Subjective and Objective

I can never tell how much of my experience is reality and how much is just (the reality or psychology of) me. That is of course the classic metaphysical divide: between self and external world, between self and other, between subjective and objective, between desire and fact, between appearance or illusion and reality. (Not to mention that that very divide is itself subject to doubt.) One of the great insights I have derived from amoralism is that the strength of one's conviction (factual or normative) can be an indication of its very opposite, that is, that what-one-is-convinced-about can turn out to be false, or at least doubtful. (I won't go so far as to say that conviction is a measure, such that what one is convinced about is doubtful to the degree that one is convinced it is true. But it often seems that way!) 

    Perhaps, then, all of the great insights of philosophy (and the content of wisdom) are instances of discovering the doubt within (felt) certainty. Thus, it was quintessential philosophy to realize that the motions of the heavenly bodies could be indicative of the Earth's motion rather than of (or in addition to) the heavenly bodies' motions. It is then, in the ideal case, science that follows up with tests of what are now conceived as two alternative hypotheses in place of a single assumed truth or reality. Finally it is engineering, to follow the scientific conceit, that wields the newfound knowledge for practical ends. 

    But laypersons (or philosophers) too can engage in testing and applications once an alternative to an assumed reality becomes salient. And my suggestion now is that at all times there are at least the two hypotheses about any belief or feeling that it is objective and that it is subjective. Therefore I find it useful to mentally apply a kind of measuring rod (or thermometer or scale) to my thoughts and feelings about people and things and events etc. and ask myself where on the subjective/objective continuum it (the thought or feeling) lies. 

    So for example, if I find myself seething with outrage at the Senate’s refusal to remove President Trump from office, I can ask myself: Is this a subjective response or an objective one? Or, more precisely, since I assume every response is an admixture of both: Where on the subjective/objective continuum does my response lie? And as soon as I do this I can come up with plausible reasons for both hypotheses, which will help me to position the pointer on the rod. Thus: I have become a knee-jerk anti-Republican, so that it is a reason to slide the pointer over to the subjective side. But I listened carefully to the impeachment debate, and this is a reason to push the pointer over to the objective side. But I also heard some plausible arguments from some Republican Senators for voting against removal, so this again pushes my rejection over to the subjective side. And so forth. 

            Another example: I will sometimes find a person “intolerable,” but is this an objective judgment? It certainly feels that way. Certainly the bases for the judgment seem objective enough, for example, the person’s constant complaining or habitual ingratitude. Yet maybe someone other than myself, even recognizing the complaining or the ingratitude, would not judge the person intolerable. So perhaps it is I who am intolerant. My “judgment” of intolerability could be my subjective, and surely emotional, response to a person whose behavior is not in itself intolerable but simply annoying or even, in some eyes, just quirky, or totally commonplace. 

Indeed, that last possibility throws into question whether even my initial perception of excessive complaining and ingratitude was objective, or even of complaining or ingratitude at all. That too is something that might have a subjective component, even be more subjective than objective, or even wholly subjective (in which case it would simply be a mistaken perception. I have certainly caught myself making those). After all, such attributions implicitly refer to a standard, but who sets the standard? Perhaps someone fails to say “Thank you” as much as might seem appropriate, but appropriate to whom? Maybe it’s just not as often as I would like or am used to from someone else. Objectivity in this instance would have to do with the statistical norm of frequency in my society, I suppose, but maybe my response is based on much more local experience that leads to higher expectations. 

Meanwhile an independent judgment might be made of my degree of (in)tolerance. Clearly the person whom I judge to be intolerable might well view me as intolerant from his perspective. Here again recourse might be made to third parties or statistical norms. (Notice that objective and subjective judgments are now dancing about each other, for it looks like the question of whether my finding someone intolerable is a more or less subjective response, is  itself calling for an objective judgment.) Clarification would then be needed regarding definitions or concepts. Thus, “intolerant” typically suggests a general trait and not simply a response to a single individual or on a single occasion (though it can do that too). This suggests a way for me to have access to a judgment of my own (in)tolerance from “inside,” since I can ask myself, “Do I find other people intolerable too?” And when I undertook this self-examination, I did indeed discover that I find just about everybody intolerable after a while.  

But does even that decide the issue? I don’t think so. For one thing, it could be true both that I tend to find people intolerable and that some of those people are genuinely intolerable, i.e., just about anybody would judge them so. Another possibility is that everybody else really is out of step but Joel … or Sally; for example, perhaps a woman who judges all the men in her society to be intolerable (sexists) is simply correct even if the majority, including of other women, think it is just she who is intolerant. To return to my own case: Yet another possibility is that my level of intolerance is not at all exceptional; perhaps we all would realize if we thought about it that other people are best taken in small doses, at least after a certain age (of oneself and/or them). But that wouldn’t decide the issue either, since it could just mean we’re all intolerant … or become so (relative to younger ages) when we become a certain age.

In the end I think there is no hard and fast divide between subjective and objective. It may be more or less useful with regard to this or that concept or in this or that circumstance to place the divide in one position or another on a continuum. And I do certainly find it useful to recognize this.