Scaffolding, Rhetoric, and the Illusion of Objectivity

The provided text is an essay from the Philosophics Blog titled "Scaffolding, Rhetoric, and the Illusion of Objectivity," written by language philosopher Bry Willis. Willis argues that objectivity is an illusion within the social and moral domains, asserting that what is considered "truth" is instead a rhetorical and provisional consensus (scaffolding, not granite). The essay's five premises assert that subjectivity is the baseline, relativity is emergent from shared subjectivities, and morality is prescriptive rather than propositional, aligning with non-cognitivism. Willis contends that while institutions must invoke objectivity for theatrical utility, this necessity does not prove its existence, advocating for an ethic of care to maintain the shared, contingent structure of social reality. The piece is aimed at an academic readership already familiar with post-structuralist and anti-realist thinkers like Nietzsche, Foucault, and Rorty, whose arguments support the thesis that permanence is a mirage.https://philosophics.blog/2025/09/24/stop-pretending-we-live-in-marble-halls/