Perspectivism

Template:Short description Template:Epistemology sidebar Perspectivism (also called perspectivalism) is the epistemological principle that perception of and knowledge of something are always bound to the interpretive perspectives of those observing it. While perspectivism Template:Em regard all perspectives and interpretations as being of equal 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 Template:Em occurs from some point of view which in turn affects how things are perceived. Rather than attempt to 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: Template:Cite book 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." Template:Cite book For concordance with scientific and contemporary forms of perspectivism, see: Template:Cite journal</ref> Perspectivism may be regarded as an early form of epistemological pluralism,<ref name=Sandywell2012>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> though in some accounts includes treatment of value theory,<ref name=Nehamas1998/> moral psychology,<ref name=SEP/> and realist metaphysics.<ref>For the relation of perspectivism to realism, see the following (and their containing sources): Template:Bulleted list</ref>

Early forms of perspectivism have been identified in the philosophies of Protagoras, Michel de Montaigne, and Gottfried Leibniz. However, its first major statement is considered to be Friedrich Nietzsche's development of the concept in the 19th century,<ref name=Sandywell2012/><ref name=SEP>Template:Cite SEP</ref> influenced by Gustav Teichmüller's use of the term some years prior.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> For Nietzsche, perspectivism takes the form of a realist antimetaphysics<ref>For Nietzschean perspectivism as a form of realist antimetaphysics, see especially: Template:Bulleted list</ref> while rejecting both the 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 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 Platonic notions in which objective truth is seen to reside in a wholly non-perspectival domain.<ref name=SEP/>

According to Alexander Nehamas, perspectivism is often misinterpreted as a form of relativism, whereby we acknowledge the true virtue of fully rejecting the 'Law of excluded middle' regarding a particular proposition.<ref name=Nehamas1998>Template:Cite book See especially page 148.</ref> Lacewing Michael adds that although perspectivism doesn't accede to an objective view of the world that is detached from our subjectivity, our assessment of reality can still approach "objectivity" subjectively and asymptotically.<ref name=Lacewing>Template:Cite web</ref> Nehamas also describes how perspectivism does not prohibit someone from holding some interpretations to be definitively true. It only alerts us that we cannot objectively determine the truth from outside our perspective.<ref name=Nehamas1998/><ref name=":3">Template:Cite journal</ref> The idea that perspectivism is an absolutely true thesis, is called weak perspectivism by Brian Lightbody.<ref name=":3" />

The basic principle that things are perceived differently from different perspectives (or that perspective determines one's limited and unprivileged access to knowledge) has sometimes been accounted as a rudimentary, uncontentious form of perspectivism.<ref>See discussion of naive perspectivism, in: Template:Cite journal</ref> The basic practice of comparing contradictory perspectives to one another may also be considered one such form of perspectivism Template:Crossreference,<ref>See discussion of conflicting point of view perspectivism, in: Template:Cite book</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: Template:Cite book</ref>

Precursors and early developments

In Western languages, scholars have found perspectivism in the philosophies of Heraclitus (Template:Circa – Template:Circa), Protagoras (Template:Circa – Template:Circa), Michel de Montaigne<ref name=Nehamas1998/><ref name=Miner2017>Template:Cite book</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 Renaissance developments in philosophy of art and its artistic notion of perspective.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In Asian languages, scholars have found perspectivism in Buddhist,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Jain,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and Daoist texts.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Anthropologists have found a kind of perspectivism in the thinking of some indigenous peoples.<ref name=CesarinoVanzolini2014>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Some theologians believe John Calvin interpreted various scriptures in a perspectivist manner.<ref name="Van den Brink 2020 p. 200">Template:Cite book</ref>

Ancient Greek philosophy

The Western origins of perspectivism can be found in the pre-Socratic philosophies of Heraclitus<ref name=Long1998>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> and Protagoras.<ref name=Sandywell2012/> In fact, a major cornerstone of Plato's philosophy is his rejection and opposition to perspectivism—this forming a principal element of his aesthetics, ethics, epistemology, and theology.<ref>Template:Cite book</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 Template:Nsl 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 Template:Em according to its own perspective. It is instead only the underlying psychological biases which view one's own perspective as unbiased.<ref name=Miner2017/> In a passage from his "Of Cannibals", he writes:

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>Template:Cite book (The word interpret is substituted from the 1943 Donald M. Frame translation.)</ref>{{#if:|

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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 Template:Nsl begins by challenging the underlying notions of 'viewing from nowhere', 'viewing from everywhere', and 'viewing without interpreting' as being absurdities.<ref name=Hales2020>Template:Cite book</ref> Instead, all Template:Em is attached to some perspective, and all viewers are limited in some sense to the perspectives at their command.<ref name=Conway1999>Template:Cite book</ref> In The Genealogy of Morals he writes:

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>Template:Cite book As cited in: Template:Bulleted list</ref>{{#if:|

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While Nietzsche does not plainly reject truth and objectivity, he does reject the notions of Template:Em truth, Template:Em facts, and Template:Em objectivity.<ref name=SEP/><ref name=Hales2020/>

Truth theory and the value of truth

Despite receiving much attention within contemporary philosophy, there is no academic consensus on Nietzsche's conception of truth.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> While his perspectivism presents a number of challenges regarding the nature of truth, its more controversial element lies in its questioning of the Template:Em of truth.<ref name=Nehamas1998/> Contemporary scholars Steven D. Hales and Robert C. Welshon write that:

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>Template:Cite journal</ref>{{#if:|

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Later developments

20th century

In the 20th century, perspectivism was discussed separately by José Ortega y Gasset<ref>Template:Cite SEP</ref> and Karl Jaspers.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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>Template:Cite book</ref> He explained:

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>Template:Cite book</ref>

Ortega also maintained that perspective is perfected by the multiplication of its viewpoints.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</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">Template:Cite book</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" />

21st century

During the 21st century, perspectivism has led a number of developments within analytic philosophy<ref>Examples of perspectivism in analytic philosophy include: Template:Bulleted list</ref> and philosophy of science,<ref>Examples of perspectivism in philosophy of science include:| Template:Cite book| Template:Cite journal| Template:Cite journal| Template:Cite journal| Template:Cite book </ref> particularly under the early influence of Ronald Giere, Jay Rosenberg, Ernest Sosa, and others.<ref name="MassimiMcCoy2019-Introduction">Template:Cite book</ref> This contemporary form of perspectivism, also known as scientific perspectivism, is more narrowly focused than prior forms—centering on the perspectival limitations of scientific models, theories, observations, 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: Template:Bulleted list</ref> Furthermore, scientific perspecitivism has come to address a number of scientific fields such as physics, biology, cognitive neuroscience, and medicine, as well as interdisciplinarity and philosophy of time.<ref name="MassimiMcCoy2019-Introduction" /> Studies of perspectivism have also been introduced into contemporary anthropology, initially through the influence of Eduardo Viveiros de Castro and his research into indigenous cultures of South America.<ref name="CesarinoVanzolini2014" />

Types of perspectivism

Contemporary types of perspectivism include:

• Individualist perspectivism
• Collectivist perspectivism
• Transcendental perspectivism
• Theological perspectivism

See also

• 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
• Constructivist epistemology
• Eclecticism
• Fallibilism
• Fusion of horizons
• Integral theory (disambiguation)
• Intersubjectivity
• Metaphilosophy
• Model-dependent realism
• Moral nihilism
• Moral skepticism
• Multiperspectivalism, a current in Calvinist epistemology
• Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche
• Template:Slink
• Point of view (philosophy)
• Rhizome (philosophy)
• Standpoint theory
• Value pluralism