To understand something you need to rely on your own experience and culture. Does this mean that it is impossible to have objective knowledge?

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To understand something you need to rely on your own experience and culture. Does this mean that it is impossible to have objective knowledge?

There are many people who claim to be ‘objective.’ However, is it really possible to have an objective opinion? Do we need to rely on our own experience and culture to undertsand something, or can we appreciate that without living it? There are many answers to these questions, and in the following piece I examined different point of views about the raised question. To do this, definitions of certain terms should be clarified. I gave examples from personal experience, history, media, used statistics, did arguments and counter arguments, and included my personal thoughts. I have tried to argue that although objectivity is not always possible, people can agree on cretain things and this shows that finding a truth that is provisional, and that lies at the intersection of different understandings or perspectives, is surely possible.

‘Culture’ is the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group, or the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another. [1] Culture, therefore, affects people’s point of views and decisions on certain concepts. In 1915 the Turks forcibly deported 1,750,000 Armenians to the deserts of Syria and Mesopotamia; more than 600,000 were killed or died on forced marches.[2] However, it is still discussed between scholars, journalists and intellectuals if this ‘forcibly deportation’ is a ‘genocide.’ ‘Genocide’ is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.[3] Nobody, except people who experienced what happened in 1905 can know what really happened there and then. Yet historians easily declare their opinions. But how do they know? Also there are many historians who have completely different opinions about the issue. Who should we believe in? In our history class we talked about ‘Armenian genocide.’ Our teacher strongly believed that genocide was something different, and such a thing didn’t happen at that time. Our history teacher is raised in Turkish culture, with common Turkish beliefs that what happened in 1915 was not genocide. I wondered: if she were an Armenian, would she think the same way as she did now? My answer was no, because a bias was formed due to her being raised as a Turk, since most of the Turks does not believe there was genocide in 1915. The same thing applies to everyone on similar topics. This is a clear example of cultures influencing opinions.

It is true that we are being raised with specific values, beliefs, and traditions. However, is it possible to think by putting them aside? Is it possible for someone to put aside his/her beliefs and values and really try to understand? I was always interested in how the biological differences between genders affect their ways of thinking. To support the argument that men and women have generally different cognitive strengths there must be an underlying mechanism. There is evidence that biology plays at leas some role in the cognitive differences between men and women. The first piece of evidence is that the biological mechanisms are different. If we were to believe that the cognitive differences between males and females are innate then we would expect to see some biological differences, which could account for them.[4] Women have been shown to have bigger corpus callosum and anterior commissures, structures, which connect two hemispheres of the brain. Another difference is in an area of the hypothalamus known as the sexually dimorphic nucleus. This area is significantly larger in men containing more as well as larger cells (Kimura, 2002). High levels of estrogen have also been linked to relatively depressed spatial abilities as well as to enhanced speech and manual skill related tasks. This has been tested in females using the natural hormone fluctuations over the menstrual cycle as well as over longer periods of time and hormone fluctuation. Studies have also been done in males whose hormone fluctuations tend to be seasonal (Pinker, Spelke, 2005).[5] According to these studies, these differences lead to differences in cognition. Yet it is impossible since there are biological differences between them that affect hormones, looks, ways of thinking, emotions, etc. Therefore it is impossible to change them and think objectively by putting aside our gender identities. If one is born as a girl than she has some features that cannot be reshaped, and this restricts the move toward the objective truth. In some cases there are irreconciliable differences that stop us from ever connecting with other points of view.

Although the reason is biological when it comes to communication between sexes, not everything that forms our opinions and knowledge has this kind of a difference that cannot be changed. Furthermore, despite the differences it is possible to move towards objectivity. It is true that everyone of us are raised in different ways. ‘Experience’ is the process or fact of personally observing, encountering, or undergoing something.[6] Besides being a Spaniard, a person may be Jewish, may go to a public school, eat his dinner with his family as a tradition, work after school, etc. Therefore he may experience different things than others. Identity is the fact of being who or what a person or thing is.[7] Everyhing we have in our lives shape our identities. Certain beliefs, values, families, traditions, religion add to our identities and all these factors form the way we think. My home country, Turkey, is a predominantly Islamic but secular republic; none of the women in my family wear a headscarf and I do not see any of them associating with women who do. That is why I have always assumed that women who wear them have nothing in common with women who don’t. For a long time my beliefs stayed in the same way. I just couldn’t seem to accept that many of these women are intelligent, cultured, well read, interesting, and cover themselves voluntarily. I still cannot understand why their cover their heads, yet I accepted the fact that I can communicate with these women, while respecting their beliefs. Although it is impossible to reach objectivity, my personal example shows how one can move towards objectivity.

‘Knowledge’ is acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation, yet how do we gain knowledge?[8] What is the difference between knowledge and understanding? Can we understand something without knowing it? Isn’t knowledge itself a subjective term itslef? Although knowledge is defined as facts, truths, or principles, it should be taken into consideration that even ‘truths’ are subjective. My truth and somebody else’s truth can be absolutely different. This makes it impossilble to have an hundred percent objectivity in most cases. Facts become facts when findings are interpreted. Therefore our knowledge is formed with some degree of subjectivity. However, understanding is a different thing; it means perceiving the intended meaning of something. ‘Understanding’ can be done in any occasion.

It is impossible to say objectivity fully exists. Our opinions are formed with specific values, beliefs, and traditions. However, we can move towards objective truth. Or it is also possible that we share the same prejudices. Either way people can meet at the same conclusions and this can be considered as a move towards objectivity. While it is impossible to have objective knowledge, finding a truth that is provisional is possible. And this shared truth can then be the starting point for a search for another truth closer to objective knowledge.