Is it possible for one to be completely objective in their search for truth? The simple answer is: No. True objectivity involves the ability to think for oneself, completely independent of others. Since we are relational creatures by design, it is impossible for an individual to progress through life without being influenced by another. From the moment we are born we are in contact with others, we crave contact with others and require contact with others in order to thrive. It is this contact that shapes us through infancy and childhood and continues to mold us as individuals throughout our lives.
We continue to be influenced by others beyond our formative years, whether consciously or subconsciously, by the things we read, hear, and see. Every word, written or heard, influences us in our interpretation and perception of reality. To be truly independent of the influence of others we must avoid all human contact from birth. Something that is not only impossible, but also detrimental to normal psychological and physical development.
Even those who seek originality cannot escape this fact. In the quest for original thought, the one who seeks originality must do so by avoiding those thoughts, ideas and theories which have already been explored so as not to repeat them.One cannot create a new thought or present a new theory or idea without first understanding the thoughts and ideas of others in order to avoid presenting an idea that has already been presented. Therefore the quest for originality is also directly influenced by the ideas and thoughts of others, if only for the sake of omission!
Since our interpretation of reality has been unavoidably influenced by the thoughts and opinions of others, we are as a result biased in both our opinions and our quest for truth. Realizing this, one must also realize that the quest for truth itself is in reality a quest to prove which bias is true.
This is of course assuming that their is absolute truth. If truth is subjective, then it is fluid and can be changed depending on the bias of the observer. The result of subjective truth is a perception of reality in which something that is true to the bias of one individual is not necessarily true to the bias of another.
In this scenario, if a particular aspect of truth is uncomfortable, or challenges the bias of the observer, then the observer simply has to ignore that particular aspect of truth. This is the only instance when it is possible for one to be objective in their search for truth because one can simply change the truth in order to fit one's bias! Logic however dictates that nothing can be both equally true and equally false at the same time. Thus two opposing biases cannot both be true.
Furthermore, the belief in subjective truth is itself a statement of absolute truth. It cannot be absolutely true that there is no absolute truth if there is no absolute truth! To believe that nothing is absolutely true is to adhere to the belief in the absolute truth that there is no absolute truth. Therefore, the belief in subjective truth proves that truth is, by it's very nature, absolute. It is not fluid. It is not subjective. It is absolute and unyielding. To believe otherwise is to live within a world of self delusion governed by logical fallacy and denial.
If truth is absolute and each observer is biased, how then can anyone be objective? The only way to be completely unbiased in one's evaluation of truth is if one is omniscient. In order to know truth, one must know the difference between false bias and the truth without being influenced by the bias of others. The only way to accurately discern between bias and truth free of the influence of others is if one is intimately antiquated with absolute truth and knows the answer and ultimate outcome of every idea conceived by man, past present and future.
In order to know every idea conceived by man past, present and future, one must also exist outside of time, thus one would have to be omnipotent, being master of both time and space. And if one were the master of time and space, then one would of course be unhindered by the laws of the natural universe and would therefore be omnipresent: existing everywhere in the universe and beyond simultaneously.
If one were omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, then one would be able to know truth, for such a being would be the very author of truth itself.
How then can we, who are unashamedly biased in our presuppositions know truth? By drawing close to the One who is the author of truth: Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent author of truth. As such, He is the only one who can fully know truth and be completely objective in his interpretation of truth. Likewise, since Jesus is the author of truth, knowing the ultimate outcome of every human thought past, present and future, He is completely just and fair in His understanding, evaluation and judgment over all creation. He is Himself the truth. It is impossible for truth to exist without God. And it is impossible for us to know truth apart from Christ.
"Jesus told him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." ~John 14:6 New Living Translation (NLT)
