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Objectivity is Our Shared Subjectivity

coberst

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Objectivity is Our Shared Subjectivity

Fingerprint and now DNA analysis are what I would call the epitome of objective truth. I say this because these two human characteristics are defining evidence upon which we judge a person guilty and thereby subject to the death penalty.

Fingerprints are very subjective in that they can change substantially as result of very subjective circumstances. My fingerprint can change significantly today from what they were yesterday.

How is it possible that some things so subjective and unique as DNA and fingerprints can determine objectively whether a person is executed or set free?

Fingerprints and DNA objectivity is based upon the structural integrity of both. That is to say that because both human characteristics are structured for every normal human being in exactly the same manner we can identify one unique individual within billions of individuals. So it is with the case of human experience. Because all normal humans structure cognition in the same manner we can identify that which is objective in human thoughts.

Objectivity is our shared subjectivity.


My second son, Mike, was a blanket boy. He spent a good part of his first 24 months with a thumb in his mouth and a blanket in his arms. If we left the house with Mike we checked and double checked that we did not leave his ‘blanky’ behind. After 24 months the blanky was nothing more than a scrap of shredded cloth. He would not accept a substitute.

Absolute truth is our blanky. DickandJane become very anxious when their security blanket, i.e. absolute truth, is not in hand.

Objectivism is a fundamentalist philosophy. It believes that reality is something external to the brain and that the task of the brain is to gain knowledge about this external reality.

Right/wrong and true/false are considered to be objective criteria rather than subjective criteria. Objectivism posits perfect knowledge and assumes such knowledge is obtainable. I think that such views have been discredited.

The myth of objectivism says that: the world is made up of objects that have properties completely independent of those who perceive them; we understand our world through our consciously constructed concepts and categories; “we can say things that are objectively, absolutely true, and unconditionally true and false about it…we cannot rely upon subjective judgments…science can ultimately give a correct, definitive, and general account of reality”; words have fixed meaning that can describe reality correctly. To be objective is to be rational.

The myth of subjectivism informs us that our senses and intuition is our best guide. Feelings are the most important elements of our lives. Aesthetic sensibilities and moral practices are all totally subjective. “Art and poetry transcend rationality and objectivity and put us in touch with more important reality of our feelings and intuitions. We gain this awareness through imagination rather than reason…Science is of no use when it comes to the most important things in our lives.”

The new paradigm of cognitive science rejects both objectivism and subjectivism. I believe in this new cognitive science, which theorizes that objectivity is a shared subjectivity.

Objectivity is shared subjectivity. Objective truth is a misnomer; there is only shared truth/false and there is only shared good/bad.

Objectivity is shared subjectivity. We create reality in our brain. If you and I create the same reality then we have a shared subjectivity. We cannot know the thing-in-itself, as Kant informs us and is easily recognized if we focus upon it.

I would say that reality comes in two forms; the thing-in-itself is the reality that Kant informs us that we cannot know and then we have the reality that our brain creates. This reality we create is aided by the senses and is congruent with how our body interacts with the thing-in-itself. If the interaction between the thing-in-itself and the creature’s embodied mind is too far off--the creature quickly becomes toast.

Most people are objectivist in many ways; do you still comfort yourself with blanky?


Quotes from Moral Imagination Mark Johnson (coauthor of Philosophy in the Flesh)
 

zdave

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Wow, O.K.

I'd say that most of that is full of very strange information. If I find a woman who was choked to death, then I find your fingerprints (and only yours) around the victims neck, a hair sample in the room with the body and some of your own blood splatter (your DNA) on the walls then I'd say most people would think you had done the crime... and they have every right to. You're confusing objectivity with assumption without evidence, where objectivity is a logical derivative from an assumption with evidence.

Interesting thoughts though.
 
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SK'sFriend

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IMO, trying to help someone understand the subjective nature of what to them they deem as objective is the most exhaustive enterprise one can involve themselves in. Like trying to explain to a believer that until one believes for themselves that a god exists, then for them it is irrelevant as to what type of god it is. It is this shared objectivity that a god exists that gives the illusion of it not being subjective. In the case of a god however, this in no way proves that it does not exist.
 
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coberst

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Wow, O.K.

I'd say that most of that is full of very strange information. Interesting thoughts though.

You are correct. SGCS has developed new and revolutionary theories that are contrary to our cultural tradition. I think that in three generations these new theories will peremiate our (American) culture.
 
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coberst

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IMO, trying to help someone understand the subjective nature of what to them they deem as objective is the most exhaustive enterprise one can involve themselves in. Like trying to explain to a believer that until one believes for themselves that a god exists, then for them it is irrelevant as to what type of god it is. It is this shared objectivity that a god exists that gives the illusion of it not being subjective. In the case of a god however, this in no way proves that it does not exist.

I doubt that one will ever prove the existence or the none existence of God or gods.
 
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Jig

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Objectivity is Our Shared Subjectivity

Fingerprint and now DNA analysis are what I would call the epitome of objective truth. I say this because these two human characteristics are defining evidence upon which we judge a person guilty and thereby subject to the death penalty.

DNA evidence fails when applied to someone who is an identical twin, triplet, etc.

If your identical twin raped someone, the DNA evidence points to both of you, not just your twin. If your identical twin impregnates a woman, the DNA evidence says both brothers can be the father. The objective truth is that only one is though.




 
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