View source for Philosophy:Perspectivism

{{Short description|Philosophical principle that perspectives and epistemology are always linked}}
{{Epistemology sidebar}}
'''Perspectivism''' ({{lang-de|Perspektivismus}}; also called '''perspectivalism''') is the [[Philosophy:Epistemology|epistemological principle]] that [[Perception|perception]] of and [[Philosophy:Knowledge|knowledge]] of something are always bound to the interpretive perspectives of those observing it. While perspectivism {{em|does not}} regard all perspectives and interpretations as being of equal [[Truth|truth]] or value, it holds that no one has access to an absolute view of the world cut off from perspective.<ref name=:1/> Instead, all such {{em|viewing}} occurs from some point of view which in turn affects how things are perceived. Rather than attempt to [[Philosophy:Correspondence theory of truth|determine truth by correspondence]] to things outside any perspective, perspectivism thus generally seeks to determine truth by comparing and evaluating perspectives among themselves.<ref name=:1>For the perspectivist divergence between truth and value, and its opposition to correspondence theories of truth, see: {{cite book|last=Nehamas|first=Alexander|title=The Art of Living: Socratic Reflections from Plato to Foucault|location=Berkeley|publisher=University of California Press|year=1998|pages=145, 148|isbn=9780520211735|oclc=37132573}} Including its pre-Nietzschean forms, perspectivism traditionally holds that: "All seeing occurs from some point of view, in accordance with our interests. There is neither a view from nowhere nor a view from everywhere; [...] Though we have no absolute view, cut off from the perspective, it does not follow that all perspectives are 'equally valid.' On the contrary, some perspectives are better than others. We know this not because we have the ability to compare perspectives to whatever lies outside any perspective, but because we can (and do) compare perspectives to one another." {{cite book|last=Miner|first=Robert|year=2017|chapter=Gay science and the practice of perspectivism|title=Nietzsche and Montaigne|location=Cham|publisher=[[Company:Palgrave Macmillan|Palgrave Macmillan]]|page=64|isbn=9783319667447|oclc=994692085|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-66745-4_3}} For concordance with scientific and contemporary forms of perspectivism, see: {{cite journal|last=Agazzi|first=Evandro|author-link=Evandro Agazzi|year=2016|title=Scientific realism within perspectivism and perspectivism within scientific realism|journal=Axiomathes|volume=26|issue=4|pages=349–365|doi=10.1007/s10516-016-9304-4|s2cid=254256157 }}</ref> Perspectivism may be regarded as an early form of [[Philosophy:Epistemological pluralism|epistemological pluralism]],<ref name=Sandywell2012>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Sandywell|first=Barry|title='Perspectives, Philosophical' and 'Perspectivism'|dictionary=Dictionary of Visual Discourse: A Dialectical Lexicon of Terms|publisher=Routledge|year=2012|pages=458–459|isbn=9781409401889|oclc=502453053|doi=10.4324/9781315577098}}</ref> though in some accounts includes treatment of [[Philosophy:Value theory|value theory]],<ref name=Nehamas1998/> [[Philosophy:Moral psychology|moral psychology]],<ref name=SEP/> and realist metaphysics.<ref>For the relation of perspectivism to realism, see the following (and their containing sources): {{bulleted list|{{cite journal|last=Agazzi|first=Evandro|author-link=Evandro Agazzi|year=2016|title=Scientific realism within perspectivism and perspectivism within scientific realism|journal=Axiomathes|volume=26|issue=4|pages=349–365|doi=10.1007/s10516-016-9304-4|s2cid=254256157 }}|{{cite book|last=Conway|first=Daniel|year=1999|chapter=Beyond Truth and Appearance: Nietzsche's Emergent Realism|editor-last=Babich|editor-first=Babette E.|title=Nietzsche, Epistemology, and Philosophy of Science|series=Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science|volume=204|pages=109–122|publisher=Springer|location=Dordrecht|doi=10.1007/978-94-017-2428-9_9|isbn=978-90-481-5234-6}}|{{cite book|last=Miner|first=Robert|year=2017|chapter=Gay science and the practice of perspectivism|title=Nietzsche and Montaigne|location=Cham|publisher=[[Company:Palgrave Macmillan|Palgrave Macmillan]]|page=80|isbn=9783319667447|oclc=994692085|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-66745-4_3}}}}</ref>

