Subjectivity

Subjectivity refers to how someone's judgment is shaped by personal opinions and feelings instead of outside influences. Subjectivity is partially responsible for why one person loves an abstract painting while another person hates it.

Definition

Subjectivity is the condition of being a subject and the subject's perspective, experiences, feelings, beliefs, and desires. Subjects are entities capable of experiencing or undergoing something and that have a unique, first-person perspective. In other words, subjectivity refers to a subject's inner life – the way something is for that subject.

Philosophy

In philosophy, subjectivity is a central philosophical concept, related to consciousness, agency, personhood, reality, and truth, which has been variously defined by sources. In its most common definition or understanding, subjectivity is the quality or condition of:

• Something being a subject, narrowly meaning an individual who possesses conscious experiences, such as perspectives, feelings, beliefs, and desires.
• Something being a subject, broadly meaning an entity that has agency, meaning that it acts upon or wields power over some other entity (an object).
• Some information, idea, situation, or physical thing, being evaluated or processed in relation to a subject, narrowly meaning by a specific individual subject and broadly meaning by any entity that can process information or make evaluations.

Psychology

In psychology, subjectivity refers to the emotions, experiences, and perspectives of individuals. It is often contrasted with objectivity, which refers to an impersonal or outside view of events.

Sociology

In sociology, subjectivity is the study of how individual experiences—biography, gender, age, racial and ethnic identity, and roles—shape a person's life and the world around them.

See also

• Objectivity (philosophy)
• Subjective character of experience
• Subjective probability
• Subjective logic
• Subjective validation
• Subjectivism

Subjectivity Resources
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