What is objective truth? What is subjective truth? My truth! Your truth! Our truth! Truth can only be objective! No! Truth can be objective! Truth can be subjective! For the most part, these were what I was hearing while I spent over 3 hours of my time watching a very interesting argument on YouTube yesterday.
Before you continue reading, what do you think? Is truth objective or subjective?
Well, that’s why you are here, and one truth I can tell you is that you are reading this article at this very moment; obviously. This boils back to the question whether truth is objective or subjective.
Is Truth Objective or Subjective?
According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Scientific truth is objective and verified through proof and is, or at the very least, ought to be universally recognized. On the contrary, the subjective truth depends on the perspective and opinion of others, which is where things can get difficult.
An example of subjective truth is the statement, “Chocolate ice cream is the best flavor.” This statement reflects a personal opinion or preference and may not necessarily be true for everyone.
What is Objective Truth
When something is objective, it corresponds with reality, so it is true. The objective truth applies to all people, regardless of whether they believe it. In the past, this was simply referred to as “truth.”
The objective is the opposite of subjective; if someone says, “The 1967 Chevy Corvette, the 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL, or any pre-1974 Porsche 911 are the coolest cars ever made,” He is making a subjective claim; it’s just the personal opinion of a single person. It is impossible to evaluate that opinion against reality; it cannot be assessed without regard to the opinions of others. Some people may either endorse or disapprove of the statement based only on their own equally subjective views. In some cases, it’s impossible to prove that a statement made by a person’s subjective viewpoint has any validity in any significant sense; however, in the modern world, one could declare, “It is MY truth,” which puts subjectivism in a new way. In the past, “my truth” would have been more appropriately referred to as “my opinion.”
A factual statement that is objective, that is, it has a certain relationship to reality, regardless of any biases or feelings. If someone says, “I own a car,” the person is making an objective claim. If the person is an owner of a car, that claim is accurate. If the person does not own a car, then the assertion is not true. The validity or falsity of the assertion does not depend on the subjective opinions of others.
In the last few years, there has been a backlash against the notion of objective fact. Things that were once believed to be objective are now classified as subjective; for example, the basic phrase “God exists” was, in the past, accepted as an objective truth. It was possible for people to agree or disagree, but everybody considered it an objective declaration of the external world; the majority of people agreed with the assertion; however, even atheists who did not agree with it treated the statement objectively, stating that it was true or not.
In the past 30 to 40 years, brand-new reaction has gained a lot of popularity. Instead of interpreting the phrase “God exists” as an objective statement, people began to consider the statement as subjective. Instead of arguing or agreeing, it could be something similar to “That is your truth; God exists for you, but He doesn’t for me.” The emphasis has changed from subjectivity (which seeks correspondence to objects in the real world) to objectiveness (based on the individual making the claim). Nowadays, it is commonplace to see all claims concerning theology or religion as subjective opinions; obviously, every person has the right to their own opinions.
In the last few years, we’ve witnessed subjective opinions elevated to the status of objective truth. If someone is adamant about “his truth” or “her truth,” then everybody else has to accept that as “truth” as well, at least in some “politically correct” sense; this is evident with the latest developments regarding transgender questions. In the past, gender was thought to be an objective matter; a person was either male or female according to a set of externally verified, objective guidelines. In the present, certain cultural forces are trying to make gender a subjective issue, or some will claim they are doing it objectively. Anyone who chooses to identify as female accepts “his truth” or, as the forces of culture, would like us to say, “her truth.” Even though transgenderism can be described as “subjective,” his or her subjective truth must be considered objective. If someone suggests that the gender chosen by the transgender person is “their truth,” then the person has committed an inexplicable crime. The subjective has been elevated up to the status of the objective, and the objective has been denigrated to the level of the subjective. The world has been flipped upside down.
Reality has a way of interfering with people’s opinions; however hard they try, how can one escape objective truth? Someone who states that one can decide his gender is, in reality, making an assertion that is objective; the statement can be either true or not. The person making the statement won’t be content if you believe this is “their truth.” They will insist that it is a factual statement that is valid for all.
The Objective Truth in Philosophy
The concept of objective truth is that, regardless of what we consider to be the truth, there will be certain facts that are certain to be true, and others will always be untrue. What we believe, however, they may be in reality, is not a factor in the facts that surround us. That which is true is always true, even if we stop believing it and even if we stop existing at all.
Postmodernism is a philosophical approach to life that acknowledges the existence of truth as objective; however, it denies that we will ever be able to know it with certainty, as we are all affected by various forces of culture that influence our judgment. Postmodernism says it is only ignorance and pride that allow people to claim, “I know this is true.” When postmodernists assert that “It is impossible to know anything for sure,” they make an objective assertion: If it is impossible to know anything for sure, then they can’t know that it is impossible.
In the end, fact and opinion are not the same; objective truth is the opposite of (subjective) opinions. It is possible to argue about whether a statement is subjective or objective; if it’s objective, people may debate about whether or not it’s true. Whatever the case, there is no way to deny that truth is objective. In the past, the role of the Christian was to prove the truthfulness of the biblical claims. Today, the job of the Christian is made more difficult due to the fact that, prior to speaking about the truthfulness of the Bible, the Christian has to often convince the audience that truth exists, particularly in relation to religions.
Who Believes in Objective Truth?
Most people believe that the truth is unbiased and independent of their beliefs and functioning minds. Many people believe their clothes will still be stored in their closets by morning despite having thought about them at night.
Why do People Believe in Objective Truth?
