3 Comments

Interesting. Is the essence of what you are saying that seeking objective truth / knowledge is a false endeavour as we cannot help but see the world through our humanness? Part of me thinks the greater barrier to the pursuit of objective truth is less our humanness (as opposed to, say, a bat) but the diversity within our humanness. This is not to say that bats do not suffer the same issue (diversity in their [ahem] battiness). But perhaps it is human diversity rather than humanness per se that defeats the analytical project.

Expand full comment
author

That's a nice summary of the essence. Except I'd phrase it that thinking we have found objective truth / knowledge is a false conclusion - we can seek objective truth but can never be sure if we find it.

Perhaps we are thinking of different analytical projects. There is a difference between universal human agreement and objective knowledge - although both would be valuable. For example, if every single human was red/green colour blind, we could universally agree on what colours things are, but that would fall short of an accurate description of reality.

Expand full comment

Perhaps we are thinking about different things.

I would be tempted to adjust your phrase slightly to be "thinking we have found objective truth / knowledge is potentially valid but ultimately always unprovable". It is the unprovability (which arises enduringly because of our humanness) that demands humility, rather than certainty or skepticism.

I suspect where we might differ is in our framing of the term objective. My interpretation is that you set 'objectivity' in a 'God' like frame. For me, this makes it definitionally beyond our humanness to 'know' for certain. I am setting the frame for objective from a human perspective. Hence my reach into diversity (and interdependency for that matter). As you say, my frame means that every human could agree on what colours are and still fall short of a providing an accurate description of reality. Ultimately, our humanness means that we can never be sure that we are right or wrong, despite overcoming diversity and interdependency inherent in the human condition. Hence the need for epistemic humility.

Expand full comment