In today's class we introduced the distinction between objective and subjective: For example, Descartes believes the self is an objectively-existing thing (the soul,) while Buddha believes the self is a subjective, imaginary idea (the "ego" or self-image). Similarly, Socrates believes questions of good and bad have objectively-true right answers, while David Hume claims that all of our beliefs about good and bad are subjective opinions. Your goal for this post is to explain where you think we can draw the line between subjective and objective. Are all beliefs subjective, or are there objective truths (and maybe even objective answers about what is good)? Give an example to back this up. You should post a link to your example if possible. Try to get us thinking! P.S. If you want to know what to study for the quiz, download this little study guide I made:
45 Comments
Emily Fitzgerald
9/14/2016 02:12:13 pm
Drawing the line between what is subjective and what is objective is extremely difficult for me. I think that all of the philosophers we spoke about in class made valid points, so it's hard to pick which perspective I side with most. I tend to think more on the subjective side. I strongly believe that different things mean different things to different people based on opinions and experiences. However, there are other phenomenons that just are. For example in the spring, flowers bloom and in the fall they die, all due to climate change. About every 12 hours or so it gets dark outside and its night time. In another 12 hours the sun will rise and it will be a new day. We live in cycles, and I think that most people have grown to accept that objectively. Although, how we experience these cycles are completely different, making our views on them subjective. For example, some people suffer from seasonal affective disorder, meaning they grow depressed during certain times of the year. That absolutely doesn't hold true for everyone, because we all have different experiences with times of the year. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder/basics/definition/con-20021047
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Marissa Seely
9/14/2016 02:30:06 pm
I was really interested in what we talked about in class today regarding Laozi, because I agree strongly with a lot of his points. Some truths in life are absolutely objective. We were all born, and one day, we will all die. It is inevitable, and once born, even if your future path can't be determined, you will have a path. That much we know for sure. I also agree with Laozi in the sense that everything is a cycle, which is evident in day and night, seasons, human development, the positions of the stars, etc. Aside from what is set in stone scientifically, such as the examples I just listed, I'm set on the idea that all beliefs are subjective. There isn't a wrong answer, or a right one to be found, as Socrates (obsessively) suggests. Although I agree with him in the sense that we should live lives of intellect and strive to be better people, I don't believe there is a perfect way to be. I think everyone has their own individually perfect way to be, and that is for them to discover on their own.
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Corbin N.
9/14/2016 02:49:41 pm
Drawing the line between subjective and objective thoughts and answers is a very difficult task. In everyday life, there are certain stages which many deem to be objective, such as birth and death, but what are we to say there isn't another way of life beyond birth and death? The whole concept of philosophy - to question everything until even your dog is tired of hearing you ask "why" - is based upon subjective thoughts. If everything as we knew it was objective, there would be no real answers to be had, other than "it is because it is." Honestly, where's the fun in that? Sure, there may be certain things that we, as the human race, know to be objective (birth and death) but there's no way to disprove some kind of afterlife where, instead of birth and death, there's xneorg, betheeorg, maloop and ghrunk.
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Katherine Godinez
9/14/2016 04:14:19 pm
I believe there's a fine line between subjective and objective things. I feel it all contributes to the way we were raised, if we weren't taught the things we were or told good from wrong, would we think the wrong things are ok to do? Different places around the world hold on to different values and ways of life. We were taught how to think, how to what, what not to do. we all view things differently due to our perspective, we view things and make sense of it compared to the things we know. There are many things we cannot explain, but we just know they are true. we are all made up of cells and different elements combined in a bunch, yet we react in different ways to things.For example, religion, some people believe in it , some don't. its a matter of perceptive on life. But one thing we do all know, is that the sun goes down at a certain point of the day and that in New Jersey the seasons change, the leaves turn colors and fall from the trees during fall. i believe subjective is just a matter of beliefs, and values. while Objective is something that science can break down and explain to us, the why, where, when, hows, etc. The objective might just be what makes sense to us.. what we grasp on to as the explanation of something for the comfort of not really knowing if anything in the world actually IS.
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Max Portman
9/14/2016 04:44:54 pm
Boy, do I have an OPINION on this.