Early forms of perspectivism have been identified in the philosophies of [[Biography:Protagoras|Protagoras]], [[Biography:Michel de Montaigne|Michel de Montaigne]], and Gottfried Leibniz. However, its first major statement is considered to be [[Biography:Friedrich Nietzsche|Friedrich Nietzsche]]'s development of the concept in the 19th century,<ref name=Sandywell2012/><ref name=SEP>{{cite SEP|last=Anderson|first=R. Lanier|title=Friedrich Nietzsche|date=Summer 2017|url-id=nietzsche}}</ref> influenced by Gustav Teichmüller's use of the term some years prior.<ref>{{cite book|last=Meyer|first=Matthew|date=2014|title=Reading Nietzsche through the Ancients: An Analysis of Becoming, Perspectivism, and the Principle of Non-Contradiction|publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG|isbn=9781934078419|location=Berlin|pages=210}}</ref> For Nietzsche, perspectivism takes the form of a realist [[Philosophy:Metaphysics#Rejections of metaphysics|antimetaphysics]]<ref>For Nietzschean perspectivism as a form of realist antimetaphysics, see especially: {{bulleted list|{{cite book|last=Conway|first=Daniel|year=1999|chapter=Beyond Truth and Appearance: Nietzsche's Emergent Realism|editor-last=Babich|editor-first=Babette E.|title=Nietzsche, Epistemology, and Philosophy of Science|series=Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science|volume=204|pages=109–122|publisher=Springer|location=Dordrecht|doi=10.1007/978-94-017-2428-9_9|isbn=978-90-481-5234-6}}|{{cite journal|last=Doyle|first=Tsarina|year=2005|title=Nietzsche on the Possibility of Truth and Knowledge|journal=Minerva|editor-last=Thornton|editor-first=Stephen|volume=9|pages=261–286|url=http://www.minerva.mic.ul.ie/vol9/Nietzsche.pdf}} (Also as a form of [[Contextualism|contextualism]] and [[Philosophy:Anti-foundationalism|anti-foundationalism]]. Note that while Nietzsche rejects traditional metaphysical realism, he is nevertheless a realist in an antimetaphysical sense.)}}</ref> while rejecting both the [[Philosophy:Correspondence theory of truth|correspondence theory of truth]] and the notion that the truth-value of a belief always constitutes its ultimate worth-value.<ref name=Nehamas1998/> The perspectival conception of [[Philosophy:Objectivity|objectivity]] used by Nietzsche sees the deficiencies of each perspective as remediable by an asymptotic study of the differences between them. This stands in contrast to [[Philosophy:Platonism|Platonic]] notions in which objective truth is seen to reside in a wholly non-perspectival domain.<ref name=SEP/> Despite this, perspectivism is often misinterpreted<ref name=Nehamas1998>{{cite book|last=Nehamas|first=Alexander|title=The Art of Living: Socratic Reflections from Plato to Foucault|location=Berkeley|publisher=University of California Press|year=1998|pages=143–150|isbn=9780520211735|oclc=37132573}} See especially page 148.</ref> as a form of [[Relativism|relativism]] or as a rejection of objectivity entirely.<ref name=Lacewing>{{cite web |last=Lacewing|first=Michael|title=Nietzsche's perspectivism|website=Philosophy for A Level|publisher=Routledge|url=http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/alevelphilosophy/data/A2/Nietzsche/NietzschePerspectivism.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521105614/http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/alevelphilosophy/data/A2/Nietzsche/NietzschePerspectivism.pdf|archive-date=2014-05-21|url-status=dead}}</ref> Though it is often mistaken to imply that no way of seeing the world can be taken as definitively true, perspectivism can instead be interpreted as holding certain interpretations (such as that of perspectivism itself) to be definitively true.<ref name=Nehamas1998/>

