Skip to main content

What is meant by the Objective Conception of Truth? (Protagoras)

The objectivity of truth has been the focus of many philosophers, including Nietzche, Plato, and Kierkegaard. To better understand the "objective conception of truth," let's break down the phrase into its individual components. First, truth, or that which is factual. Conception of truth is referring to how we understand and think about truth. Finally, the term objective refers to that which is not dependent upon personal thoughts or experiences- things which are regardless of how we perceive them, or if we perceive them at all. With that, the objective conception of truth implies that is a factual truth which we can come to understand, but which exists regardless of our own perceptions. The opposite would be subjective truth, which may be different for many people because it is based on personal perceptions. 


The idea of objectivity has plagued numerous scholars because being human is a highly relative experience. For humans, no knowledge exists in a vacuum, safe from the taint of emotions or prior experience. Nonetheless, many philosophers and scientists seek to understand that which is objective in the world through rigorous thought and experimentation. For truth to be objective, it must be free of opinion or bias, and must be fixed in the sense that even if someone were not around to observe the truth, it would still be true. 


Protagoras was a fifth century philosopher from Greece who was quite in opposition to any concept of objective truth, though he was not necessarily subjective. Protagoras was one of the first thinkers to elaborate the idea of relativity, or that all "truth" exists in relation to the perceptions of an individual. For him, reality was understood based upon one's experiences in the world.


At the risk of simplifying too much, let's compare objectivity, subjectivity, and relativism in the following example. Imagine someone has been gifted a dozen roses for a special occasion. We could count the roses and objectively say that there are twelve. Regardless of whether or not someone is in the room to look at them, there are a dozen roses. Now, the person receiving the flowers thinks that roses are beautiful- this is a subjective feeling. We could ask, "Are they the most beautiful roses you've ever seen?" That person would have to consider whether these dozen roses, relative to others, are the most beautiful.


Protagoras was both relativist and agnostic, so it may be safe to say that he held suspicions on the objectivity of truth (there may well be an objective truth) but the human conception of this truth was entirely relative.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more