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Meghan Pawlak
9/15/2016 01:05:48 pm
Is this suppose to be a trick question? My answer to this could be objective or subjective. I could say 'yes, Hume is the most right' or 'Buddha man, he's got it all wrong'. My line on where subjective ends and objective begins or vice versa is literally subjective as well as if there is even a line to be drawn. If I had to pick one I would say that Hume is what I agree with the most, what could be good for me could be bad for someone else. Take sexuality for example; a girl loving a girl is fine by me but to a homophobe it would be wrong. I believe in black lives matter but my father would say all lives matter. Maybe I'm right and maybe I'm wrong maybe I both I have no idea. No one has any idea except those who have an objective perspective despite that being a contradiction, even then it's subjective.
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Tara
9/15/2016 01:26:06 pm
I think everything is subjective and that beliefs are a combination of both knowledge and perspective. There are things that collectively as a society people believe are right and wrong, but that doesn’t make them objective. When a group of people believe in the same things it gives the illusion that those things are objectively right and wrong and that’s it. But what about others’ perspectives? In The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry the narrator drew an elephant that had been swallowed by a snake; however, to his parents it looked like a hat. The boy believed it to be what he had drawn, an elephant that had been swallowed by a snake. The adults on the other hand had believed it to be what they had seen, a hat. Their differing views was all based off their different perspectives. Because perspective has such a great influence on beliefs i think that all beliefs are subjective because who is to decide what’s right and wrong when they aren’t seeing from the opposite perspective? To be lame and quote one of my favorite twenty one pilots songs “a kitchen sink to you, is not a kitchen sink to me”.
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Michael Deitz
9/15/2016 02:23:53 pm
So subjective and objective both have to do with knowledge, whether you know something and if there's fact behind and blah blah blah. While there are objectives in life, like we live and die and math has concrete answers, I'm always of the mind that what one wants to think is up to them. Films, art, color, thoughts, books, how we speak, these are all subjective and different, there is no one single end all be all reason to like a movie or reason that Atticus Finch is the best character throughout literature (hey at least I think he is). But that's the thing. We all are different, so personal tastes aren't fact to fight over, they're opinions and reasons to converse with everyone and learn the most you can in life. Schrodinger couldn't decide if his cat was dead or not, so where's the fact there right? If we can't choose the color of a freaking dress via objective fact, then what is objective? Well that's really up to us to believe, everything is our choice in the end, we have free will, for all that's worth. It's the greatest flaw of humanity. Free Will. Let's make it an advantage.
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Michael Deitz
9/15/2016 02:27:52 pm
Better Schrodinger Cat video!
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Michelle Mazzucca
9/15/2016 03:14:02 pm
It is truly hard for me to pick a side about whether I believe all subjective beliefs are wrong/right and the same goes for objective. On the other hand, the two are completely different things. People can have different opinions and there is nothing wrong with that. Yet again, I do believe that there is only one true answer to certain things. It all really depends. For example. I may believe in something that somebody else disagrees with, and that is perfectly fine. I beieve that things work the way they are supposed to be, but there are different ways to get to the correct path. Others might say there is only one way to succeed. In contrast, there is no denying that the sun goes up at a certain time in the morning, and there is a sunset at night. Overall, it all depends on the question of what is being asked whether there is one true answer, or several different answers.
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Paige Whittle
9/15/2016 03:19:16 pm
It is difficult to draw a clear line between what is subjective and what is objective. Subjective can be defined as being "based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes or opinion", and synonyms for the word include things such as "personal" or "individual". This connects to the word belief because when referring to one's belief, it is known as his or her belief, which is personal and individual. This can make us come to the conclusion that all beliefs are subjective. With objective being defined as the complete opposite of subjective, some may say anything objective is truth. I think of objective as things that can be proven, such as scientific facts. I believe that there are no objective answers as to what is good. Different cultures believe that different things are morally good, and these opinions can be made based on the society around them, religion, or traditions. For example, ancient cultures thought it was good to sacrifice people, while people today may argue that killing people for any reason is inhumane and wrong. Just as there can be no objective truth about whether abortion is good, many things cannot be objectively defined as "good". Each individual has their own beliefs as to what is good. Some people may think it is good to bring down others if it helps themselves in some way, while others may think this is bad and selfish. It would be difficult to get the world to agree on objective answers about what is good since everyone has gone through different experiences that shape their thinking about what is truly good.
