Objectivity

Objectivity is the recognition that reality exists independently of any observer and can be grasped only by reason used in accordance with logic — never by feeling, authority, or social consensus. CF endorses the Objectivist account of what objectivity is, treating it as a point of agreement among Objectivism, Critical Rationalism, and CF, all of which reject subjectivism and relativism and affirm that there is objective truth to be discovered.

Where CF adds something is in method: how a fallible mind can actually achieve objectivity rather than merely fooling itself. Because anyone can be biased, CF says you cannot simply trust your judgment in the moment and call the result objective. Instead you must plan around the possibility that you are wrong — for example by pre-committing to written rules for filtering and debate and to measurable conditions that “make it harder to be biased.” A numeric or rule-based criterion requires less in-the-moment judgment, so it limits the room for self-serving distortion.

CF’s other distinctive device is the demand for an objective asymmetry: to justifiably conclude you are right and an opponent wrong, you must point to something real that the other side cannot mirror — an actual difference, not a restatement of preference. This connects objectivity to criticism and error correction rather than to certainty.

Objectivity stands opposed to the arbitrary (claims advanced with no basis in reality) and to letting emotion override reason. It is the standard that makes shared values and impartial moral judgment possible.