What’s the difference between subjective and objective?
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Something that is subjective would be possibly different for everyone, based on personal views or opinions. Like what food tastes good or what colors are pretty. Something that is objective is the opposite of that, not dependent on opinion but concerned with fact. Like the speed of light in a vacuum.
Subjective: Based on experiences, feelings and opinions
Objective: Not based on experiences, feelings and opinions. It considers, and represents, facts/evidence.
Basically subjective = My truth. Objective = The truth.
So, imagine you are in a FPS videogame. You walk around the map and you want to have an idea about how the layout of this level is. Well, what you see on the screen while you walk around is subjective.
The minimap on the bottom left, with all the buildings, the perimeter and the waypoints is objective.
Subjective is your opinion (popcorn is the best snack).
Objective is a fact (popcorn is made from corn).
The sea is *objectively* wet. Nobody can possibly believe an assertion that water is not wet.
The sea is *subjectively* nice to look at, by my standards. There’s no standard to measure that against, I can’t build a ruler that measures whether something is aesthetic or not. Some people disagree with me, and I can’t *prove* them wrong.
Subjective things vary depending on the perspective and experience of a person. How tasty vegemite is, for instance, is subjective.
Objective things are things that do not vary like that – no matter who you are or what you believe it remains true. Whether or not humanity landed on the moon is an objective fact – we either did or we did not.
Subjective has a clear and usually identifiable point of view, often used to persuade. Objective has no point of view, it is purely fact based., and is often used to inform.
ETA: This is how these are defined and used as terms of art in law.
Just alittle something to add to all the great answers already.
In the medical field these words are used when writing up what is called a SOAP note. In general the subjective (S) part is all the things the patient can communicate to you which includes things like age, list of symptoms, and what medications they always they are taking. The objective (O) part are lab results, measurements taken at the office or hospital, or things that the medical professional observed.
I just wanted to clarify this because in this situation, it’s not exactly opinion vs not opinion. On the one hand it seems almost like it should be a fact if someone is taking a blood pressure medication, but on the other hand, if you further question how often they take it and they miss 75% of their doses, then are they really taking it?
Saying “it feels hot today” is subjective. You’re describing your own personal feelings. It would be pointless to argue against this–I could argue all I want that it doesn’t feel hot to me, but that wouldn’t change how it feels to you.
Saying “the temperature right now is 30 degrees, according to the weather forecast” is objective. It’s based solely on measurable facts, not personal feelings.
Note that it being objective doesn’t mean it’s correct. Maybe the actual temperature is 28 degrees. But since you didn’t make the claim based on personal feelings it’s still objective.
When people say things like “this movie was objectively bad” or “The Beatles are objectively better than The Rolling Stones” they’re misunderstanding the terms. You can’t objectively review art like that because there’s no way you can describe whether it was good or bad without referencing your personal feelings. That depends on your personal feelings about what good art should be. There’s no universal standard for what a good song is, it depends on what you think it should be.
Subjective is a matter of opinion or perspective: “It’s hot!”
Objective is something that doesn’t rely on opinion or consider perspective: “The outdoor thermometer currently reads 80 degrees Fahrenheit.”
Whether 80F is “hot” will vary from person to person, but the temperature reading 80 F is a simple factual observation: you can walk over and verify it’s true, take a picture, etc.
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