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Izzy Halloran
9/15/2016 03:21:05 pm
Wow, this topic nearly stumped me. A few moments ago, I was pretty confident that I agreed with Hume that the difference between good and bad is subjective. I was ready to stand firm to my opinion that all forms of art and beauty are subjective, and science is objective. That was until I thought about the great affects that society has on our perception of not only people, but also literature, art, music, etc. One thing that has always fascinated me was beauty. What is beautiful, is beauty something that we made up? So I took to the internet to seek answers for my many questions. I immediately came upon an app called "FaceSym" in which I uploaded a picture of my face and was shown what I would look like if my face were perfectly symmetrical. I was truly shocked at the answers because I liked the symmetrical version of my face better than the actual picture. That got me thinking some pretty scary thoughts, like what if I never truly had my own perception of what was beautiful? It is extremely possible that society has conditioned me to see symmetrical faces as more "beautiful." Therefore, I have arrived at the conclusion that I cannot make a conclusion. Even though it seems to me like beauty is objective, there are definitely people who disagree.
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Adam Fioretti
9/15/2016 03:50:34 pm
My opinion on Objective and Subjective/Facts and Opinions is that I don't really think that there is many things that are objective. There is definitely more Subjective then Objective. For instance the first picture with the kids looking at the tree all the kids were thinking subjectively because all those things had to do with the tree. Sometimes trees have apples and sometimes they are cut down to make paper money. The first kid who was thinking it was just a plain old tree is correct in my mind because that is what it is, its just a tree. I am not saying the other kids are wrong but I think that 1st kid had the right idea about the tree. That is objective. Here's a perfect example of subjective, your red may be a different shade or even color than mine. Those are subjective because someone one day just said oh well that is red when really some people may think red is more pinkish then maroon. Its all opinion, perspective, and subjective.
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Dahlia Mozino
9/15/2016 04:04:22 pm
In this life, a lot of people believe there are only subjective truths, and I would like to be a part of that school of thought, but there are some things that cannot be a matter of perspective. You can easily look at an apple and say "this is an orange", but you can't say you were not born or that you will not die. Yes, depending on where you live or what your belief system is, good and evil can have entirely different definitions. As I said in class, when I was a wee bab, I would think "If we think our cause in war is good, and that the other guys are bad, then do they think we're bad? Is that why they're fighting?", and little toddler me had a surprisingly correct idea of how morality worked.
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Kelly Farley
9/15/2016 04:16:52 pm
I believe that all beliefs are subjective because they are your own personal opinions. Your beliefs come from your different perspective which could be different than another person. Hume says that all our beliefs on good or bad are subjective to opinions. Socrates believes that questions of good and bad have objectively-true answers. In my opinion, I think that depending on a persons perspective, they will have different ideas of good and bad. Just because I large about of people subjectively believe that something is considered good does not mean that it is objectively good. I do not think there are objective truths about what is good, however most people do have subjective truths about what they consider to be good and bad.
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Corey Van Huff
9/15/2016 04:18:09 pm
Subjective truths are what society is built upon. We are given these standards by society that we are supposed to live up to. There are standards of what is beautiful, what is cool, what is or isn't appropriate and these are all things that aren't fact, just perspective based on a larger scale. That does not mean they are right, there were many who thought the earth was flat from their perspective when in reality it is round. So subjectivism and objectivism co-exist separately. There are scientific facts such as the earth orbits around the sun and fish breathe underwater. Say for instance I love Asparagus. Some guy could say Asparagus is disgusting. It's subjective so our opinions can both stand and everyone can just be at peace. The world is a balance of Subjective and Objective like most things on earth.
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Ryan munzlinger
9/15/2016 05:16:11 pm
Drawing the line between subjective and objective to me is all 100% a personal opinion. Which is really what philosophy is pretty much all about nothing is true facts it's all about how we experience the same things but perceive each thing differently. So we both watch the flowers die as winter comes same experience but you perception of them dieing is bad because there gone we don't get to see them again. But I can perceive the dead flowers as a good thing. Because they will resprout in spring bringing new life to the world. I agree that we can draw something's to objective and subjective like the season nightfall sunrise time and other natural occurring phenomenons we can all agree is objective. But drawing the line between what is objective and subjective to our opinions is what becomes the hard part. because it's all about that person's opinion and an opinion can't be wrong or right it's how they feel and think. Everyone feels and thinks differently so I don't think we can draw a clear line between subjective and objective.
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Will Weaver
9/15/2016 05:34:14 pm
It's hard to draw a line between these two topics because It all depends on your outlook on life. People look at different things in differently. But I believe that we should always try to find a equilibrium. Respect other people's beliefs and demand that other people respect yours. It all comes down to the topic and what your personal beliefs are. So to me I believe that there right really is not right answer to this debate it can go either way.
