To understand something you need to rely on your own experience and culture. Does this mean that it is impossible to have objective knowledge?

“What is the colour of an apple?” I was once asked this question in class .To me the answer seemed rather obvious. But suddenly a student who lived in New Zealand stood up and shouted “green.” I had never seen a green apple before; to me, an apple had always been red. This was a fact for me – an apple was red in colour. For most people in that classroom, the apple was red; this is almost an “objective fact.” But that class had demonstrated how experiences and cultures had diluted such an “objective fact.”
A person’s background has a large influence in the manner in which one gains knowledge. This influence is most obvious in the way people perceive the world. Culture and religion are integral factors that define how a person views the world around and therefore how he or she understands the world. Take the example of a cow. For me, as a Hindu, the cow is not just an animal but a sacred identity. In India, the cow is considered the “mother” of all animals. Compare this view with that of a friend of mine from Britain, where the cow is valued purely for its dairy products and meat – it is just a source of food. An Indian would never think of killing a cow, let alone eating it. For both of us, the cow is an animal with four legs and two ears, in other words it is physically exactly the same. However the ‘concept’ of the animal differs considerably. Likewise knowledge can be gained by people in similar ways, that is through our senses but the way we perceive the knowledge we gain is significantly influenced by our experiences and cultures
When considering the argument of whether ‘objective knowledge’ truly exists, recall the example of the apple,(“What is the colour of an apple?”) I gained the knowledge that an apple was red in colour through acquaintance with this fact. I had eaten red apples, drawn pictures of apples using red colours, and most importantly everyone around me agreed that an apple was red only red in colour. However when my friend from New Zealand answered that an apple was also green in colour, the objective knowledge I possessed was challenged. His experience had shown him that apples could also be green in colour. What seemed to be an objective fact for me was no more completely true, once again showing that reliance on one’s own experiences and culture may not distort the integrity of knowledge
. Hence I believe that although relying on one’s culture and experience is necessary in perceiving and understanding knowledge that one gains, such reliance does not assure the knower that the knowledge he or she gathers is complete or objective in nature.