objection 
General objection, in law, an objection interposed with- 
out at the same time stating the ground or reason for it. 
= 8yn. 2. Exception, difficulty, doubt, scruple, cavil, de- 
murrer. 
objectionable (ob-jek'sbon-a-bl), a. [< uliji-f- 
lioii + -ulilc.] Capable of being objected to; 
justly liable to objection ; calling for disap- 
proval. 
The modes of manifesting their religious convictions 
which these monks employed were so otyrctiinulble as to 
throw discredit on the very principles on which they acted. 
Mivart, Nature and Thought, p. 231. 
objectionably (ob-jek'shon-a-bli), adv. In an 
objectionable manner or degree; so as to be 
liable to objection. 
objectist (ob'jek-tist), . [< object + -int.] An 
adherent of the objective philosophy or doc- 
trine. Eflt'/iic HIT. 
Objectivate (ob-jek'ti-viit), r. /.; pret. and pp. 
objcctirated, ppr. obja-tinttiiit/. [< objective + 
-ah 2 .] Same as objectify. 
objectivation (qb-jek-ti-va'shon), n. [< objecti- 
vatc + -ion.] Same as objecti'ficntion. 
Objective (qb-jek'tiv), . and n. [= F. objectif 
= Sp. ohji'i'iro = I' )f. nbjcrtiro = It. obbicttiro, 
objettiro, < ML. objectives, relating to an object, 
< objectutn, an object : see object, n. Ct. subjec- 
tive.] I. a. If. As perceived or thought; in- 
tentional; ideal; representative; phenomenal: 
opposed to subjective or formal that is, as in 
its own nature . [This, the original meaning which the 
Latin word received from Duns Scotus, about 1300, almost 
the precise contrary of that now most usual, continued 
the only one till the middle of the seventeenth century', 
and was the most familiar in English until the latter port 
of the eighteenth.] 
Natural phenomena are only natural appearances. They 
are, therefore, such as we see and perceive them. Their 
real aud objective natures are therefore the same. Berkeley. 
The faculty of the imagination, for example, and its 
acts were said to have a subjective existence in the mind ; 
while its several images or representations had, qua im- 
ages or objects of consciousness, only an objective. Again, 
a material thing, say a horse, qua existing, was said to 
have a subjective being out of the mind ; qua conceived 
or known, it was said to have an objective being in the mind. 
Sir W. llamilton, in Reid's Supplementary Dissertations, 
(note B., 1. 
Where or when should we be ever able to search out all 
the vast treasuries of objective knowledge that layes with- 
in the compass of the universe? 
Sir M. Bale, Orig. of Mankind, p. 150. 
[By objective knowledge was meant the propositions 
known, opposed to formal or subjective knowledge, the act 
or habit of knowing. Such expressions probably led to 
the change of meaning of the word.] 
2. Pertaining or due to the real object of cog- 
nition; real: opposed to subjective (pertaining 
or due to the subject of cognition, namely, the 
mind). [This meaning of the word nearly reverses the 
original usage ; vet if such passages as that from Sir M. 
Hale, above, on the one hand, and that from Watts, below, 
on the other, be compared, the transition will be seen to 
have been easy. Kant makes x.he objects of experience to 
be at once real and phenomenal ; and what he generally 
means by the objective character of a proposition is the 
force which it derives from the thing itself compelling 
the mind, after examination, to accept it. But occasion- 
ally Kant uses objective to imply a reference to the un- 
knowable thing-in-itself to which the compelling force of 
phenomena is due.] 
Objective certainty is when the proposition is certainly 
true in itself; and subjective when we are certain of the 
truth of it. The one is in things, the other is in our 
minds. Watts, Logic, il. 2. S 8. 
[Thus, there is an objective certainty in things that any 
given man will die ; and a subjective certainty in his mind 
of that objective certainty. ] 
Objective means that which belongs to, or proceeds from, 
the object known, and not from the subject knowing, and 
thus denotes what is real, in opposition to what is ideal 
what exists in nature, in contrast to what exists merely in 
the thought of the individual. 
Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., Ix. 
A form of consciousness, which we cannot explain as of 
natural origin, is necessary to our conceiving an order of 
nature, an objective world of fact from which illusion may 
be distinguished. 
J. II. Green, Prolegomena to Ethics, 19. 
If an exact objective measurement of the physical stim- 
uli is intrinsically difficult, an exact subjective measure- 
ment of the sensations themselves is inherently impossi- 
ble. O. T. Ladd, Physiol. Psychology, p. 361. 
The number of vibrations is the objective characteristic 
of that which we perceive subjectively as colour. 
Lommel, Light (trans.), p. 226. 
3. Substantive; self-existent. [This rather 
confusing use of the word belongs to writers 
of strong uominalistic tendencies.] 
Science . . . agrees with common sense in demanding 
a belief in real objective bodies, really known as causes of 
the various phenomena the laws and interrelations of 
which it investigates. Mivart, Nature and Thought, p. 89. 
The only other thing in the physical universe which is 
conserved in the same sense as matter is conserved, is 
energy. Hence we naturally consider energy as the other 
abjective reality hi the physical universe. 
Tail, in Kncyc. Brit, XV. T47. 
10.-, 7 
4. Ink-tit, as a person, upon external objects of 
thought, whether things or persons, and not 
watching our'- self ami one's ways, nor attend- 
ing to one'-, own sensations; setting forth, a- 
ii writing or work of art, external facts or im- 
aginations of such matters as they exist or are 
supposed to exist, without drawing attention 
to the author's emotions, reflections, and per- 
sonality. 
The only healthful activity of the mind is an objective 
activity, In which there ! as little brooding over self as 
possible. J. Fiske, Cosmic Philos., I. 142. 
The two epics [the Iliad and Odyssey] appear on the ho- 
rizon of time so purely objective that they seem projected 
into this visible diurnal sphere with hardly a subjective 
trace adhering to them, and are silent as the stars concern- 
Ing their own genesis and mutual relation. 
W. D. lieddes, Problem of the Homeric Poems, ii. 
The theme of his [Dante's] poem is purely subjective, 
modern, what is called romantic ; but its treatment Is 06- 
jective (almost to realism, here and there), and it Is limited 
by a form of classic severity. 
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 87. 
5. In gram., pertaining to or noting the object 
of a transitive verb, or of a preposition ; form- 
ing or expressing a grammatical object: as, the 
objective case; an objective phrase or clause. 
Abbreviated obi Objective abstraction, beati- 
tude, being, doubt. See the nouns. Objective cauae, 
the external object which excites the principal cause of 
any effect to action ; the procatarctical cause. Objective 
concept, a concept conceived as constituting a real like- 
ness among the objects which come under it : opposed to 
a formal concept, or the concept regarded merely as a 
function of thought Objective end. ens, evidence, 
idealism, etc. See the nouns. Objective line, in persp., 
any line drawn on the geometrical plane the representa- 
tion of which is sought in the dralt or picture. Objective 
logic, the logic of objective thought ; the general account 
of the process by which the interaction of ideal elements 
constitutes the world. Hegel. Objective method, the 
inductive method : the method of modem science. Ob- 
jective philosophy. Same as transcendental philosophy 
(which sec, under philosophy). Objective plane, any 
plane, situated In the horizontal plane, whose perspec- 
tive representation is required. Objective point, (a) 
The point or locality aimed at; the final or ultimate point 
to which or to reach which one's efforts or desires are di- 
rected; specifically (mUit.\ the point toward securing 
which a general directs his operations, expecting thereby 
to obtain some decisive result or advantage. Hence (6) 
The ultimate end or aim ; that toward the attainment of 
which effort, strategy, etc., are directed. Objective pow- 
er or potency, that of a consistent object of thought ; 
logical possibility ; non-existence combined with non-re- 
pugnance to existence. Objective reality, the reference 
of a concept to an object Objective reason or thought, 
in metaph., reason or thought as existing not in the indi- 
vidual mind, but as in the real objects of cognition. 