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Jack McNally
9/15/2016 06:05:14 pm
To me, the line between subjective and objective is pretty clear. All things that actually exist are objective, while all concepts that have been created by humans are subjective. For example, it is an objective truth that the Mona Lisa is a painting that exists, but whether or not it is a good painting or a bad painting is subjective. Even if every single individual in the world agrees that the Mona Lisa is a good painting, it’s beauty would still be objective, because it is based on opinion rather than fact. All beauty pageants, art contests, and the like, are won by subjective opinion. You can’t objectively state that one piece of art is objectively more aesthetically pleasing than another piece of art. As we discussed in class, there are certain attributes that make human beings more attractive, like symmetric faces. While this is an objective fact, human sexuality is much more complicated than facial symmetry, therefore leaving beauty to be subjective. I like the idea Hume puts out, that all statements are subjective until they can be proven true or false by the scientific method.
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Kiera Lee
9/15/2016 06:57:35 pm
On the topic of people's opinions and individual beliefs, yes, I do think that beliefs are subjective. Being raised in a religious home, personally, I have found as I have gotten older, I do not agree with everything they have tried to engrain into my head since I could first grasp it. Increasingly so and contrarily, I have developed my own ideas about religion, specifically organized religion. Because of the fact that, despite the people that I have lived with since birth, the two most influential people in my life, teaching me to believe this set way for so long, I am still able to create my own opinions on what I believe to be real and false, or even a combination of the two. This personal experience has led me to believe extremely in the subjective point-of-view. Everyone's experiences in their own personal life journey has led them to differing conclusions/thoughts. This is also ever-changing, as we grow older. But the thoughts are our own. Appreciation for different things in general, as another example, is a huge aspect in our world. A healthy one for the most part, I believe. That is the amazement of connecting with people you would have never thought you would/could. There is beauty in the subjective views, and appreciation for everyone's own.
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Erin McEvoy
9/15/2016 07:00:44 pm
Aaaa this is frustrating. Okay so the difference between objective and subjective is objective is fact and subjective is opinion. But if someone says "Led Zeppelin sucks." and someone else says "You're wrong! Led Zeppelin is the best band rock band of all time" etc etc.; those are both things that are subjective, but stated as objective. Or the fact that we were raised to think that school is 100% a great idea and were not wasting our time at all and that is a FACT–but its not its subjective! Which brings me to the classic "if a tree falls in the woods but no one is around to hear it does it make a sound?" question. Some people may answer with "Of course it makes a sound! Cause and effect! The tree snapping and hitting the ground would cause the noise!" but technically, since no one was around to hear it, there is no solid proof that the tree made a noise. It's a similar thing with beauty. If 8/10 people in a focus group say that Margot Robbie is the hottest chick around, that doesn't mean it is objective. Even the worlds ugliest dog has an owner who loves him very much. There is a very fine line between subjective and objective but I believe that almost everything is subjective.
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Sofia Fernandes
9/15/2016 07:08:45 pm
In order to draw the line between what is objective and subjective, we must look into both ourselves and the world around us. When it comes to deciding what is good and bad, I believe that some things can be considered objective. If an action makes both the person doing the action and the person being affected by the action feel negative feelings, the action is objectively wrong. An example of this would be if a person kills someone out of anger, they may feel regrets afterwards. The friends and family of the person who was murdered will feel sorrow and grief. Neither side of the issue feels good about the action, therefore it was objectively bad. On the other hand, if one side of the issue feels good while the other feels bad, it’s usually objectively true that if the side that is receiving the action has more people who feel negative, the action was bad. An example of this would be if a kidnapper were to kidnap a young child. Maybe the kidnapper was watching the child for weeks and noticed that his parents were fighting often. The kidnapper may feel that it is only the right thing to do to “rescue” the child and take him away from his parents. As a result of this, the child will feel frightened and upset and the parents will be stressed and devastated. Also, the child’s friends, extended family members, and teachers will worry and long for the child’s return. Meanwhile, the one single kidnapper feels that they did the right thing. In this situation, the balance of good intentions versus bad feelings clearly shows that the action was objectively bad. When the amount of people doing something with good intentions negatively influence the same exact amount of people, that is when it cannot be decided whether or not the action was objectively good or bad. This is because we have no way of measuring a person’s emotions, therefore we cannot determine how sad the influenced group was or exactly how pure the intentions of the “attacking” group were. In conclusion, the amount of people causing the action versus the amount of people affected by it determines whether or not the action is objectively good or bad.
