Anthony

Posted Tuesday, March 28, 2023

1y

INTJ

8

7

Objectivity, Subjectivity, Intrinsicism

There are three fundamental approaches to cognition: Objectivity, Subjectivity, and Intrinsicism. This forms a trichotomy of cognitive methods. Subjectivism is the method of viewing reality as fully real as we experience it. The Subjectivist school of thought holds that reality is either in part or in total a product of our consciousness. Thus, Subjectivism holds that reality is not a primary, but instead holds that consciousness is the primary. This view of reality is a denial of the premise that reality is an absolute. And as such, it relies on the view that facts are not facts, that there are no absolute truths, and that reality is not the object of our perception, but is the subject. That we do not perceive reality by the use of our minds, but that we create reality with our minds. Thus, “It may be true for you, but it’s not true for me.” Or, anything can be both A and Not-A at the same time, since reality depends upon the perceiver. Under this view of reality, there can be no facts. Anything goes! Up can be down. Murder can be both right and wrong. A thing can be both alive and dead. And as such, nothing can be known about reality because reality cannot be an absolute, since reality is purely a construct of our minds. Intrinsicism is the view that reality is an absolute, but that what is or is not true about reality is intrinsic. Just as Subjectivism is the belief in consciousness without reality, Intrinsicism is the belief in reality without consciousness. The intrinsic view of reality holds that whatever is true of reality is true apart from any reference to reality. The archetypical example of this view is religion, which gives man a list of commandments, which dictates what is right or wrong, requiring no mental effort, no context, no reference to reality. Subjectivism is the belief in consciousness without reality. Intrinsicism is truth without reference to reality. Subjectivism holds that consciousness dictates what is or isn’t real. Intrinsicism holds that truth is intrinsic in reality apart from any conscious process required to identify. Subjectivism believes that what is true is dictated by our mind because our mind is the author of reality. Intrinsicism holds that truth is grasped—not by observing reality—but by simply opening ourselves up to reality and receiving it, requiring no context, no reference to facts, no evidence. Objectivity, however, is the unification of reality and consciousness. To be objective means to perceive reality, formulate conclusions by a process of logic and reason, and base your conclusions on the actual facts of reality by a human means of consciousness. Facts are facts in reality. A is A. Reality is a primary and an absolute. Consciousness is the faculty which perceives reality. And thus, objectivity is the integration of the fact that reality is a primary and an absolute, perceived and conceptualized by a rational process of consciousness. Rationality, then, is a process of thought which is dictated by reality. Before Aristotle formally investigated the proper means of logic, rationality was practiced by human beings only implicitly. By discovering the proper methods of conducting logical thought and by further expanding upon Aristotle’s work to include new fallacies, mankind has improved its methodology of reason. But what is or is not rational is simply dictated by reality. Whether our methods perfectly conform to reality, or whether there is some room for improvement. What is our is not rational merely means the method of thought which is necessary to conform to the facts of reality.