Perspective and Objectivity

Now this may not shock that many people, but I have no reason to try to shock people, I like philosophy and especially the philosophy of science. This blog entry is about a question I was made aware of yesterday during a brake in a seminar on rhetoric.

In science the ideal is to be objective. It is true that scientists are human and not always live up to the ideal, but the goal of being objective in the search for knowledge remains.

Yesterday I was surprised over an idea expressed by a fellow attendee at the seminar. She considered it to be unnecessary to try to be objective. We were now not discussing science but the softer topics like philosophy, history, rhetoric, and all the rest. But I was surprised that anyone could hold the view that it is not the ideal to be objective.

The motivation was that several perspectives are better, and that a real scholar should let different voices emerge from the material he/she studies. Of course this is true, a multitude of perspectives is an advantage. As often is the case I could not at the moment find a response; I have now.

Objectivity is not a perspective. To be objective, or rather to try to be objective, is about trying to the out most not to add or take away anything, not to let value judgements guide the interpretation, and allowing even the most terrible text the benefit of a doubt that there might be something in it. This is something that the good scholar need to do for all chosen perspectives, we do not have access to the “real” world. We are always watching it through some theory, or as others call it perspective. But each perspective deserves to be handled with care, and that implies objectivity.
It is not all right for a conservative to screw up a Marxist perspective on the “Arab spring” just because the conservative doesn't like communism. If you choose to adopt a Marxist perspective you can't let your personal feelings about that perspective make you deviate from what that perspective might tell you. This is of course also true for someone who loves Marx and might deviate in the other direction.

Finally, the reason why it is better to use several perspectives instead of just one, is because we hope to get closer to an objective understanding of what we study. Since all perspectives are limited and the choice of perspective might be subjective (even if it isn't a conscious subjective choice) to use several perspectives will be an advantage.

In conclusion to be objective is not a perspective.