During the 21st century, perspectivism has led a number of developments within [[Philosophy:Analytic philosophy|analytic philosophy]]<ref>Examples of perspectivism in analytic philosophy include: {{bulleted list| {{cite book |last=Mou |first=Bo |date=2009 |title=Substantive Perspectivism: An Essay on Philosophical Concern with Truth |series=Synthese Library |volume=344 |location=Dordrecht |publisher=[[Physics:Springer-Verlag|Springer-Verlag]] |isbn=9789048126224 |oclc=401153973 |doi=10.1007/978-90-481-2623-1}}| {{cite book |last=Sadegh-Zadeh |first=Kazem |date=2015 |orig-year=2012 |chapter=Perspectivism |title=Handbook of Analytic Philosophy of Medicine |edition=2nd |series=Philosophy and Medicine |volume=119 |location=Dordrecht; New York |publisher=[[Physics:Springer-Verlag|Springer-Verlag]] |pages=865–874 |isbn=9789401795784 |oclc=907193007 |doi=10.1007/978-94-017-9579-1_27}}| {{cite book |last=Colomina Almiñana |first=Juan José |date=2018 |title=Formal Approach to the Metaphysics of Perspectives: Points of View as Access |series=Synthese Library |volume=392 |location=Cham |publisher=[[Physics:Springer-Verlag|Springer-Verlag]] |isbn=9783319736549 |oclc=1029608931 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-73655-6}}}}</ref> and [[Philosophy:Philosophy of science|philosophy of science]],<ref>Examples of perspectivism in philosophy of science include:| {{cite book |last=Giere |first=Ronald N. |author-link=Ronald Giere |date=2006 |title=Scientific Perspectivism |location=Chicago |publisher=[[Organization:University of Chicago Press|University of Chicago Press]] |isbn=0226292126 |oclc=63195906 |doi=10.7208/9780226292144 |doi-broken-date=1 August 2023 |url=https://archive.org/details/scientificperspe0000gier |url-access=registration}}| {{cite journal |last=Brown |first=Matthew J. |date=June 2009 |title=Models and perspectives on stage: remarks on Giere's ''Scientific Perspectivism'' |journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=213–220 |doi=10.1016/j.shpsa.2009.03.001 |bibcode=2009SHPSA..40..213B |url=https://www.academia.edu/803320}}| {{cite journal |last=Callebaut |first=Werner |author-link=Werner Callebaut |date=March 2012 |title=Scientific perspectivism: a philosopher of science's response to the challenge of big data biology |journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=69–80 |doi=10.1016/j.shpsc.2011.10.007 |pmid=22326074}}| {{cite journal |last=Agazzi |first=Evandro |author-link=Evandro Agazzi |date=December 2016 |title=Scientific realism within perspectivism and perspectivism within scientific realism |journal=Axiomathes |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=349–365 |doi=10.1007/s10516-016-9304-4|s2cid=254256157 }}| {{cite book |editor1-last=Massimi |editor1-first=Michela |editor1-link=Michela Massimi |editor2-last=McCoy |editor2-first=Casey D. |date=2019 |title=Understanding Perspectivism: Scientific and Methodological Prospects |series=Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Science |volume=20 |location=New York |publisher=[[Company:Routledge|Routledge]] |isbn=9781138503069 |doi=10.4324/9781315145198 |s2cid=198727223 |url=https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/25065}}
</ref> particularly under the early influence of [[Biography:Ronald Giere|Ronald Giere]], [[Biography:Jay Rosenberg|Jay Rosenberg]], [[Biography:Ernest Sosa|Ernest Sosa]], and others.<ref name=MassimiMcCoy2019-Introduction>{{cite book|last1=Massimi|first1=Michela|last2=McCoy|first2=Casey D.|contribution=Introduction|editor1-last=Massimi|editor1-first=Michela|editor1-link=Michela Massimi|editor2-last=McCoy|editor2-first=Casey D.|date=2019|title=Understanding Perspectivism: Scientific and Methodological Prospects|series=Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Science|volume=20|location=New York|publisher=[[Company:Routledge|Routledge]]|pages=1–9|isbn=9781138503069|doi=10.4324/9781315145198|s2cid=198727223 |url=https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/25065}}</ref> This contemporary form of perspectivism, also known as '''scientific perspectivism'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA-->, is more narrowly focused than prior forms—centering on the perspectival limitations of scientific models, [[Scientific theory|theories]], [[Observation|observation]]s, and focused interest, while remaining more compatible for example with Kantian philosophy and correspondence theories of truth.<ref name=MassimiMcCoy2019-Introduction/><ref>For comparisons of contemporary scientific perspectivism with Nietzschean perspectivism, see: {{bulleted list|{{cite book|last=Hales|first=Steven D.|year=2020|chapter=Nietzsche's Epistemic Perspectivism|editor1-last=Crețu|editor1-first=Ana-Maria|editor2-last=Massimi|editor2-first=Michela|editor2-link=Michela Massimi|title=Knowledge from a Human Point of View|series=Synthese Library (Studies in Epistemology, Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science)|volume=416|pages=19–35 |publisher=Springer, Cham|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-27041-4_2|isbn=978-3-030-27040-7 |s2cid=213628622 }}|{{cite journal|last=Agazzi|first=Evandro|year=2016|title=Scientific realism within perspectivism and perspectivism within scientific realism|journal=Axiomathes|volume=26|issue=4|pages=349–365|doi=10.1007/s10516-016-9304-4|s2cid=254256157 }}}}</ref> Furthermore, scientific perspecitivism has come to address a number of scientific fields such as [[Physics:Physics|physics]], [[Biology:Biology|biology]], [[Cognitive neuroscience|cognitive neuroscience]], and [[Medicine:Medicine|medicine]], as well as [[Philosophy:Interdisciplinarity|interdisciplinarity]] and philosophy of time.<ref name=MassimiMcCoy2019-Introduction/> Studies of perspectivism have also been introduced into [[Social:Anthropology|contemporary anthropology]], initially through the influence of Eduardo Viveiros de Castro and his research into indigenous cultures of South America.<ref name=CesarinoVanzolini2014/>