A truly objective thought, far from being merely ours, must 
at the same time be what we have to discover In things, 
and in every object of perception. 
Her/el, tr. by Wallace, Logic of the Encyclopedia, S 41. 
Objective symptoms, in med., symptoms which can 
be observed by the physician, as distinct from subjective 
symptoms, such as pain, which can be directly observed 
only by the patient Objective truth, the agreement of 
a judgment with reality ; material truth. Objective va- 
lidity, applicability to the matter of sensation. 
There therefore arises here a difficulty which we did not 
meet with In the field of sensibility, namely how subjec- 
tive conditions of thought can have objective validity 
that Is. become conditions of the possibility of the know- 
ledge of objects. 
Ktuit, Critique of Pure Reason (tr. by Max Miiller, orig. 
(ed.), p. 89. 
II. n. 1. In Eng. gram., the objective case; 
the case used to express the object of a verb or 
a preposition. This case answers in most of Its uses 
to the accusative of Greek, Latin, German, and other lan- 
guages, and is sometimes so called in English. In nouns 
it is never distinct in form from the subjective or nomi- 
native; the only objectives having such a distinct form 
are the pronominal case-forms trie, thee, him, her, us, them, 
i/'h'Kii, corresponding to the nominatives /, thou, he, she, 
we, they, who respectively. Of these, her happens to be 
the same in form as the possessive. When words express- 
ing extent in space or duration in time are put in the ob- 
jective, they are called adverbial objectives: as, he ran a 
mill'; she sang an hour. Compare coynate object, under 
object, 5. Abbreviated obj. 
2. An objective point ; especially, the object, 
point, or place to or toward which a military 
force is directing its march or its operations. 
In 1864 the main objectives were Lee's and Johnston s 
armies, and the critical point was thought to be Rich- 
mond or Atlanta, whichever should be longest held. 
The Century, XXX.V. 596. 
3. The lens, or practically the combination of 
lenses, which forms the object-glass of an op- 
tical instrument, more particularly of the mi- 
croscope (see object-glass). Objectives are general- 
ly named from the focal length of a single lens which 
would have the same magnifying power: as, a two-inch ob- 
jective or power, a one-half-inch objective (or simply a half), 
etc. Objectives of high magnifying power and conse- 
quently short nominal focal length (e. g., less than half 
an inch) arc often spoken of as At;;A poicert, in distinction 
from the low poicern, which magnify less and have longer 
nominal focal lengths. Objectives are also characterized 
as immersion-objectives or dry objectives according as they 
are used with or without a drop of liquid between the lens 
object-object 
and the object ; if Iheliqiiiil has senMMy tin- aim- i 
live power as the glass of the lens, the syst em is called homo- 
1/cnrout immersion. (See immersion, 5.) The properties of 
un oljji-etive whieh determine its value for practical work 
are definition or defining power, depending upon IU free- 
dom from spherical and chromatic aberration, which should 
be accompanied by flatness of field . / u< triitinn. the !>" ' r 
of bringing parts of the object at dill, n nt l>-\els intu focus 
at once; resolving power, the ability (depending upon tli, 
size of the aperture and the definition) to i:\hlblt the mi- 
nute details of structure, as the lines on a diatom frustule 
(see test-object); working distance, which is the space sepa- 
rating the lens and the object when the latter is In focus. 
These properties are In some degree antagonistic ; thus, an 
Increase in the aperture, and hence of the resolving jmi-r. 
is accompanied by a decrease In the working distance. The 
aperture of an objective Is often measured by the angle of 
the cone of rays which it admits, and Is then called anon- 
lar aperture, since, however, this angle varies according 
as It Is used as a dry, water-Immersion, or homogeneous 
Immersion objective, a common measure is obtained, as 
proposed by Abbe, by taking the product of the half-angle 
into the refractive index of the medium taatofti ; this 
is called the numerical aperture (vanet lines written S. A.). 
