Perspectivism

Perspectivism (also called perspectivalism) is the <a href="/facts/Epistemology/NsDwpcYH">epistemological principle</a> that <a href="/facts/Perception/xLK0n2q4">perception</a> of and <a href="/facts/Knowledge/joozoaup">knowledge</a> of something are always bound to the interpretive <a href="/facts/Perspective_(philosophy)/fUwYgCxe">perspectives</a> of those observing it. While perspectivism does not regard all perspectives and interpretations as being of equal <a href="/facts/Truth/NyQmBtUC">truth</a> or <a href="/facts/Value_(philosophy)/f2RW9TXW">value</a>, it holds that no one has access to an absolute view of the world cut off from perspective. Instead, all such viewing occurs from some point of view which in turn affects how things are perceived. Rather than attempt to <a href="/facts/Correspondence_theory_of_truth/jyQht989">determine truth by correspondence</a> to things outside any perspective, perspectivism thus generally seeks to determine truth by comparing and evaluating perspectives among themselves. Perspectivism may be regarded as an early form of <a href="/facts/Epistemological_pluralism/vbQby8yN">epistemological pluralism</a>, though in some accounts includes treatment of <a href="/facts/Value_theory/VW3CJD2x">value theory</a>, <a href="/facts/Moral_psychology/J7hgsDlL">moral psychology</a>, and <a href="/facts/Metaphysical_realism/cPo2pK16">realist metaphysics</a>.
Early forms of perspectivism have been identified in the philosophies of <a href="/facts/Protagoras/3J8jV5MX">Protagoras</a>, <a href="/facts/Michel_de_Montaigne/DRFb5JNK">Michel de Montaigne</a>, and <a href="/facts/Gottfried_Leibniz/cTc2er83">Gottfried Leibniz</a>. However, its first major statement is considered to be <a href="/facts/Friedrich_Nietzsche/u7VdQ5sg">Friedrich Nietzsche</a>'s development of the concept in the 19th century, influenced by <a href="/facts/Gustav_Teichm%C3%BCller/KJzJ8cYa">Gustav Teichmüller</a>'s use of the term some years prior. For Nietzsche, perspectivism takes the form of a realist <a href="/facts/Metaphysics/fSFt6SHe">antimetaphysics</a> while rejecting both the <a href="/facts/Correspondence_theory_of_truth/jyQht989">correspondence theory of truth</a> and the notion that the <a href="/facts/Truth-value/SY4e2w8l">truth-value</a> of a belief always constitutes its ultimate worth-value. The perspectival conception of <a href="/facts/Objectivity_(philosophy)/nbUpe5Bp">objectivity</a> used by Nietzsche sees the deficiencies of each perspective as remediable by an <a href="/facts/Asymptotic/nvLPuxKa">asymptotic</a> study of the differences between them. This stands in contrast to <a href="/facts/Platonism/0mvr2x2p">Platonic</a> notions in which objective truth is seen to reside in a wholly non-perspectival domain.
According to Alexander Nehamas, perspectivism is often misinterpreted as a form of <a href="/facts/Relativism/a6s6dGtw">relativism</a>, whereby we acknowledge the true virtue of fully rejecting the '<a href="/facts/Law_of_excluded_middle/tDhbugCN">Law of excluded middle</a>' regarding a particular proposition. 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. 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. The idea that perspectivism is an absolutely true thesis, is called weak perspectivism by Brian Lightbody.
The basic principle that things are perceived differently from different perspectives (or that perspective determines one's limited and <a href="/facts/Privileged_access/0cuRq5xl">unprivileged access</a> to knowledge) has sometimes been accounted as a rudimentary, uncontentious form of perspectivism. The basic practice of comparing contradictory perspectives to one another may also be considered one such form of perspectivism (See also: <a href="/facts/Intersubjectivity/1cxonmG1">Intersubjectivity</a>), as may the entire <a href="/facts/Philosophical_problem/SKQyv6r7">philosophical problem</a> of how true knowledge is to penetrate one's perspectival limitations.

Perspectivism open-in-new

Perspectivism