“Objectivity”* ‘There are at least three sides to every debate—yours, mine and the truth.’
1) figuring out if we agree or disagree with each other (which may be more difficult if we don’t share a language. If we use different words for the same things that’s confusing).
2) You and I may both be right and wrong (because we believe more than one thing). If we both ignore each other and don’t operate in good faith, we may learn nothing from each other, despite how much we can learn from each other.
B.
1) Resolution. Do disagreements between people have to last forever, or do we think it better when they do not? Even if we did disagree with someone about something for a long time, finding common ground might be good/useful.
Perhaps if we look at a lot of philosophy, we will find a lot of truth/good stuff and false/not very good stuff from the same author/school of thought. Being able to engage with different views, and see through them (peer through the lens), and also see through them (there’s a smudge on these glasses/these sunglasses make it easier to see when the sun is too bright (perhaps a ‘subjective or objective’ phenomenon), but hard at night). Rather than tying ourselves to one rock, why not see the whole mountain?
(Explanations involving the notion “holistic” may be useful, but I haven’t gone down that road.)
2) It’s good to learn from more than one source. (Through one lens what everyone agrees on is probably right. Through another, widespread agreement indicates error—perhaps a result of widespread censorship or lack of engagement.)
3) The people you’re talking to have strong moral opinions on some issues?
C.
Distinguish areas which have answers from areas which don’t:
You and I may both like different flavors of icecream. Which is better depends on the person (or perhaps their tongue). In matters of taste...
Someone can choose to smoke if they wish. But being aware of its strong negative impacts we might hold some things to be (especially) wrong, including: forcing people to smoke.
(Morality is where things get complicated.)
*What is “objective”? What is seen through a human eye, or what is seen through a cat’s eye, or what is seen through a telescope?
Objective is what is there.
Objective is what a human eye sees in an art gallery, and what a cat sees. For a particular art gallery, a human may see tapestries, while a cat may see loose threads they can pull if they climb up there.
(There are alternatives to ‘objective’, perhaps those you disagree with reject the notion of the ‘one eye’, rather than ‘the true thing which is seen’. Perhaps using fancy words won’t help.)
If you have a friend that shares your taste in music, and they recommend an album, it’s probably going to be good. If you recommend things to each a lot, maybe these recommendations are not always good, but usually good—and sometimes they’re amazing.
Perhaps when your tastes in music diverge in an area where they overlap it is interesting to learn why. (Not all things (that are interesting) are easy to put into words.)
You could try to explain your perspective:
A.
Here are some of the benefits to communication:
“Objectivity”* ‘There are at least three sides to every debate—yours, mine and the truth.’
1) figuring out if we agree or disagree with each other (which may be more difficult if we don’t share a language. If we use different words for the same things that’s confusing).
2) You and I may both be right and wrong (because we believe more than one thing). If we both ignore each other and don’t operate in good faith, we may learn nothing from each other, despite how much we can learn from each other.
B.
1) Resolution. Do disagreements between people have to last forever, or do we think it better when they do not? Even if we did disagree with someone about something for a long time, finding common ground might be good/useful.
Perhaps if we look at a lot of philosophy, we will find a lot of truth/good stuff and false/not very good stuff from the same author/school of thought. Being able to engage with different views, and see through them (peer through the lens), and also see through them (there’s a smudge on these glasses/these sunglasses make it easier to see when the sun is too bright (perhaps a ‘subjective or objective’ phenomenon), but hard at night). Rather than tying ourselves to one rock, why not see the whole mountain?
(Explanations involving the notion “holistic” may be useful, but I haven’t gone down that road.)
2) It’s good to learn from more than one source. (Through one lens what everyone agrees on is probably right. Through another, widespread agreement indicates error—perhaps a result of widespread censorship or lack of engagement.)
3) The people you’re talking to have strong moral opinions on some issues?
C.
Distinguish areas which have answers from areas which don’t:
You and I may both like different flavors of icecream. Which is better depends on the person (or perhaps their tongue). In matters of taste...
Someone can choose to smoke if they wish. But being aware of its strong negative impacts we might hold some things to be (especially) wrong, including: forcing people to smoke.
(Morality is where things get complicated.)
*What is “objective”? What is seen through a human eye, or what is seen through a cat’s eye, or what is seen through a telescope?
Objective is what is there.
Objective is what a human eye sees in an art gallery, and what a cat sees. For a particular art gallery, a human may see tapestries, while a cat may see loose threads they can pull if they climb up there.
(There are alternatives to ‘objective’, perhaps those you disagree with reject the notion of the ‘one eye’, rather than ‘the true thing which is seen’. Perhaps using fancy words won’t help.)
If you have a friend that shares your taste in music, and they recommend an album, it’s probably going to be good. If you recommend things to each a lot, maybe these recommendations are not always good, but usually good—and sometimes they’re amazing.
Perhaps when your tastes in music diverge in an area where they overlap it is interesting to learn why. (Not all things (that are interesting) are easy to put into words.)