How do we humans best understand impartiality or disinterestedness? The cumbersome German word Unvoreingenommenheit* provides a possible analogy for the inherent convolution of the concept.
Let’s say two children are arguing. A wise adult can indeed listen impartially and sort things out for the best of both. Neither of the children’s stakes in the matter is identical to the adult’s. Yet, on the other hand, the adult does not act from pure disinterestedness. He or she may be invested in the children’s well-being, appearance, or behavior, or may strive to reinforce a self-image of urbanity or prudence. It seems that impartiality proves at best partial.
Or, let’s say we want to make an inquiry into something important to us, perhaps the cause of a conflict or the character of an opponent. We invest time, strength, effort, and resources in hopes of finding a solution, remedy, or explanation. To a certain extent, with skill and patience, we put aside our most glaring prejudices.
Do we ever, however, get outside of our basic involvement in the question? The question is posed from inside our own general perspective, our Weltanschauung. It seems that each individual inquiry or intervention at some point reveals itself to be de facto limited; only one window opens onto the scene. Built-in blind spots preclude a total view.
Is a pursuit or a claim of disinterestedness, then, a dead end? Many serious people value highly and hold sincerely to its pursuit. My view is that the impossibility of disinterestedness is also always partial. That is, the balance, or dance, between bias and detachment appears ever in flux.
To expect and embrace complexity tends to produce a richness of results not easily co-opted or manipulated into jargon or propaganda. Perhaps, a path opens on which one out of two footfalls echoes with disinterestedness. My own inclination is to say that such a path is the path of the most useful and beautiful endeavors — whether in business, scholarship, care-taking, or art.
* Helpful hint: parsed Un-vor-ein-ge-nommen-heit