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Henry Ehlers
9/15/2016 07:40:45 pm
To me personally, There seems to be a very clear line between objective and subjective, and it all comes down to adjectives and adverbs. if you don't use them and say something like "That is a tree," then you're being objective. But the minute you throw in a description like "That is a big tree," then it's subjunctive. maybe someone else has seen bigger. I dunno. If you say "That tree is growing," then you're being objective, but "That tree is growing fast," is clearly subjective. So from my perspective, anything perceived by a population's senses is actually there, and can therefore be spoke about objectively.
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Natalie Gunderson
9/15/2016 08:05:25 pm
I agree most with Laozi in the area of objective/subjective. There are simple truths to life that just are. There is no way to change them, you just have to deal with them(objective). However how you deal with the problems every human faces and also the ones that are individual to you is entirely up to you and will guide you into what is your path(subjective).
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Natalie
9/15/2016 08:07:08 pm
*definite
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Bella Glidden
9/15/2016 08:29:36 pm
Drawing the line between subjective and objective would be very difficult to do because it would be different for everyone. Not everyone believes in the same things so you could not make one general statement it would change depending on the person you asked. Subjective is so hard to make a general statement about because it is an opinion and not everyone has the same opinions. Subjective and objective is an example itself some people believe that subjective is what life is really about and others believe objective is. I really don't even think you would be able to draw a line unless it was for yourself because you do not know what other people think.
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Young Chen
9/15/2016 08:56:40 pm
I believe the line between what's is subjective and what is objective can be clearly drawn. I'm am a big believer of the scientific theory and believe all things that are proven to be true are objective, while things that aren't are subjective. I believe that all the beliefs we have are subjective until proven accurate and true. I think beliefs can't be objective because many of them can't be proven and or backed up with evidence. An example of this would be like someone saying the Hennessey Venom GT is the fastest car in the world(objective), while others would say that it's not (subjective). It has been proven that the Hennessey Venom GT is the fastest car in the world, but other peoples beliefs would say different.
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Tyhler Harty
9/15/2016 10:45:00 pm
I believe that that there is a clear line between the what is subjective and what is objective. I believe that someone needs to prove the subjective (with data) to become objective. An example of something subjective would people believing that communism can work as a form of government. Now an objective opinion would be that the Earth is round or that the the president of the United States of America is black. What this does show is that there is a between subjective and objective.
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Giulia Dostie
9/16/2016 02:48:50 am
This topic was difficult for me to comprehend because isn't my answer right now subjective? I believe the things that are objective can be proven by science, like air. It has been proven that humans can't live without air and that air is all around us and there is no denying that. But other than things that can't be scientifically proven can all be subjective, like art or music. So one could say that I believe with Hume who says that everything that is good or bad is subjective. But hasn't it been scientifically proven that there is no cure for cancer yet? Hasn't science not been able to create a treatment because there isn't one? A couple of weeks ago, my parents and I were talking about this and my parents strongly believe that there is a cure for cancer, not all types but certain ones, that people have created and just because the government didn't create that specific cure, they don't accept it, so the cure continues to be “unfound”. So after hearing all of this, I went to do some research and I found several articles that state the exact thing my parents were saying. But then this got me thinking, all of these articles are subjective and now the government running cancer foundations is subjective, so can you really trust everything in science to be objective? Now I feel extremely confused as to why the government wouldn't accept these treatments and why they would lie to the media about it. I know that air has been scientifically proven and there is no going around that, but now there are cures for cancer out there when the government is telling us there aren't, so are things that are subjective also found in science?
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Gabriella Lopez
9/16/2016 03:25:28 am
I agree with David Hume and his perception of subjective and objective. Going back to the previous blogs, we cannot prove anything in our world. Everything we see and experience is somewhat biased with opinions. Throughout our lifetime, the soul will hold onto significant experiences that will affect our reasoning in the future. For example, you just got out of jail. There attend a court case where a man is currently on trial for murder, but the only evidence is motive. No other suspects have popped up. You may say he's innocent to save him a life changing trip to jail, whereas someone else may say he is guilty because there is no other suspects. Without hard evidence, everything in our world becomes subjective. (By hard evidence I mean that a God has told us what is right and wrong.) Hard evidence would not be saying that the sun is yellow just because that is how we perceive it. Overall, our beliefs are all subjective, very little can be proven objective.
