sentient being, then it is labelled objectively true. [[Objectivity (science)|Scientific objectivity]] is practicing science while intentionally reducing [[partiality]], biases, or external influences. Moral objectivity is the concept of moral or ethical codes being compared to one another through a set of universal facts or a universal perspective and not through differing conflicting perspectives. [[Journalistic objectivity]] is the reporting of facts and news with minimal personal bias or in an impartial or politically neutral manner. |
| - | + | ||
| - | Subjectivity is, for instance, frequently the implicit topic of [[existentialism]], [[Jean-Paul Sartre|Sartre]] as one of its main proponents emphasizing subjectivity in his phenomenology. Unlike his colleague [[Merleau-Ponty]], Sartre believed that, even within the material force of human society, the ego was an essentially transcendent being- posited, for instance, in his opus ''[[Being and Nothingness]]'' through his arguments about the 'being-for-others' and the 'for-itself' (i.e., an objective and subjective human being). | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | The innermost core of ''subjectivity'' resides in a unique act of what [[Johann Gottlieb Fichte|Fichte]] called “[[Johann Gottlieb Fichte#Central theory|self-positing]]”, where each subject is a point of absolute [[autonomy]], which means that it cannot be reduced to a moment in the network of [[Causality|causes]] and effects. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ==Sociology== | + | |
| - | Subjectivity is an inherently social mode that comes about through innumerable interactions within society. As much as subjectivity is a process of [[individuation]], it is equally a process of socialization, the individual never being isolated in a self-contained environment, but endlessly engaging in interaction with the surrounding world. | + | |
| - | Culture is a living totality of the subjectivity of any given society constantly undergoing transformation. Subjectivity is both shaped by it and shapes it in turn, but also by other things like the economy, political institutions, communities, as well as the natural world. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Though the boundaries of societies and their cultures are indefinable and arbitrary, the subjectivity inherent in each one is palatable and can be recognized as distinct from others. Subjectivity is in part a particular experience or organization of [[reality]], which includes how one views and interacts with humanity, objects, consciousness, and nature, so the difference between different cultures brings about an alternate experience of existence that forms life in a different manner. A common effect on an individual of this disjunction between subjectivities is [[culture shock]], where the subjectivity of the other culture is considered alien and possibly incomprehensible or even hostile. | + | |
| - | [[Political subjectivity]] is an emerging concept in social sciences and humanities. Political subjectivity is a reference to the deep embeddedness of subjectivity in the socially intertwined systems of power and meaning. "Politicality," writes [http://artsandscience.usask.ca/profile/SRahimi Sadeq Rahimi] in ''[http://www.routledgementalhealth.com/books/details/9781138840829/ Meaning, Madness and Political Subjectivity]'', "is not an added aspect of the subject, but indeed the mode of being of the subject, that is, precisely what the subject ''is''." | + | Both ideas have been given various and ambiguous definitions by differing sources as the distinction is often a given but not the specific focal point of philosophical discourse. The two words are usually regarded as [[antonym|opposites]], though complications regarding the two have been explored in philosophy: for example, the view of particular thinkers that objectivity is an illusion and does not exist at all, or that a spectrum joins subjectivity and objectivity with a gray area in-between, or that the problem of other minds is best viewed through the concept of [[intersubjectivity]], developing since the 20th century. The root of the words ''subjectivity'' and ''objectivity'' are [[object and subject|''subject'' and ''object'']], philosophical terms that mean, respectively, an observer and a thing being observed. |
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| * [[Dogma]] | * [[Dogma]] | ||
| + | *[[Factual relativism]] | ||
| * [[Intersubjectivity]] | * [[Intersubjectivity]] | ||
| + | *[[Journalistic objectivity]] | ||
| + | *[[Naïve realism]] | ||
| + | *[[Objectivity (science)]] | ||
| + | *[[Objectivism]] | ||
| + | *[[Omniscience]] | ||
| * [[Phenomenology (philosophy)]] | * [[Phenomenology (philosophy)]] | ||
| * [[Phenomenology (psychology)]] | * [[Phenomenology (psychology)]] | ||
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| * [[Transcendental subjectivity]] | * [[Transcendental subjectivity]] | ||
| * "[[Philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard#Subjectivity|Subjectivity is Truth]]", an existential interpretation of subjectivity by [[Søren Kierkegaard]] | * "[[Philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard#Subjectivity|Subjectivity is Truth]]", an existential interpretation of subjectivity by [[Søren Kierkegaard]] | ||
| + | * [[Self]] | ||
| + | * [[Vertiginous question]] | ||
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
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"By inner experience I understand that which one usually calls mystical experience: the states of ecstasy, of rapture, at least of meditated emotion. But I am thinking less of confessional experience, to which one has had to adhere up to now, than of an experience laid bare, free of ties, even of an origin, of any confession whatever. This is why I don't like the word ‘mystical’."--Inner Experience (1943) by Georges Bataille "Objectivism [...] misses the fact that human conceptual systems are metaphorical in nature and involve an imaginative understanding of one kind of thing in terms of another." (Lakoff and Johnson 1980: 194) |
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The distinction between subjectivity and objectivity is a basic idea of philosophy, particularly epistemology and metaphysics. It is often related to discussions of consciousness, agency, personhood, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, reality, truth, and communication (for example in narrative communication and journalism).
- Something is subjective if it is dependent on a mind (biases, perception, emotions, opinions, imagination, or conscious experience). If a claim is true exclusively when considering the claim from the viewpoint of a sentient being, it is subjectively true. For example, one person may consider the weather to be pleasantly warm, and another person may consider the same weather to be too hot; both views are subjective. The word subjectivity comes from subject in a philosophical sense, meaning an individual who possesses unique conscious experiences, such as perspectives, feelings, beliefs, and desires,
- Something is objective if it can be confirmed independently of a mind. If a claim is true even when considering it outside the viewpoint of a sentient being, then it is labelled objectively true. Scientific objectivity is practicing science while intentionally reducing partiality, biases, or external influences. Moral objectivity is the concept of moral or ethical codes being compared to one another through a set of universal facts or a universal perspective and not through differing conflicting perspectives. Journalistic objectivity is the reporting of facts and news with minimal personal bias or in an impartial or politically neutral manner.
Both ideas have been given various and ambiguous definitions by differing sources as the distinction is often a given but not the specific focal point of philosophical discourse. The two words are usually regarded as opposites, though complications regarding the two have been explored in philosophy: for example, the view of particular thinkers that objectivity is an illusion and does not exist at all, or that a spectrum joins subjectivity and objectivity with a gray area in-between, or that the problem of other minds is best viewed through the concept of intersubjectivity, developing since the 20th century. The root of the words subjectivity and objectivity are subject and object, philosophical terms that mean, respectively, an observer and a thing being observed.
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See also
- Dogma
- Factual relativism
- Intersubjectivity
- Journalistic objectivity
- Naïve realism
- Objectivity (science)
- Objectivism
- Omniscience
- Phenomenology (philosophy)
- Phenomenology (psychology)
- Political subjectivity
- Q methodology
- Relativism
- Subject (philosophy)
- Transcendental subjectivity
- "Subjectivity is Truth", an existential interpretation of subjectivity by Søren Kierkegaard
- Self
- Vertiginous question
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