The basic principle that things are perceived differently from different perspectives (or that perspective determines one's limited and [[Philosophy:Privileged access|unprivileged access]] to knowledge) has sometimes been accounted as a rudimentary, uncontentious form of perspectivism.<ref>See discussion of ''naive perspectivism'', in: {{cite journal|last=Conant|first=James F.|year=2005|title=The Dialectic of Perspectivism, I|journal=Sats: Nordic Journal of Philosophy|volume=6|number=2|publisher=Philosophia Press|pages=5–50|url=http://philosophy.uchicago.edu/faculty/files/conant/The%20Dialectic%20of%20Perspectivism,%20I%20final%20version.pdf}}</ref> The basic practice of comparing contradictory perspectives to one another may also be considered one such form of perspectivism {{crossreference|(See also: [[Philosophy:Intersubjectivity|Intersubjectivity]])}},<ref>See discussion of ''conflicting point of view perspectivism'', in: {{cite book|last=Miner|first=Robert|year=2017|chapter=Gay science and the practice of perspectivism|title=Nietzsche and Montaigne|location=Cham|publisher=[[Company:Palgrave Macmillan|Palgrave Macmillan]]|pages=59, 60|isbn=9783319667447|oclc=994692085|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-66745-4_3}}</ref> as may the entire philosophical problem of how true knowledge is to penetrate one's perspectival limitations.<ref>See discussion of the ''problem of perspectivism'', in: {{cite book|last=Van Riel|first=Gerd|year=2017|chapter=Perspectivism in Plato’s Views of the Gods|title=Plato and the Power of Images|location=Leiden, Netherlands|publisher=Brill|series=Mnemosyne, Supplements|volume=405|pages=107–120|doi=10.1163/9789004345010_008|isbn=9789004345003 }}</ref>