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Edith Torres
9/16/2016 04:09:50 am
The
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Edith Torres
9/16/2016 04:23:33 am
The world is built so that there are many decisions that we have to make. Between beauty and morality we need to chose which ones we believe are better. Or maybe we don't. Either way I believe that our decisions are both subjective and objective. When you think something is beautiful, there are times where a physical reaction occurs. If it's a person maybe your heart will beat fast, or if it's a beautiful view across a canyon then you smile wide and have you eyes wide open. Along with this, there are times when you have to think about whether something is right or wrong in your opinion. Even if your opinion is controlled by past experiences, you are still choosing to revisit those experiences with your decisions. Each thing you do is evaluated to see if it is better for your subjective mind and your objective mind.
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Kaitlyn Viola
9/16/2016 04:15:42 am
I believe that the line between subjective and objective can simply be drawn by subjects that are purely fact, and cannot be made untrue by opinion, personal experience, etc. No matter how popular one opinion may be, the opposing opinion is no less valid. An opinionated subject can really never be mistaken for objective because there is simply no amount of factual evidence that can prove it to be so. On the other hand, a fact is a fact. If the sky is blue, the sky is identified as blue. That is objective. Things like poetry or art, that stem from emotion, personal experience, etc., can be perceived in so many different ways by different individuals, that they simply cannot be objective, because an opinion can't be wrong.
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paige davis
9/16/2016 04:40:17 am
i think that you can draw the line between objective and subjective. i don think you can draw the line because it is all based on opinion and experiences in your life. i could think something is subjective or objective and it would be different from another person
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Emma Vollmuth
9/16/2016 04:55:47 am
I believe that there is really no line between objective and subjective. Besides things like we have 2 arms, 2 legs and basic things like that. Everything else in my opinion is open for interpretation. Not everyone thinks the same, and i dont beleve people should have to.
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Olivia Smelas
9/16/2016 06:35:33 am
The line between subjective and objective is not a black and white one, it is a boundary commented by philosophers of all beliefs, with no clear answer. On one hand, I completely agree with Buddha. Personally, I regard the self as Buddha does, a subjective, imaginary idea known as the "ego", but I agree more with David Hume in that what we consider good and bad are based on our subjective ideas and experiences. How can the self possibly be an objectively existing thing such as the soul when each person, each self, is so fantastically different? We are as people shaped by our subjective experiences, how we were raised by our parents, our perceptions of ourselves based on the opinions of others... It is therefore almost impossible for the soul/self to exist as an objective concept. Does each person even have a soul? If that person doesn't believe that they have the objective idea of a soul, why does it matter in the first place? Do we have objective souls? Do we have self-imposed self-images called egos? It honestly depends on the person you ask. But I think this only further reinforces my previous point, the self is a subjective ego formulated upon opinions, experiences and upbringing. I am being brought up Catholic, so I have personally always felt a connection to God, or some type of higher power I have yet to understand at all. What does this have to do with the self? My belief in a higher power affects my ego, it definitely is humbling and comforting. For a person being brought up in a non-religious family, this is an element lacking in their ego, and can affect what they personally believe. The soul often has religious associations, and I think this is another really indistinguishable barrier. On one hand, I was raised to believe that there is an afterlife with God, if you act rightly in your first shot at life, he will reward you with an everlasting soul, and home by his side. I have no idea how this coincides with the ego idea, nor am I sure if it even does coincide. Religion is a difficult concept to mesh with philosophical ideas of the self, but I think it is still quite important. As previously stated, I find myself connecting to Buddha's idea of the subjective self in that it is self-created. What lives on in the afterlife according to this theory and my religion both? Is it the ego? What exactly is the soul, is it in reality the same thing as the ego? I know I'm going off on a bit of a tangent, but I think it's important to say, I don't know if something as selfish and egotistical as the ego would be accepted into "afterlife" or "Heaven"... I believe the soul embodies more than just the personality of someone, but also combines their life experiences, bundling up all their trials and tribulations, victories and happiness to fully embody the essence of a person... I am not sure how all these ideas connect, I don't know if I ever will. But I am almost sure that the "self", or "ego" is subjective, and beliefs about good and bad are subjective as well. What it comes down to might not be an answer at all. Philosophy isn't always getting the answers, as I have learned so far. All human beings are never going to agree on one way of characterizing the self, and the ideas of good and bad, so they really are all subjective.
