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The term objectivity can refer to a property or quality of a claim: a claim or statement is objective if it is supported with reasons and evidence (or warrantable, supportable), and it is subjective if it is not so supported and only an expression of individual taste or preference. Objectivity can also refer to a characteristic of a person: the objective person is unbiased, unprejudiced, and evinces respect for the importance of evidence and argument. Finally, an aspect or characteristic of a process or means by which a claim is warranted can be called objective. Hence, some argue that the enterprise of science is objective because the claims of scientists are subject to public scrutiny and intersubjective criticism.
In the literatures on social science methodology and philosophy there are several interrelated but distinct senses of this term:
- An absolute or ontological sense reflecting a belief in metaphysical realism. Thus, objectivity here refers to the idea of objectively perceiving an independently existing reality.
- A disciplinary or critically intersubjective sense that associates objectivity with a particular aspect of the process of inquiry, specifically, the ability to reach consensus within some specialized disciplinary community through dialogue, debate, and reasoned argument.
- A mechanical sense in which objectivity connotes following the rules or procedures because these are a check on subjectivity and restrain idiosyncrasy and personal judgment.
- A moral-political sense in which to be objective means to be fair and impartial, and to avoid the kinds of self-interest or prejudice that distort judgment.
Objectivity has also been associated (for better or worse) with three other important notions in social science methodology: value neutrality, objectivism, and objectification. Value neutrality is an ideology that holds that politics and values should be external to the practice of scientific inquiry. Objectivism is a term that designates a complex set of interlocking beliefs about the nature of knowledge (foundationalist epistemology), the nature of reality (metaphysical realism), the manner in which that reality can be known and knowledge claims justified (logical positivist or representationalist epistemology), the role of the scientist (an axiology of disinterest), and the Enlightenment belief in the unquestioned power (and authority) of science to shape society. Objectification is a belief in a particular metaphysical and epistemological relation of subject to object often characterized by the ideas of disengagement from and yet an attempt to control the object of knowledge.
Bibliography:
- Megill, A. (ed.) (1994) Rethinking Objectivity. Duke University Press, Durham, NC.
- Porter, T. M. (1995) Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
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