== Precursors and early developments ==

In Western languages, scholars have found perspectivism in the philosophies of [[Biography:Heraclitus|Heraclitus]] ({{circa|540}} – {{circa|480 BCE}}), [[Biography:Protagoras|Protagoras]] ({{circa|490}} – {{circa|420 BCE}}), [[Biography:Michel de Montaigne|Michel de Montaigne]]<ref name=Nehamas1998/><ref name=Miner2017>{{cite book|last=Miner|first=Robert|year=2017|chapter=Gay science and the practice of perspectivism|title=Nietzsche and Montaigne|location=Cham|publisher=[[Company:Palgrave Macmillan|Palgrave Macmillan]]|pages=43–93|isbn=9783319667447|oclc=994692085|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-66745-4_3}}</ref> (1533 – 1592 CE), and Gottfried Leibniz<ref name=Sandywell2012/> (1646 – 1716 CE). The origins of perspectivism have also been found to lie also within [[Philosophy:Renaissance|Renaissance]] developments in philosophy of art and its artistic notion of [[Perspective (graphical)|perspective]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Conant|first=James F.|year=2005|title=The Dialectic of Perspectivism, I|journal=Sats: Nordic Journal of Philosophy|volume=6|number=2|publisher=Philosophia Press|pages=5–50|url=http://philosophy.uchicago.edu/faculty/files/conant/The%20Dialectic%20of%20Perspectivism,%20I%20final%20version.pdf}}</ref> In Asian languages, scholars have found perspectivism in Buddhist,<ref>{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Bret W. |date=2018 |chapter=Zen's nonegocentric perspectivism |editor-last=Emmanuel |editor-first=Steven M. |title=Buddhist Philosophy: A Comparative Approach |location=Hoboken, NJ |publisher=[[Company:Wiley-Blackwell|Wiley-Blackwell]] |pages=123–143 |isbn=9781119068242 |oclc=982248731 |doi=10.1002/9781119424246.ch7 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/34325186}}</ref> [[Philosophy:Jainism|Jain]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Stroud |first=Scott R. |date=July 2014 |title=Anekāntavāda and engaged rhetorical pluralism: explicating Jaina views on perspectivism, violence, and rhetoric |journal=Advances in the History of Rhetoric |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=131–156 |doi=10.1080/15362426.2014.933721 |s2cid=145165187 |url=https://www.academia.edu/8545248}}</ref> and Daoist texts.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Connolly |first=Tim |date=November 2011 |title=Perspectivism as a way of knowing in the Zhuangzi |journal=Dao |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=487–505 |doi=10.1007/s11712-011-9246-x |s2cid=170080547 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257722322}}</ref> Anthropologists have found a kind of perspectivism in the thinking of some indigenous peoples.<ref name=CesarinoVanzolini2014>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Vanzolini |first1=Marina |last2=Cesarino |first2=Pedro |date=August 2014 |title=Perspectivism |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Bibliographies Online]] |publisher=[[Organization:Oxford University Press|Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/obo/9780199766567-0083}}</ref> Some theologians believe [[Biography:John Calvin|John Calvin]] interpreted various scriptures in a perspectivist manner.<ref name="Van den Brink 2020 p. 200">{{cite book | last=Van den Brink | first=G. | title=Reformed Theology and Evolutionary Theory | publisher=Eerdmans | year=2020 | isbn=978-1-4674-5876-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ZnSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT200 | access-date=2023-03-20 | page=200}}</ref>

=== Ancient Greek philosophy ===

The Western origins of perspectivism can be found in the pre-Socratic philosophies of [[Biography:Heraclitus|Heraclitus]]<ref name=Long1998>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Long|first=A. A.|year=1998|section=Unity of opposites and perspectivism|title=Heraclitus (c.540–c.480 BC)|encyclopedia=The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy|publisher=Taylor and Francis|doi=10.4324/9780415249126-A055-1|isbn=9780415250696 }}</ref> and [[Biography:Protagoras|Protagoras]].<ref name=Sandywell2012/> In fact, a major cornerstone of [[Biography:Plato|Plato]]'s philosophy is his rejection and opposition to perspectivism—this forming a principal element of his [[Social:Aesthetics|aesthetics]], [[Philosophy:Ethics|ethics]], [[Philosophy:Epistemology|epistemology]], and [[Religion:Theology|theology]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Van Riel|first=Gerd|year=2017|chapter=Perspectivism in Plato’s Views of the Gods|title=Plato and the Power of Images|location=Leiden, Netherlands|publisher=Brill|series=Mnemosyne, Supplements|volume=405|pages=107–120|doi=10.1163/9789004345010_008|isbn=9789004345003 }}</ref> The antiperspectivism of Plato made him a central target of critique for later perspectival philosophers such as Nietzsche.<ref name=Hales2020/>

=== Montaigne ===

Montaigne's philosophy presents in itself a {{nsl|perspectivism}} less as a doctrinaire position than as a core philosophical approach put into practice. Inasmuch as no one can occupy a God's-eye view, Montaigne holds that no one has access to a view which is totally unbiased, which does not {{em|interpret}} according to its own perspective. It is instead only the underlying [[Philosophy:Cognitive bias|psychological biases]] which view one's own perspective as unbiased.<ref name=Miner2017/> In a passage from his "Of Cannibals", he writes: {{blockquote|Men of intelligence notice more things and view them more carefully, but they [interpret] them; and to establish and substantiate their interpretation, they cannot refrain from altering the facts a little. They never present things just as they are but twist and disguise them to conform to the point of view from which they have seen them; and to gain credence for their opinion and make it attractive, they do not mind adding something of their own, or extending and amplifying.<ref>{{cite book|last=Montaigne|first=Michel de|year=1595|chapter=Of Cannibals|title=Essais|translator-last=Cohen|translator-first=John M.|publisher=Penguin|publication-date=1958}} (The word ''interpret'' is substituted from the 1943 Donald M. Frame translation.)</ref>|author=Michel de Montaigne|title="Of Cannibals"|source=''Essais'' (1595), trans. J. M. Cohen}}

