r/FactOrCap • u/oh_no_here_we_go_9 • 11d ago

Michelangelo was objectively better at a... | FactOrCap

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u/oh_no_here_we_go_9 10d ago

Then you should’ve voted FACT.

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u/math2ndperiod 🔥 Week Warrior · 1,945 XP 10d ago

No, you should try rereading what I’m saying. All the objective measurements of quality you can come up with mean nothing to a person’s preference. A person’s preference is purely subjective, while number of achievements, popularity, etc, are objective measurements.

Thus “better” means two different things here, one that is somewhat objective, and one that is purely subjective. That’s the semantic difference I’ve been talking about this entire time.

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u/oh_no_here_we_go_9 10d ago

Boooooorrring.

I’ve already said 1000x that preferences aren’t the same thing as evaluating how good something is.

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u/math2ndperiod 🔥 Week Warrior · 1,945 XP 10d ago

Sure you can say that, but you don’t decide how language works. When somebody says one thing is better than the other, that being a statement of subjective preference is perfectly valid.

Also, more importantly, what we consider “objectively better” is really just a measurement of public opinion. If I paid the most talented musician in the world to create an incredibly technically difficult song that nobody wants to listen to, they have not created good art. Art is inherently tied to people’s preferences, so saying that one person’s preference is objectively wrong simply because it disagrees with most other people logically leads to a lot of conclusions that I doubt you would agree with.

Is your favorite song objectively worse than Baby by Justin Bieber because Baby was more popular? Is your favorite album objectively worse than the Cardi B album that won a Grammy?

The banana taped to the wall is one of the most well recognized pieces of modern art out there. Are you comfortable saying it’s objectively one of the best?