Subjective and Objective Claims

Subjective and objective claims were discussed in chapter 2 of our Critical Thinking textbook.  The author, Richard Epstein, describes a subjective claim is a claim that “invokes personal standards” (Epstein 20).   He also goes on to describe that an objective claim “invokes impersonal standards” (Epstein 20).  A subjective claim I have heard recently was made by my older sister Maria.  We were at work and I walked into the office and she looks up from her desk and tells me, “It’s hot in here.”  The claim is subjective because to her it is hot inside the office; she personally thought it was hot.  I looked at her and shook my head and told her that it was not even close to being hot in the office compared to outside.  An objective claim that I have come across recently was a conversation between me and my friends.  We were discussing some movies that we’ve seen and which ones were our favorites.  I mention that my favorite movie was Goodfellas, and I went on to mention which famous actor was in the movie.  So the objective claim was, “Robert Di Nero is one of the main characters in Goodfellas.”  It’s an objective claim because it does not matter what the other thinks, feels, or believes in.  It won’t matter if they don’t think he was in the movie or feels like he wasn’t a good actor, I stated that he was one of the main characters in the movie.