The Spectator-Participant Problem: A Critical Study of Objectivity and Subjectivity in the Philosophy of History

Abstract

The term "spectator-participant problem" does not refer to any very new or modern problem of thought and action but rather, it refers to a problem which has long been known to exist in the thoughts of men. The problem is now of a basic conflict between theory and practice in some respects, but more broadly between the objective and the subjective approach to life in general and to philosophy and history in particular. It is a conflict which arises each time man makes any attempt to judge or describe one of his fellows. The conflict appears in all ranges of experience and is therefore one of which we as thinking beings must take cognizance.