What is Objectivity? - Epistemology Video 30

This is video 30 in an introductory course on epistemology, the philosophy of knowledge. In this video, we talk about objectivity. One way of thinking about objectivity is as that which is independent of the subject; this is a way of thinking that we can recognise in the metaphysics of Descartes, Thomas Nagel's View from Nowhere, and the Value-Free Ideal of science. Another way of thinking about objectivity is as that in which as many subjects as possible come together. This is a more recent idea, defended for instance by Helen Longino in her feminist account of how scientific communities ought to work.

Victor Gijsbers teaches philosophy at Leiden University in the Netherlands. You can follow him on mastodon: @[email protected].

This video is part of a lecture series originally recorded for my students during the 2023/2024 spring semester. The entire playlist is here:    • Course in Epistemology