Subjective vs Objective

First, a couple definitions from dictionary.com

Subjective: pertaining to or characteristic of an individual; personal; individual: a subjective evaluation, placing excessive emphasis on one's own moods, attitudes, opinions, etc.; unduly egocentric.

Objective: not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased: an objective opinion, intent upon or dealing with things external to the mind rather than with thoughts or feelings, as a person or a book.

While I believe both areas should be used when considering the quality of a piece of flintknapping work, and I have some subjective considerations listed on my main site at www.modern-flintknapping.com

Subjective considerations are left up to a lot of opinion and as the old saying goes, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I see some using terms such as "overall workmanship" "generally clean blade" "great style" "outstanding color" but yet it is never explained exactly what any of these words mean. It is all very vague.

And of course, all these subjective thoughts, could be argued by people in a never ending battle, once again the beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

For this reason, I prefer using objective considerations, taking precise measurements of many dimensions of the piece and running it through the Modern Flintknapping Grading System to get a score. You can visit my main website to see what measurements are taken.

Then the subjective considerations can factored in if you have two pieces of similar score.