The Three Faces of Truth: Navigating Objectivity, Subjectivity, and Power

By: Dr. Salihu Lukman

Your post insightfully captures the tension between emotion and reason, and how our perception is often filtered through personal and cultural lenses. This interplay between bias and rationality is exactly what gives rise to the three types of truth we encounter in life: objective, personal, and political truths — each shaped by a different level of subjectivity and influence.

🔹 Objective Truth is what remains true regardless of opinion. It survives scrutiny, testing, and time. For example, gravity causes objects to fall toward the Earth. No matter our beliefs or emotions, this truth holds because it is grounded in observable reality. But as you rightly pointed out, even our interpretation of facts can be distorted when viewed through biased lenses.

More examples of objective truth:

• Scientific: Water boils at 100°C at sea level.

• Mathematical: 2 + 2 = 4.

• Historical (verifiable): The Earth orbits the Sun.

Objective truths form the basis of science, logic, and factual reporting. They help societies build consensus around reality.

🔹 Personal Truth, on the other hand, is deeply emotional and subjective. It reflects an individual's feelings, beliefs, experiences, or perceptions. It may not be universally shared or verifiable. It is rooted in individual experience and internal conviction only. For instance, someone may say, "My faith saved my life." While this may not be scientifically measurable and verifiable, it is undeniably real to the individual who experienced it. These truths shape our identity and worldview, even if they aren't universally accepted.

More examples of personal truth:

• “I feel most alive when I’m praying.”

• “Chocolate ice cream is better than vanilla.”

• “I believe in a higher power.”

Personal truths are essential to identity, religious beliefs, mental health, and authentic self-expression. They shape how individuals relate to the world.

🔹 Political Truth often emerges from the manipulation or amplification of sentiments and group biases. It is typically constructed through repetition, influence, and power. A statement like "Our nation is always morally right in global affairs" may be more about nationalistic sentiment than fact. Political truths are often dressed in objectivity, but they serve agendas and are reinforced through echo chambers and media framing.

More examples of political truths:

• "Nigeria is one indivisible nation."

– A political ideal often repeated by leaders to promote national unity, despite persistent agitations for secession or autonomy (e.g., Biafra, Oduduwa Republic).

• "Our democracy is working."

– Frequently used to affirm legitimacy, even when elections are marred by voter suppression, rigging, or low public trust.

• "Power must rotate between North and South."

– A political belief shaping party decisions and elections, though it’s not in the Constitution. It reflects regional sentiments more than national consensus.

• "Security has improved under this administration."

– Politically useful during campaigns, despite rising incidents of banditry, terrorism, and communal clashes in several regions.

Political truths influence public opinion, policy, and social behavior. They can unify or divide, and may evolve with social movements or regime change. Remember, political truths are often ideological, emotionally charged, and sometimes selectively factual — shaped by power, public sentiment, or propaganda, rather than objective reality.

Ultimately, we must all confront the biases that color our lens and strive, as you said, to raise our objectivity threshold. Recognizing the type of truth we're dealing with — and whether it’s based on emotion, evidence, or ideology — is key to thinking clearly, judging fairly, and living wisely. 

Thanks for sparking such a profound reflection.

Dr. Hamisu’s Post

Sentiments and biases, largely influenced by emotions, can make even the most intelligent person appear foolish. Almost everyone views the world through the lens of their faith, culture, religion, tribe, needs, environment, knowledge, and experience. Most of us are guilty of confirmation bias, group think and cognitive short cuts. However, your ability to positively manage biases is your superpower. 

One must understand the interplay between the emotional and rational brain to suppress biases and be consistently rational. This task is challenging for most people.

There's something about objectivity that enhances your personality. It helps you separate biases and emotions from your observations, judgment, and decision-making, allowing you to see things clearly from different perspectives. Being rationally objective enables you to minimize personal opinions, feelings, and preconceived notions, and instead, concentrate on evidence as it appears.

An objective person is believable, reliable, respected, and, at the same time, feared, even by their enemies, whose sentimental intention is to distort facts with emotions without recourse to justice and shared humanity. 

Total objectivity is nearly impossible, but we can always strive to improve our objectivity threshold.

   H. A. Dandajeh 

   May 23, 2025.

Engineering the Human Mind: The Case for Social Science in National Progress

 Your reflections (Dr. Usman Isyaku) on the indispensable role of social sciences in national development resonate deeply with me. As someone who has navigated the realms of engineering and public health, I've come to recognize that a foundational understanding of psychology in particular – a social science discipline - is not just beneficial but essential for fostering meaningful interpersonal relationships and comprehending the complexities of human behavior.

Psychology offers profound insights into our personalities, behaviors, and the underlying factors that influence our interactions. By delving into psychological principles, we equip ourselves with the tools to navigate relationships more effectively, understand the motivations of others, and foster environments of empathy and mutual respect.

Human behavior, though complex, can be effectively modeled using the Big Five personality model — Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (OCEAN) — much like variables in physical or natural sciences. Each trait represents a spectrum that quantifies core aspects of personality, allowing researchers and practitioners to predict patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior across individuals and populations. For instance, a highly conscientious person tends to be organized and goal-oriented, which correlates with job performance and academic success. Similarly, high neuroticism is strongly linked to vulnerability to stress and mental health issues. By treating these traits as measurable psychological variables, we can apply statistical, computational, and experimental methods — just as we do in the physical sciences — to model, analyze, and even anticipate human behavior in different environments and social contexts. This structured approach makes personality psychology a scientifically rigorous field capable of informing interventions, improving interpersonal relationships, and enhancing mental health care.

 

Moreover, a grasp of clinical psychology can illuminate the nuances of personality disorders and mental health challenges, enabling us to approach such issues with compassion and informed support and do away with the stigma that is endemic in our sociocultural view of mental health. This understanding is crucial, especially in our diverse societal contexts, where mental health awareness is paramount and cannot be over-emphasized especially in this crucial time.

 

Reflecting on my educational journey, I often ponder how a formal education in psychology could have been my primary choice if only I could go back in time. The integration of psychological insights into our daily lives and professional practices can lead to more cohesive communities and effective problem-solving strategies.

 

In essence, embracing psychology as a vital component of our educational and personal development endeavors can bridge gaps in understanding, promote mental well-being, and enhance the fabric of our interpersonal connections.

 

In conclusion, the study of social science courses—particularly psychology, in my humble opinion—is not a luxury but a necessity in today’s increasingly complex world. As we strive for national development and social cohesion, a scientific understanding of human behavior, relationships, and mental health becomes as critical as advances in engineering or medicine. By investing in social sciences, we not only cultivate empathy and insight at the individual level but also build the societal foundations required for sustainable progress. If we are to address the root causes of our institutional and interpersonal challenges, psychology and its allied disciplines must take their rightful place at the core of our educational priorities.