In Other Words

Ethics: Perceived Objectivity

This entry continues on from a number of previous entries. The last of which can be found here. In each previous entry there is a link to an entry before and in that way you can find your way back to the very first entry about this topic. These entries might make things more logical if what is written here isn’t clear.

I imagine that it is very hard for many people to understand why I think that their worldview is very much completely relative and subjective. The reason for this is, quite simply, that they only ever see one view of the world. They are forever stuck in their own head and can never see the world through another person’s eyes (even when we try to understand what another person thinks, feels and experiences we still interpret everything they say through the filter of our own perceptions)

Your worldview is a sphere permanently centered on you, which you cannot escape and which colours each and every observation you ever make. Now add to that the fact that most people, from the moment they are born, are taught about absolutes (absolute good, i.e. what they and the people around them believe; and absolute evil, i.e. the stuff that they and the people around them believe is bad) and you start to form a pretty good idea why people think they are pretty objective.

The only way that people start to realise how subjective their worldview is, is by rubbing shoulders with people with considerably different viewpoints. These viewpoints ‘infect’ these people and make them understand that their own way of seeing things is not necessarily the only way to view the situation.

Interestingly enough, the people that rub shoulders the least with other viewpoints are going to think that they are the most objective, yet are probably the people with the most extreme opinions (and are probably the most subjective). Extremists are convinced of their own ‘righness’ (and therefore their own objectivity). They are often the people that have taken the least time examining other viewpoints.

Some extremists, however, spend a considerable amount of time living in other cultures (i.e. the 911 hijacker) and are not influenced by the viewpoints around them. This is explainable through ‘lock out mechanisms’ (a term I was introduced to in the book ‘Mindwars’, by Ian McFadyen), which means that a person has been trained to see anything contrary to their beliefs as something that came from ‘the enemy’ and which should, under no circumstances, be listened to or even believed. (Most ethical models try to instil something like this in their followers, some - like cults - are more successful at it than others, however. It seems to depend on the size of the group.)

posted by Symbol @ 18.11.05