A Diatribe on Objectivity

The most meaningless point someone can use in an argument is one claiming “objectively”. Stating that something is objectively true, objectively false or objectively objective. Opinions can't be objective. Even most facts are really just opinions based on facts, and therefore are also subjective to the person. Anything idea that we think, any “fact” that we believe are and can only be seen through our own perspective, where we filter anything we hear through layers of abstraction before reaching our mind. Whether something is correct or not depends on our own, heavily biased, contextual minds. Anything we think is a product of our upbringing or even genetics. It is impossible to view something from a detached, impartial viewpoint, because even the concept of an impartial judge is based on our preconceptions of such a thing.

Context matters. It matters a lot. To look at something without its context is barely looking at it at all. Take someone else's opinion. Do you agree with it? Maybe, maybe not. But any person with intelligence wouldn't judge the person based solely on this one opinion, as if the context in which it was said, and the context of the person in question didn't matter. Here's a case study: murder. Intentional murder of another human. Surely that must be wrong? Well it all depends on context. Is the murder of a terrorist moments before he blows himself wrong? What about abortion? Euthanasia? Suicide? They are all the intentional ending of another persons life, but yet whether they are “wrong” or not is subjective.

And for this reason, I think that objectivity is not only a trap and fallacy, but also is a bad one. Nobody should strive for objectivity, personal biases are what make humans people. They literally are our personality. When you try to look at something objectively, you are disregarding everything you have learnt through your life, any prior knowledge is cast away as a bias. If a court judge looked at everything through the cold eyes of a robot, he wouldn't last too long. The context matters, and it matters a lot. Maybe it is the only thing that matters? Well that depends on your personal opinion crafted over the course of your entire life and shaped into whatever world views you currently hold. Nothing is objectively right, nothing is objectively wrong; and don't pretend it is.