英語作文：Issue

There is no such thing as purely objective observation. All observation is subjective; it is always guided by the observer s expectations or desires.

The speaker claims that all observation is subjective--colored by desire and expectation. While it would be tempting to concede that we all see things differently, careful scrutiny of the speaker s claim reveals that it confuses observation with interpretation. In fact, in the end the speaker s claim relies entirely on the further claim that there is no such thing as truth and that we cannot truly know anything. While this notion might appeal to certain existentialists and epistemologists, it runs against the grain of all scientific discovery and knowledge gained over the last 500 years.

It would be tempting to afford the speaker s claim greater merit than it deserves. After all, our everyday experience as humans informs us that we often disagree about what we observe around us. We ve all uttered and heard uttered many times the phase That s not the way I see it! Indeed, everyday observations--for example, about whether a football player was out of bounds, or about which car involved in an accident ran the red light--vary depending not only on one s spatial perspective but also on one s expectations or desires. If I m rooting for one football team, or if the player is well-known for his ability to make great plays while barely staying in bounds, my desires or expectations might influence what I think I observe.

Or if I am driving one of the cars in the accident, or if one car is a souped-up sports car, then my desires or expectations will in all likelihood color my perception of the accident s events.