 Is the statement true, false, or reflexive? Is the statement true, false, or reflexive?
True or False analysis is justified when we are dealing with the world of objects. True and false are NOT the only categories that must be considered when we are dealing with subjects, i.e. when the object of study is a human, i.e. when the object is a subject.
“Reflexive statements are indispensable to a proper understanding of thinking agents…All value statements are reflexive in nature…Most generalizations about history and society are similarly reflexive.”
Three categories of truth are not required provided we recognize the nature of reflexivity. In reflexive situations we cannot deal just with the facts mam. When we deal with singular facts such as “did you drop that apple” true and false are adequate but when we deal with predictions “will you then drop that apple” true and false are not the whole ballgame. “It is only when it comes to predictive theories that the uncertainty connected with reflexivity comes into play.”
We can make statements that fit the facts or we can make the facts fit the statements. We are certainly very familiar with how our politicians make the facts fit the statement. In such occasions true or false is not what is important, what is important is making the public believe the statement. For this reason “we must thoroughly revise the way we think about the world of human and social affairs”.
Blinding is a fundamental means for preventing reflexivity from interfering with research. The unconscious or conscious bias of the human experimenters and of the subjects who are part of the research can be prevented by blind or double blind experiments.
Quotes from “Open Society”--George Soros | 
12-15-2007, 08:30 AM
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