What’s the difference between subjective and objective?
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Subject is the thing in a sentence who does the action, object is the thing that receives the action.
He throws the ball. In this sentence, ‘He’ is the subject, this is a subjective pronoun
She bit him. In this sentence, something is receiving an action. Him. That is who is being bit. ‘Him’ is an objective pronoun.
It’s a very interesting question in the sense how we define objective.
If an ant or a dog would consider something to be objectively a fact (and proven by real world experience), would a human necessarily agree?
If a human thinks something to be objectively a fact, would.. i don’t know.. a super-intelligent alien or a dolphin agree?
Perhaps a bit philosophical, but my 2 cents.
I tell myself “subject to interpretation” to remember that subjective is the one that is based on each person’s experience/feeling.
Subjective is a statement on something that varies according to the perspective or personal values of the subject making the statement.
Objective is a statement on something intrinsic to the object of analysis.
Saying that “a chair is good” is subjective, saying that “a chair is red” is objective, you can argue both to be true or false, but one of them is always a matter of opinion (subjective) while the other is something that is (supposedly) a fact on the object, unless you get too far into epistemology.
Being a bit more literal than most, “subjective” is the word we use when we want to refer to a characteristic/property belonging to the subject (the person that’s taking the action). On the other hand, “objective” is a characteristic/property that belongs to the object (the person or the thing that’s receiving the action).
So when someone says your argument is subjective, what they mean is that it is based mostly on your point of view, not on things that everyone can verify. (Because it’s a property of the subject, which is you)
When they say a car is objectively slower than the other, they mean that it’s not up for debate. Anyone can take a speedometer and check their speeds and they’ll come to the same conclusion. (Because it’s a property of the objects, which are the cars)
Subjective: this is how it SEEMS to you or someone else.
Objective: this is how it actually is in reality.
Objective means that something is a fact, subjective means that something is opinion.
Objective: The Earth is round.
Subjective: The Earth looks like a blueberry, to me.
Subjective is what’s true for the subject (you, or any one person). Opinions and Beliefs
Objective is what’s universally true in reality.
For example:
“Dogs are good”, is a subjective fact. Anyone on earth could say “you’re wrong”, and they would be just as right as you are.
“Gravity Exists”, is an objective fact. If anyone disagrees with that, they are absolutely wrong. You can’t say “I don’t believe in gravity”, that’s not how it works
Subjective is as the subject experiences something. So, as a person experiences the burger. Or as a cat understands it’s environment.
Objective isn’t truly observable, but it’s reality outside of a subject. The way things really are.
We try and add up all of our subjective experiences to grasp objective reality.
“I don’t think ‘subjective’ is a useful concept.
At any rate, subjective and objective are not the same species of concept. Certainly not opposites.
If you say someone’s hallucination of a demon is ‘subjective’, you still mean their brain is objectively in a hallucinating state.”
-David Deutsch
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