Objective fact/truth paradox

[SebastianOakes]

In my mind, suggesting that there cannot be any objective fact in turn suggests that the only objective fact is that there are no objective facts, which is contradictory.

 

Could this just be seen as semantics?

[cladking]

Yes, it is largely semantics and mostly a change in perspectives. There is no proper route to learning but no matter how we come to know something it will guide our actions and increase our chances of success. With a little luch it will improve our ability to learn more. This is objective fact and truth but we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that even visceral knowledge isn't reality itself but a personal modeling of reality. It works because we know it works and if it stops working we'll know it. One might say that nature is not beholden even to truth.

 

Humans seek objective fact because it is useful and truth because it is beautiful.

[StringJunky]

Ydoaps once mentioned a term that I think is as apt and practicably accurate a description of an 'objective' approach as we can hope to achieve in the real world: intersubjective verifiability

 

Each individual is a subject, and must subjectively experience the physical world. Each subject has a different perspective and point of view on various aspects of the world. However, by sharing their comparable experiences intersubjectively, individuals may gain an increasingly accurate understanding of the world. In this way, many different subjective experiences can come together to form intersubjective ones that are less likely to be prone to individual bias or gaps in knowledge.

 

While specific internal experiences are not intersubjectively verifiable, the existence of thematic patterns of internal experience can be intersubjectively verified. For example, whether or not people are telling what they believe to be the truth when they make claims can only be known by the claimants. However, we can intersubjectively verify that people almost universally experience discomfort (hunger) when they haven't had enough to eat. We generally have only a crude ability to compare (measure) internal experiences. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersubjective_verifiability

Edited April 7, 2013 by StringJunky