Objectivity in the sciences is a much-touted yet problematic concept. It is sometimes held up as characterising scientific knowledge, yet operational definitions are diverse and call for such paradoxical genius as the ability to see without a perspective, to predict repeatability, to elicit nature’s own self-revelation, or to discern the structure of reality with inerrancy. Here we propose a positive and general definition of objectivity based on work in the Reformational philosophy tradition. We recognise a suite of relation-frames–ways in which things function and relate to each other, which can be analytically distinguished in the process of conceptual abstraction. These relation-frames also ground the diverse aspects of scientific analysis within which relationships and properties may be abstracted from entities and systems. We argue that objectivity can be understood as characteristic of representations that attempt to portray a subject in an earlier relation-frame than that in which it characteristically functions. In short, objectivity is projection. This proposal is exemplified from mathematics and the natural sciences and some possible objections to it are considered, as well as its extension to the social sciences.

科学中的客观性是一个备受吹捧但有问题的概念。它有时被认为是科学知识的特征，但操作定义是多种多样的，需要这样一种矛盾的天才，例如没有视角的观察能力、预测可重复性、引出自然自己的自我启示、或用无误。在这里，我们基于宗教改革哲学传统中的工作提出了客观性的积极和一般定义。我们认识到一套关系框架——事物运作和相互关联的方式，可以在概念抽象过程中进行分析区分。这些关系框架也奠定了科学分析的各个方面，其中关系和属性可以从实体和系统中抽象出来。我们认为，客观性可以被理解为表征的特征，这些表征试图在较早的关系框架中描绘一个主题，而不是在它的特征功能框架中。简而言之，客观就是投射。该建议以数学和自然科学为例，并考虑了一些可能的反对意见，以及将其扩展到社会科学。