Comparative Politics, Year I

UPON PROVIDING A DEFINITON OF OBJECTIVITY

In order to provide a definition of objectiveness, it is important to deliver an

analysis of the difference between objectivity and subjectivity.
This relationship resides basically upon the relationship between the whole and
the part: one cannot be subjective without relating to the objective approach of the entity, just
as an objective view would be senseless without the possible subjective reaction that is taken
into consideration and which at times should be left aside.
According to Plato’s theory of ideas, the reality is nothing more than the mere
reflection of the absolute ideas of the things, the reflection of the ideas upon the wall of the
cave in front of which we are bound to be tied up for all our existence.
In this respect, the idea of an entity would be regarded as the whole and
considered objective, reuniting all possible particularities for the derivates, while having no
particularity of its own. On the other hand, the reflections of the fire on the wall of the case
that Plato talks about, are the derivations of this general, objective and supreme idea of an
entity, derivations that are none similar and that present different particularities.
The best example for this would be that of the Man. The idea of a Man is
general, its definition provides the traits common to all men, and is objective. Once we start
speaking about a particular man, us being very different in the traits we present, objectiveness
is no longer possible, since the traits we describe confront with our own perception and the
traits that we present. In this manner we are subjective.
Going further, in this situation, it is obvious, that there cannot exist an
objective approach without having a subjective one, to which to relate and the other way
round. The two concepts are connected to each other without possibility of separation, since
our mind need a general frame in order to be capable of perceiving and analyzing the
particularities it encounters.
In fact, upon delivering analysis, looking at something in an objective manner,
as stated, appears as necessary when approaching the whole, the general. Upon going more
into detail, the higher the tendency of turning the objective approach into a more subjective
one.
Take for example the idea of immigration. At the first glance, the idea of
immigration poses no problem, since the analysis delivered provides a definition, and then
also explains the benefits and the disadvantages. As such, the approach to immigration is
global and general, looking at all the sides of the problem, presenting all the implications.
However, in the moment when one approaches the idea of immigration of a
certain category of people, taking for example, foreign masons, and the one looking at the
problem is himself a mason in his country, the approach to the problem shifts: one suddenly
no longer looks at the problem from all the perspectives, and no longer approaches all the
implications, both good and bad, but his view is more subjective: what would happen if a
foreign mason takes my job, or asks for a lower wage than me or is more competent than me.
At this moment, the idea of rejection appears, the rejection towards the foreigner that is
perceived as a threat, and this is a subjective approach.
It is therefore, to be considered that while the objective approach allows one to
globally analyze a matter, the subjective one is rather reduced to one side of it, to the part of
the issue that touches the one delivering the analysis.
Going further, regarding the reactions that are to be deduced from the two
approaches, while the objective manner of looking at the issue appears not to determine any
kind of attitude in the subject, the subjective one is always bound to give birth to a position be
it negative or positive, depending on the subject it touches.
To conclude, a viable definition of objectivity would be that of the general
approach, delivered upon inquiry of a whole, necessary in order to settle the ideas in a frame
that would eventually derive into the analysis of particularities presented by the entity.
Moreover, objectivity is bound to awake in the subject neutral feelings which are necessary
when an issue is to be approached at a large societal scale.