== Nietzsche ==

In his works, Nietzsche makes a number of statements on perspective which at times contrast each other throughout the development of his philosophy. Nietzsche's {{nsl|perspectivism}} begins by challenging the underlying notions of 'viewing from nowhere', 'viewing from everywhere', and 'viewing without interpreting' as being absurdities.<ref name=Hales2020>{{cite book|last=Hales|first=Steven D.|year=2020|chapter=Nietzsche's Epistemic Perspectivism|editor1-last=Crețu|editor1-first=Ana-Maria|editor2-last=Massimi|editor2-first=Michela|editor2-link=Michela Massimi|title=Knowledge from a Human Point of View|series=Synthese Library (Studies in Epistemology, Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science)|volume=416|pages=19–35 |publisher=Springer, Cham|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-27041-4_2|isbn=978-3-030-27040-7 |s2cid=213628622 }}</ref> Instead, all {{em|viewing}} is attached to some perspective, and all viewers are limited in some sense to the perspectives at their command.<ref name=Conway1999>{{cite book|last=Conway|first=Daniel|year=1999|chapter=Beyond Truth and Appearance: Nietzsche's Emergent Realism|editor-last=Babich|editor-first=Babette E.|title=Nietzsche, Epistemology, and Philosophy of Science|series=Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science|volume=204|pages=109–122|publisher=Springer|location=Dordrecht|doi=10.1007/978-94-017-2428-9_9|isbn=978-90-481-5234-6}}</ref> In ''The Genealogy of Morals'' he writes: {{blockquote|Let us be on guard against the dangerous old conceptual fiction that posited a 'pure, will-less, painless, timeless knowing subject'; let us guard against the snares of such contradictory concepts as 'pure reason', 'absolute spirituality', 'knowledge in itself': these always demand that we should think of an eye that is completely unthinkable, an eye turned in no particular direction, in which the active and interpreting forces, through which alone seeing becomes seeing ''something'', are supposed to be lacking; these always demand of the eye an absurdity and a nonsense. There is ''only'' a perspective seeing, ''only'' a perspective knowing; and the ''more'' affects we allow to speak about one thing, the ''more'' eyes, different eyes, we can use to observe one thing, the more complete will our 'concept' of this thing, our 'objectivity' be.<ref>{{cite book|last=Nietzsche|first=Friedrich|year=1887|title=On the Genealogy of Morals|translator-last=Kaufmann|translator-first=Walter|location=New York|publisher=Vintage Books|publication-date=1967}} As cited in: {{bulleted list|{{cite book|last=Hales|first=Steven D.|year=2020|chapter=Nietzsche's Epistemic Perspectivism|editor1-last=Crețu|editor1-first=Ana-Maria|editor2-last=Massimi|editor2-first=Michela|editor2-link=Michela Massimi|title=Knowledge from a Human Point of View|series=Synthese Library (Studies in Epistemology, Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science)|volume=416|pages=19–35 |publisher=Springer, Cham|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-27041-4_2|isbn=978-3-030-27040-7 |s2cid=213628622 }}|{{cite journal|last=Doyle|first=Tsarina|year=2005|title=Nietzsche on the Possibility of Truth and Knowledge|journal=Minerva|editor-last=Thornton|editor-first=Stephen|volume=9|pages=261–286|url=http://www.minerva.mic.ul.ie/vol9/Nietzsche.pdf}}}}</ref>|author=Friedrich Nietzsche|source=''The Genealogy of Morals'' (1887; III:12), transl. [[Biography:Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)|Walter Kaufmann]]}}

