What do these terms – subject and object – refer to?
In subject-object relation, subject refers to the agent (such as perceiver) whereas object refers to the patient (such as perceived.)
Subject-ive means “pertaining to the one acting” whereas object-ive means “pertaining to the one acted upon”.
In philosophy, it is observations that are described either as subjective, in the case their content is defined by the subject, or objective, in the case their content is defined by the object.
Objectivism is the idea that the content of some or all categories of observations is defined by the object (= externally, in relation to the subject.)
This means that if I observe something, it is not me who is defining it. (This “me” refers to my will, not to my body as a whole.)
Subjectivism, on the other hand, is the idea that the content of some or all categories of observations is defined by the subject (= internally, in relation to the subject.)
This means that if I observe something, it is me who is defining it. (Again, “me” refers to my will, not to any part of my body.)
The content of an observation is not the same as its frame. Whereas its content must be defined by the object, its frame must be defined by the subject.
The frame is a necessity imposed by the fact that human mind is limited in the sense that it can contain only a limited amount of information.
We can say that the frame has 3 parameters that have to be defined:
- its size, determining the amount of reality that will be perceived
- its position, determining the segment of reality from which a sub-segment will be perceived
- its type, determining the type of reality to be perceived
Once every parameter is configured, preferably by the subject, we can take a snapshot and our frame will be filled with content.
What you’ve been claiming on this topic is that such a content is by necessity defined by the subject.
This literally means that the content is filled, not by external forces, but by imagination. The subject decides what’s going to be on canvas, not external reality.
Inter-subjectivity does not bode well for you either. It simply replaces individual imagination with collective imagination. Fundamentally, there is no difference.
Then, you might be saying that the body of the subject – and not the will – is influencing what the subject sees. Which might be true, to an extent, but which is irrelevant because that’s not subjectivity but noise.
Imagination, on its own, isn’t subjectivity either.
Subjectivity is when a product of imagination is taken to be a product of reality.
Most often, it’s when a product of reality mixed with imagination is taken to be a product of reality.
That’s what subjectivity is.
It happens when one’s frame of perception is not defined by the subject but by the object.
Objective frame leads to subjective content.