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Dixie O'Connell
9/16/2016 11:35:09 am
I'm strugglin with this. Id like to believe that some things are objective. But if I saw a chair and said it was a chair someone else may not think that because they were taught it's something else. It is all perceived differently because of how people are taught. Good is especially subjective because it depends on morals and there is such uncertainty.
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9/18/2016 12:17:01 am
The sheer question “Where can we draw the line between subjective and objective?” is indeed subjective, as is any question that starts with “Where can we draw the line…”. Now, consider the following current event: on September 14, the popular transportation company Uber released their self-driving cars, which are now available for use in Pittsburg. Objectively, we can look at the scenario and agree that the company doing this is Uber, and that the vehicles equipped with this technology are cars. But looking at the situation subjectively introduces a considerable amount of disagreement. Some people argue that this change could result in the loss of thousands, if not millions of jobs, while others state that this would just be the nature of the technological age. A question that encompasses this argument is whether or not this event is a good thing. People who say yes might claim that it’s a great innovation, and/or that it will reduce car accidents. People who say no might claim that the sheer idea that these vehicles could get hacked in some way is too daunting a thought. In the end, those who think that driverless cars are a good thing likely would/will ride in one, while those who don’t will likely refuse to ride in one. I think that this belief is subjective, in addition to all other beliefs. I think this because everyone has their own definitions of the terms “good” and “bad”. Some people think technology is “good”, some people think taking decision-making out of human hands is “bad”. There’s really no right or wrong when it comes to beliefs, because the are just that: beliefs. To say that one BELIEF is better/more right than another is akin to the poor argument of “Just because I believe this means that everyone should, because my opinion is way more important than the opinions of the people who oppose me!”
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Parizaad Mohammadi
9/19/2016 01:35:26 pm
I agree that there can be a line draw between objective and subjective. Most beliefs are subjective however, there are certain cases where beliefs become objective truth. Such as 2+2=4. However, there is no one objective truth bout what is good. Everyone has a subjective idea about what is good that can be argued with someone else.
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Bijou Chunn
9/19/2016 06:14:52 pm
Drawing the line between subjective and objective is not easy at all. I do believe that belifs are all subjective , but some things in my opinion are subjective. But everything has there own idea about what Good really is and if bad is really bad. this is a very challenging post because all the facts and opinions people have. In my opinion we live a very subjective life. Meaning everything we were taught or how we were raised defined us a lot as people. Live is very subjective.
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Jennifer Spinelli
9/19/2016 06:40:25 pm
There are definitely objective truths. We are all born, we live, and then we die. I do not think there are objective answers though. All answers (besides math and science) are opinions, therefore subjective. I honestly think the only objective things are fact. That's where I draw the line. Things that have been proven to be true. Math, science, history. Everything else is subjective.
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Emily Clarke
9/20/2016 04:10:13 am
I believe the only objective truths that exist are that we are born and we die at some point. Everything else is technically subjective. There is not much out there we can technically prove. Of course, we can get really REALLY close to proving something but humans, in my opinion, have never been able to successfully prove much. Like we said in class, a demon is definitely not controlling our minds but there is no real way to prove it. While some things may seem like really obvious truths, there's not much of a way to prove them.
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Julia maier
9/26/2016 05:32:05 pm
I belive there is a clear line between subjective and objective, for example a hat will be a hat that was the given name for the object its fact, but somethings like asking is this a pretty picture is opinon because there is no cetain answer.
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Max Lowrey
9/27/2016 04:09:56 pm
It can be difficult to draw a line between objective and subjective things. If we look in the way of Hume, everything is subjective and frankly, I think he's right. What can we classify as good and bad? We can only agree as a society that things are good and bad, and even then there will be oddballs that definitely don't agree. As an individual, we have subjective opinions we consider to be objective truths, but in reality, everything will always be subjective forever.
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Kyle Eber
10/6/2016 04:13:27 am
Even the view of debating subjective versus objective - is subjective. We can view the world however we want, if we look at the sky and see that's it's blue. My friend may say that they think it's red. Scientifically- the sky isn't even blue, we only perceive it as blue. The sky is the atmosphere which is very hard to pinpoint a single color for. So, the line between these two views are like fact and fiction- and someone's fiction is someone else's fact. If my friend fully believes that the sky is red- you can't convince them otherwise as that's what they believe is what they are observing. Objective can be proven but it's no use if everyone accepts their subjective view as fact.
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