In this, Nietzsche takes a contextualist approach which rejects any God's-eye view of the world.<ref name=Doyle2005>{{cite journal|last=Doyle|first=Tsarina|year=2005|title=Nietzsche on the Possibility of Truth and Knowledge|journal=Minerva|editor-last=Thornton|editor-first=Stephen|volume=9|pages=261–286|url=http://www.minerva.mic.ul.ie/vol9/Nietzsche.pdf}}</ref> This has been further linked to his notion of the death of God and the dangers of a resulting [[Relativism|relativism]]. However, Nietzsche's perspectivism itself stands in sharp contrast to any such relativism.<ref name=Nehamas1998/> In outlining his perspectivism, Nietzsche rejects those who claim everything to be subjective, by disassembling the notion of the subject as itself a mere invention and interpretation.<ref name=WP481/> He further states that, since the two are mutually dependent on each other, the collapse of the God's-eye view causes also the notion of the [[Philosophy:Thing-in-itself|thing-in-itself]] to fall apart with it. Nietzsche views this collapse to reveal, through his genealogical project, that all that has been considered non-perspectival knowledge, the entire tradition of Western metaphysics, has itself been only a perspective.<ref name=Conway1999/><ref name=Doyle2005/> His perspectivism and genealogical project are further integrated into each other in addressing the psychological drives that underlie various philosophical programs and perspectives, as a form of critique.<ref name=SEP/> Here, contemporary scholar [[Biography:Ken Gemes|Ken Gemes]] views Nietzsche's perspectivism to above all be a principle of [[Philosophy:Moral psychology|moral psychology]], rejecting interpretations of it as an epistemological thesis outrightly.<ref name=SEP/> It is through this method of critique that the deficiencies of various perspectives can be alleviated—through a critical mediation of the differences between them rather than any appeals to the non-perspectival.<ref name=SEP/><ref name=Miner2017/> In a posthumously published aphorism from ''The Will to Power'', Nietzsche writes: {{blockquote|<p>"Everything is subjective," you say; but even this is interpretation. The "subject" is not something given, it is something added and invented and projected behind what there is.—Finally, is it necessary to posit an interpreter behind the interpretation? Even this is invention, hypothesis.</p><p>In so far as the word "knowledge" has any meaning, the world is knowable; but it is ''interpretable'' otherwise, it has no meaning behind it, but countless meanings.—"Perspectivism."</p><p>It is our needs that interpret the world; our drives and their For and Against. Every drive is a kind of lust to rule; each one has its perspective that it would like to compel all the other drives to accept as a norm.<ref name=WP481>{{cite book|last=Nietzsche|first=Friedrich|year=1883–1888|orig-year=first published 1901|title=The Will to Power|translator1-last=Kaufmann|translator1-first=Walter|translator2-last=Hollingdale|translator2-first=Reginald J.|publisher=Random House|publication-date=1967|at=§481}}</ref></p>|author=Friedrich Nietzsche|source=''The Will to Power'', §481 (1883–1888), transl. Walter Kaufmann and R. J. Hollingdale}}

While Nietzsche does not plainly reject truth and objectivity, he does reject the notions of {{em|absolute}} truth, {{em|external}} facts, and {{em|non-perspectival}} objectivity.<ref name=SEP/><ref name=Hales2020/>

=== Truth theory and the value of truth ===

Despite receiving much attention within [[Philosophy:Contemporary philosophy|contemporary philosophy]], there is no academic consensus on Nietzsche's conception of truth.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Remhof|first=Justin|year=2015|title=Nietzsche's Conception of Truth: Correspondence, Coherence, or Pragmatist?|journal=Journal of Nietzsche Studies|volume=46|number=2|pages=229–238|doi=10.5325/jnietstud.46.2.0229 |jstor=10.5325/jnietstud.46.2.0229|s2cid=53628216 |url=https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/philosophy_fac_pubs/50 }}</ref> While his perspectivism presents a number of challenges regarding the nature of truth, its more controversial element lies in its questioning of the {{em|value}} of truth.<ref name=Nehamas1998/> Contemporary scholars Steven D. Hales and Robert C. Welshon write that: {{blockquote|Nietzsche's writings on truth are among the most elusive and difficult ones in his corpus. One indication of their obscurity is that on an initial reading he appears either blatantly inconsistent in his use of the words 'true' and 'truth', or subject to inexplicable vacillations on the value of truth.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hales|first1=Steven D.|last2=Welshon|first2=Robert C.|year=1994|title=Truth, Paradox, and Nietzschean Perspectivism|journal=History of Philosophy Quarterly|volume=11|number=1|pages=101–119|jstor=27744612}}</ref>}}

