Part 04 - Objectivity: Always

“Dispassionate objectivity is itself a passion, for the real and for the truth.” -Abraham Maslow

Objectivity: Always

I had a moment while in college when I questioned why I had majored in History. I’m sure a lot of people wonder why anyone would, because it isn’t the most marketable degree. That is fair.

But that is not why I was doubting my decisions. I doubted my decisions because in one class, I concluded that we will actually never truly know the “truth” of History. The reason: bias.

People record history the way they remember or the way they want to. And therefore, since History is based on human account, it cannot be 100% true. So I was majoring in a subject that wasn’t real. At least that is what I thought in the moment. The whole debate is for another day. What I want to talk about is the response to bias, and that is objectivity.

When asking questions, and in result seeking answers, we have to remain objective. Or at least as objective as possible. In case you don’t know what that means, the definition for objective is the following, according to Merriam Webster Dictionary: “expressing or dealing with facts or conditions as perceived without distortion by personal feelings, prejudices, or interpretations.”

So, both asking and answering questions requires the removal of personal ideology or emotions. Which is hard, right? It’s impossible. But it is necessary to try to the best of your abilities and be aware of your bias.

That is obvious to most when answering questions or even more so when debating with someone and hearing their biases. In order to better understand something without bias, one should ask questions without bias. Try to understand something for what it is, not what you want or wish it to be.

Here is an extreme example. When trying to understand terrorists, it is easy to ask, “Why are they so crazy?” Or “evil?” But that’s biased! The question should be, “Why do they behave the way they do?” If you ask yourself why they’re crazy, that’s going to impact your answer. You’re going to research terrorism from that lens, and that lens will prevent you from entirely understanding the truth. You need to also put yourself in their shoes. This requires being objective as well. If they say something, don’t observe it and still say “but that’s wrong.” Just observe it. Understand it.

That isn’t to say that you should have no opinions or remove all morality or ideology. But save that for the end. Once you understand them (to the best of your ability), then reflect. That brings wisdom (also for later).

In my opinion, the most difficult part of being objective is not being afraid to question everything. Sometimes, you prevent yourself from asking questions because you don’t want to know the answer.

This is natural but must be avoided. If you fear the answer, you don’t have enough faith in your beliefs. So be open to questioning everything. Not necessarily doubting everything, but rather seek to understand it.

And when you are seeking to understand don’t just seek the answer that you want, but rather the genuine answer. This is something that does not come naturally. And there are ways to practice this. One way would be to do History (Maybe not major in it). That’s for next time.