Why would you choose to take this view? The majority of our experience supports the idea. We do indeed discover our clothing in closets each morning; sometimes, our keys get tucked away, located in the kitchen and not in the hallway, as we think. Anywhere we go, events happen, regardless of what we think. There doesn’t seem to be any proof of events happening because we wish for them to; if they were to happen, the world could be chaotic and unstable since everyone would be wishing for various things.
The question of prediction is crucial, and it’s for the reason that scientific research is based on the assumption of truths that are objective and independent. In the field of science, determining the truthfulness of a hypothesis is done by making predictions and then conducting tests to determine if those predictions are correct. When they are, the theory gains credibility; if they don’t, the theory has evidence to disprove it.
The procedure is based on the principle that tests can either be successful or fail, irrespective of the research findings. If the tests are planned and carried out correctly, no matter how many people involved believe they will succeed, there’s always the chance that it could fail. If this were not the case, there wouldn’t be any reason to conduct tests, would there? Whatever people came up with would be “true,” and that would be the end of it.
The world doesn’t operate that way, and if it did, then we would not be able to operate within it. Every action we take is based on the assumption that there are things that are truthful and without regard to us, and therefore, truth should, in actuality, be objective. Right?
While there may be extremely good logical and practical reasons to believe the truth to be objective, is it enough to claim that we can be sure it is true? It may be if you are a pragmatist, but not everyone is. We must ask whether the conclusions we draw are valid at all, and it appears that there are a few grounds for doubt. These arguments spawned the Skepticism philosophy in ancient Greece; it is more of a philosophical view rather than a school of thought and has a significant influence on the philosophy of today.
Argument of Subjective and Objective Truth
This argument consists of only two bases.
The first principle is a concept known as the equivalence scheme, in which the truth will always differ from how things happen. For instance, the truth about whether dogs bark will depend on whether dogs bark or not in the first place. The equivalence scheme says that for any claim or proposition p, the following holds: p if and only if p is true.
If this seems trivial to you, then that’s good because it is trivial (even though it has significant implications that we’ll explore soon), and if it doesn’t seem trivial, you are probably reading something into it that isn’t there. For instance, it’s crucial not to misinterpret the equivalence theory with the “theory of correspondence,” although it is controversial in terms of philosophical theory, the equivalence scheme is simply a concept that every theory about truth needs to accept to be a theory about truth instead of being a theory of something different. To determine if the equivalence theory is a conceptual concept, take a look at this:
- “The Earth is round, but it is not true that the Earth is round.”
- “The Earth is not round, but it is true that the Earth is round.”
Can you see that the sentences I’ve written are illogical?
The second argument is that many statements refer to aspects of the universe that are independent of us and our customs, language, or even our attitudes. For instance, the proposition that the Sun is roughly spherical is about something, the shape of the Sun that is independent of us. It is the same for a majority of the claims that make up the basis of the mathematicians and natural sciences, like the assertions that bacteria cause illness. By contrast, propositions about proper spelling, grammar, etiquette, and fashion are aspects of the world that depend on us and our attitudes, conventions, and social practices. The most important aspect to remember is that, at a minimum, many assertions concern objective issues.
The shape of the Sun is unaffected by us, and since what we know about the shape of the Sun is determined by the shape of the Sun (following the equivalence scheme), it is clear that the truth about the shape Sun is fixed independent of us. Therefore, the truth about how the Sun is shaped Sun is objective. This basic argument can be repeated for other arguments, the result being that truth objectively is plentiful.
Read More: Objective And Subjective Reasoning: How It Affects Our Decisions
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What are Some Objective Truths in the Universe?
Something I’ve thought about for a while. Are there facts that remain true regardless of the person who observes them? Do you think that absolute objectivity is possible? I believe that it’s a lot like .999 continuing is 1.
As Plato pointed out 2,300 years ago, the claim that there are no objective truths is self-refuting. Consider the following proposition: P.
P: “There are no objective truths.”
Is P objectively true? If it is, then there is at least one objective truth: P itself. But since P denies the existence of objective truths, it undermines itself. If, on the other hand, P isn’t objectively true, then there’s no good reason to believe P. So either way, there’s no good reason to deny that they’re objective truths.
Greg Klebanoff.
Objective truth: Existence exists.
I think what you are looking for is the concept of axiom – a fact that is so fundamentally true that to deny the axiom destroys the argument being made.
For instance, if I argued that existence did not exist – my argument is immediately destroyed by the fact that if existence did not exist, I wouldn’t exist; therefore, there would be no “me” to argue that existence didn’t exist!
Michael P. Cronin.
In order to “filter” reality through a “lens,” there must first be a reality to filter, and there must be a lens through which to filter it.
Whether one chooses to believe that reality is what it seems or is actually something else, in neither case can one escape the objective truth that something exists. Therefore, “existence” is an objective truth.
Tom Lahti.
Consciousness exists because in order to deny it, first, we have to use it. No animal that doesn’t have it can deny it.
Existence exists – In order to deny it, first you have to exist.
A is A – A pen is a pen, a box is a box, a leaf is a leaf, and so on. To say otherwise is a contradiction where both can’t be true at the same time.
John Edwards.
Conclusion
The notion of objective truth is a key aspect of human understanding. It is the notion that some truths and concepts are independent of human perception and interpretation. While our subjective perspectives and experiences can influence how we see and perceive realities, objective reality is an unchanging and indestructible basis for understanding the world. Despite the difficulties and challenges involved in identifying and confirming the objective truth, it remains an essential task for people and societies because it aids us in navigating the world’s complexities with more clarity, coherence, and meaning.
If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.
C. S. Lewis