== Later developments ==

In the 20th century, perspectivism was discussed separately by [[Biography:José Ortega y Gasset|José Ortega y Gasset]]<ref>{{cite SEP |last=Holmes |first=Oliver |url-id=gasset/ |title=José Ortega y Gasset |date=Summer 2011}}</ref> and [[Biography:Karl Jaspers|Karl Jaspers]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wiggins |first1=Osborne P. |last2=Schwartz |first2=Michael Alan |date=2013 |title=Karl Jaspers' multiperspectivalism |journal=Psychopathology |volume=46 |issue=5 |pages=289–294 |pmid=23860308 |doi=10.1159/000353357|s2cid=45994153 }}</ref>

=== Ortega ===
Ortega's perspectivism, replaced his previous position that "man is completely social". His reversal is prominent in his work ''Verdad y perspectiva'' ("Truth and perspective"), where he explained that "each man has a mission of truth" and that what he sees of reality no other eye sees.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dobson|first=Andrew|title=An Introduction to the Politics and Philosophy of José Ortega Y Gasset|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-521-12331-0|location=Cambridge, UK|pages=58|language=en}}</ref> He explained:<blockquote>From different positions two people see the same surroundings. However, they do not see the same thing. Their different positions mean that the surroundings are organized in a different way: what is in the foreground for one may be in the background for another. Furthermore, as things are hidden one behind another, each person will see something that the other may not.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Shahibzadeh|first=Yadullah|title=Islamism and Post-Islamism in Iran: An Intellectual History|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2016|isbn=978-1-137-58206-5|location=New York|pages=112|language=en}}</ref></blockquote>Ortega also maintained that perspective is perfected by the multiplication of its viewpoints.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Kern|first=Stephen|title=The Culture of Time and Space, 1880–1918: With a New Preface|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2003|isbn=0-674-02169-X|location=Cambridge, MA|pages=151|language=en}}</ref> He noted that war transpires due to the lack of perspective and failure to see the larger contexts of the actions among nations.<ref name=":0" /> Ortega also cited the importance of phenomenology in perspectivism as he argued against speculation and the importance of concrete evidence in understanding truth and reality.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Berry|first=David|title=Journalism, Ethics and Society|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|isbn=978-0-7546-4780-5|location=Oxon|pages=133|language=en}}</ref> In this discourse, he highlighted the role of "circumstance" in finding out the truth since it allows us to understand realities beyond ourselves.<ref name=":2" />

=== Philosophy of science ===

=== Varieties ===
Contemporary varieties of perspectivism include:
* Individualist perspectivism
* Collectivist perspectivism
* Theological perspectivism

== See also ==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Religion:Anekantavada|Anekantavada]], a fundamental doctrine of Jainism setting forth a pluralistic metaphysics, traceable to Mahavira (599–527 BCE)
* [[Blind men and an elephant]]
* [[Conceptual framework]]
* [[Consilience]], the unity of knowledge
* [[Philosophy:Constructivist epistemology|Constructivist epistemology]]
* [[Eclecticism]]
* [[Philosophy:Fallibilism|Fallibilism]]
* [[Philosophy:Fusion of horizons|Fusion of horizons]]
* Integral theory (disambiguation)
* [[Philosophy:Intersubjectivity|Intersubjectivity]]
* [[Philosophy:Metaphilosophy|Metaphilosophy]]
* [[Model-dependent realism]]
* [[Philosophy:Moral nihilism|Moral nihilism]]
* [[Philosophy:Moral skepticism|Moral skepticism]]
* [[Philosophy:Multiperspectivalism|Multiperspectivalism]], a current in Calvinist epistemology
* Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche
* {{slink|Philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard#Subjectivity}}
* [[Philosophy:Point of view|Point of view]]
* [[Philosophy:Rhizome|Rhizome]]
* [[Social:Standpoint theory|Standpoint theory]]
* [[Philosophy:Value pluralism|Value pluralism]]
{{Div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Nietzsche}}

[[Category:Consensus reality]]
[[Category:Epistemological theories]]
[[Category:Philosophical analogies]]
[[Category:Philosophical theories]]
[[Category:Social epistemology]]

{{Sourceattribution|Perspectivism}}