Thus, for the maximum air-angle of 180', which Is equiva- 
lent to a water-angle of 97 - 31' and a balsam-angle of 82" 17', 
the numerical aperture is unity, while for the respective 
angles of 60' (air), 44' W (water\ 38 24' (balsam X it Is 0.5. 
Again, a numerical aperture of 1.33 corresponds to the 
maximum water-angle of 180' and a balsam-angle of IK'S. 
Endomerslon-objective.a form of objective, orohject- 
glass. devised by Zeuger, in which the chromatic aberra- 
tion Is removed by the employment of a liquid (as a mix- 
ture of ethereal and fatty oils) placed between the sepa- 
rate lenses. 
objectively (ob-jek'tiv-li), adv. In an objec- 
tive manner; "an an outward or external thing. 
Activity, objectively regarded, is Impulse or tendency. 
R. Adamson, Flchte, p. 184. 
objectiveness (ob-jek'tiy-nes), n. The state 
or relation of being objective. 
Is there such a motion or objectiveness of external bodies 
which produceth light? 
Sir M. Bale, Orig. of Mankind, p. 1. 
objectivism (ob-jek'ti-vizm), M. [< objective + 
-ism.] 1. Inp7<itos.,thetendencytomagnifythe 
importance of the objective elements of cogni- 
tion; especially, the doctrine that knowledge 
of the non-ego takes precedence in time, in 
logical sequence, and in order of importance 
of all knowledge of the ego. 2. The charac- 
ter, in a work of art or in its author, of being 
objective, in the sense of dramatic, presenting 
things as they are and persons as they seem to 
themselves and to one another. 
objectivistic (ob-jek-ti-vis'tik), a. [< objective 
+ -ist + -ic.]" Partaking of objectivism, in 
either sense Objectivistic logic. See subjectivistic 
logic, under logic. 
objectivity (ob-jek-tiv'i-ti), n. [== F. objectivity 
= Sp. objeiiridad = fg. objectividade, < ML. 
*objectivita(t-)s,< objectives, objective: see objec- 
tive.] The property or state of being objective, 
in any sense of that word ; externality ; exter- 
nal reality; universal validity; absorption in 
external objects. See objective, a. 
The Greek philosophers alone found little want of a 
term precisely to express the abstract notion of objectirilii 
In its indeterminate universality, which they could apply, 
as they required it, in any determinate relation. 
Sir W. Hamilton (in Reid), Supplementary Dissertations, 
(note B, L 
Preponderant objectivity seems characteristic of the 
earlier stages of our consciousness, and the subjective at- 
titude does not become habitual till later in life. 
B. SMgwick, Methods of Ethics, p. 41. 
The secret of the objectivity of phenomena, and their con- 
nection as parts of one world, must obviously be sought, 
not without but within, not in what is simply given to 
the mind but in what Is produced by It. 
E. Caird, Philos. of Kant, p. 198. 
Intense objectivity of regards, as in a race or an engross- 
ing operation, Is not, strictly speaking, unconsciousness, 
but it is the maximum of energy with the minimum of 
consciousness. 
A. Bain, Mind, XII. 678. 
obiectivize (ob-jek'ti-viz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. 
objectivi:ed, ppr. objectiviziny. [< objective + 
-i;e.] To render objective; place before the 
mind as an object ; objectify. 
The word is one by which the disciple objectivizes his own 
feelings. Bushnell. 
objectize (ob'jek-tiz), c. t. ; pret. and pp. objec- 
ti^ftl, ppr. objectizing. [< object, n., + -ize.] 
Same as objectify. Coleridge. 
objectless (ob'jekt-les), a. [< object, n., + -7m.] 
Having no object ; purposeless ; aimless. 
Strangers would wonder what I am doing, lingering here 
at the -sign-post, evidently objectless and lost 
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxvili. 
object-lesson (ob'jekt-les'n), . A lesson in 
which instruction is communicated, or a subject 
made clear, by presenting to the eye the object 
to be described, or a representation of it. 
Object-object (ob'jekt-ob'jekt), w. An object 
of knowledge different from mind. Sir If. 
Hamilton. 
