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------题目------
There is no such thing as purely objective observation. All observation is subjective; it is always guided by the observer's expectations or desires.
------正文------
While, I concede that no purely objective observation due to the limitation and psychological factors of human beings, I strongly disagree with the speaker's claim that all observation is subjective and guided by observer's desires, which goes against our experiences and might defeat the goal of observation--to reflect things objectively.
Few of us will deny that the expectation and limitation of observers will influence the accuracy of their work. After all it is certain kind of human instinct that drives us to expect the results of observations accord with our desire, which is actually rooted in the psychologically protective mechanism in human nature. It would be no surprise that scientist prefer the observation supporting their theories; politicians prefer the survey showing that their support at high, and businessmen overlook the phantom of depression, no matter how conspicuous it is. Moreover, some limitation also hamper further objective observations, and observers have to turn to logic and rational reasoning, which is by all means subjective. Consider the example of Hawkins, the greatest physicist in our age, develop his theory on the basis of reasoning, for the observation of his field can never be conducted or replayed.
However, "guided by desires" would be an inappropriate term for the process of observation, by claiming so we actually risk defeating the primary goal of observation and devolving observation into sheer imagination. After all, we draw our conclusion of observation by study the objective world around--that is the goal of observation is to learn about this objective world as accurate as possible. Any observers must and indeed take adhering to the objective things as their life-long job.Moreover, the rationale even applies to the conceived objective field --such as aesthetics. For had the observation in aesthetic field been subjective, there would be no such terminology as golden section, which is a relatively subjective criteria about what is beauty.
Finally, even a cursory glance into the human effort for a better observation, will undermine the speaker's claim that all the observation are subjective and guided by observer's expectations or desires. Had the observation been so arbitrary to pander to human expectations, it would be incredible for us to see significant effort observers had make, both technically and methodologically. Consider the telling examples in astronomy, to understand the world around us, we design more and more sophisticated telescopes and build numerous observatories. If we are guided by our desire of being the center of the universe and maintain the earth-centered illusion, none of these efforts would be done. Another telling example lies in the rapid development of statistics, which is intended to help us build a more accurate understanding about our society. In fact, though the application of statistics, observers are try hard to break down our illusion or blind expectation.
In final analysis, although, due to certain limitation and psychological factors, there exist no purely objective observation, a more accurate and objective observation is always the pursuit of any observer. Human being endeavor to understand the universe thoroughly by objective observation, rather than by pure imagination pandering their expectation or desires.
[ Last edited by mkb57288 on 2005-8-11 at 16:03 ] |
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