Objectivity

The term objectivity usually refers to a notion of the truth based on factual evidence obtained through scientific methods or reasoning and a belief that that truth is really the way things are. This idea is based on objectivism, or the assumption that there is an external world that exists in and of itself and independent of our apprehension or comprehension of it. Objectivism has both an epistemological basis (relying on the scientific method for the apprehension of truth) and a value basis. In the latter case, values are presumed to exist independently in the external world, and objects or activities are perceived or experienced as desirable when the intrinsic existing quality in them is discerned. Objectivity is typically contrasted with subjectivity.