Gerald Bivens

Projects

Definitions

'objective'=df

The term 'objective' is defined by antiessentialists not in terms of a relation to intrinsic features of objects but rather by reference to relative ease of attaining consensus among inquirers. Just as the appearance-reality distinction is replaced by distinctions between relative utility of descriptions, so the objective-subjective distinction is replaced by distinctions between relative ease in getting agreement.1

Notes

  1. Richard Rorty, "A World without Substances or Essences," in Philosophy and Social Hope (London: Penguin Books, 1999), 50-51.