Metaphysical subjectivism

Metaphysical subjectivism istheory that perception creates reality,that thereno underlying, true, reality that exists independentperception. One can also hold that itconsciousness rather than perception that creates reality. Thisin contrastmetaphysical objectivism.

The inventionmachines that can "see", "hear", or otherwise observerecord events providesthought experiment (offered by Winston Churchill, whonot otherwise known asphilospher) thatdifficultsubjectivistsexplain. Let us set up automatic camerarecord events inplace that no human (or other creature reasonably considered "conscious") can observe. Say that itset insidevolcano,example. The cameralater retrievedits photographs,date markings,observed. Didevents recorded inphotographs really happen even though no one consciously observed them? Didconscious observation ofphotographs themselves somehow suddenly cause themdepict events that apparently happened at an earlier time?

This holding should not be confused withstance that "allillusion" or that "thereno suchas reality." Metaphysical subjectivists hold that realityreal enough,that physical objects do exist. They conceive, however, thatnaturereality as related togiven consciousness unitcreatedgoverned by that consciousness.

Subjectivismprobability

In probability,subjectivist would tell you that probabilitiessimply degree-of-beliefs by rational agents,no objective reality. Unlikefrequentist,subjectivist would be happyaccept that we can deduceprobability thatsun will rise again tomorrow merely from its age, colour, chemical composition,so forth. Unlike an objectivist,subjectivist has no problemdiffering people giving different probabilitiesan uncertain proposition,all being correct. See Bayesianism.

In practice, it's quite trickyget humans (or, if we ever met any, other rational agents)tell you what their degreesbelief- we do all kindsthings like hedging our bets, peer pressure, being suspeicious, trusting our friends, or lookingpatterns -general, allthings which mark us as intelligent beings but probability researchers seemsee asdownside.

To get round this, people normally call upon people'put their money where their probabilities are'. Specifically, when someone states their degree-of-beliefsomething other experimental subjectsfreeplace small bets (usuallyplastic tokens)or against that belief,appropriate odds. Confrontedmaterial gain or loss, most people quickly change their quoted oddsbe more accurate. So effectivethis method that it's been designated by some asfundamental meaningprobability:willingnesstake or placebet.