Sunday, April 21, 2013

Objectivism vs. Intrinsicism vs. Subjectivism: A Short Summary

At root, subjectivism, intrinsicism and Objectivism are theories of the nature of concepts or "universals." Here, I summarize them in regard to their view of the nature of truth and knowledge. Since truth is a quality of statements composed of concepts, each school's view of truth is a direct outgrowth of its view of concepts.

Subjectivism holds that truth, in effect, resides only in the mind. For a subjectivist, a particular statement can be true for one person and false for another. (Kant (by implication), Wittgenstein, James, Sartre, etc.) "Truth" amounts to whatever one believes, and there is no such thing as "knowledge" of reality; only some sort of "experience" inside one's own mind.

Intrinsicism holds that truth resides disembodied out in the world. Typically, intrinsicists hold that all people have to do is somehow "open their hearts to God," or "pay attention to their intuitions," or "open their minds to the light of truth," and the "external truth" will infallibly push its way in. If the truth is already "out there," then there's no reason to think that any special processing is required to reach it; one merely has to absorb it. (Plato, Aristotle (partially, in regard to essences), Apostle Paul, Augustine, etc.) For an intrinsicist, conceptual knowledge is whatever external truths one happens to have absorbed. A particular statement is "true" for everyone, whether they have any evidence or not. (And it's an arbitrarily answerable question whether various people can be held responsible for not grasping all the "floating truth" out there.) (1)

Objectivism holds that truth and falsehood are aspects of conceptual knowledge. Truth (and perceptual knowledge) is a relationship between a consciousness and reality. Truth is reality, as conceptually processed by a consciousness. Truths do not exist disembodied in external reality. Only physical entities (and their aspects--including other consciousnesses) exist in external reality. I can only reach a truth when I choose to conceptually process percepts by reasoning (by the method of logic.) For an Objectivist, a particular statement cannot be true for one person and false for another, (2) but it can be arbitrary for one person and either true or false for another. People can have different levels of evidence that change how the statement ranks on their "epistemological determinacy" scale. (From arbitrary, to possibly true or false, to probably true or false, to certainly true or false.)

There is much more to be said about this topic, and I recommend Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff, for more.

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(1) To be clear, most modern, intellectual intrinsicists (and many such subjectivists) go to great pains to cloak their theory of knowledge in the appearance of reasoning from observation. They use the language of natural science and the formalism of deductive arguments. But this is all rationalization, because, for intrinsicists, the ultimate basis of "knowledge" is just to "feel the [allegedly external] truth." For subjectivists, whatever their pretenses about subjectivism being necessitated by objective science, that self-contradiction wipes out objectivity on their part, and they thus imply that there's no such thing as knowledge of reality. (What distinguishes knowledge of reality from fantasy is that knowledge is objective.)

(2) So long as the statement actually has matching referents in both cases. The same words referring to different people aren't actually the same statement, because the words have different referents in each context.

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Proceeding from Axioms in Objectivism - YouTube Edition

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Taking Philosophy Seriously...

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Sunday, April 14, 2013

Ayn Rand on Politicians, Ideas and Compromise

"Commentators often exhort some politician to place the interests of the country above his own (or his party's) and to compromise with his opponents--and such exhortations are not addressed to petty grafters, but to reputable men. What does this mean? If the politician is convinced that his ideas are right, it is the country that he would betray by compromising. If he is convinced that his opponents' ideas are wrong, it is the country that he would be harming. If he is not certain of either, then he should check his views for his own sake, not merely the country's--because the truth or falsehood of his ideas should be of the utmost personal interest to him."

--Ayn Rand, "Selfishness Without a Self," Philosophy: Who Needs It

Friday, April 12, 2013

The Scope of Evidence Pertinent to a Proposition Corresponds to the Scope of the Proposition

General evidence can prove generalizations. Specific evidence is required for specific propositions. The scope of sensory data that can tie a statement to reality (serve as evidence) varies with the scope of the statement.

If I make the statement, "All men have heads," then the scope of potential, direct evidence for this statement (and counterexamples) is all men. I can observe a few random men and have a sensory basis to at least hypothesize that "All men have heads," is true. (Exactly when I can logically say that a generalization is proven, is the subject of the epistemology of induction. While the principles of general induction are not yet fully known, the philosophy of Objectivism and the principles of modern science/technology show that induction works. I recommend Dr. Peikoff's course, Objectivism Through Induction.)

If, on the other hand, I make the statement that "Julius Oglethorpe III lives at 10 Warkworth Terrace in Cambridge, England," then I can't gain a basis for hypothesizing that statement (let alone proving it) by observing a few random men. I need evidence that pertains to the specific statement at hand. To hypothesize, I need to see effects of the fact that Julius Oglethorpe III exists, or the fact that 10 Warkworth Terrace exists. To prove this statement, I need to see a set of facts that all evidence shows can only come from the fact that a man with this name lives at this address.

In both cases, the evidence that warrants the hypothesis or conclusion reduces to sensory data. But the evidence for the specific statement is much more specific than that for the general statement.

[Note: This short article was derived from a longer comment I made at "The Christian Egoist" blog: D'Souza vs. Bernstein: Is Either Good for Mankind?]

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Related Posts:

Proceeding from Axioms in Objectivism - YouTube Edition

The Proof of Free Will (Libertarian Volition)

Taking Philosophy Seriously...

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Thursday, April 11, 2013

America Before The Entitlement State

This article by Yaron Brook and Don Watkins should be seen by all Americans, and indeed, everyone else. It describes how people dealt with sudden injuries, deaths and the various disasters that can befall people, before government welfare programs and Social Security:

America Before The Entitlement State

Here's a video reading of a part of an essay from Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand:



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