Perspectivism
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Perspectivism (
Early forms of perspectivism have been identified in the philosophies of
During the 21st century, perspectivism has led a number of developments within
The basic principle that things are perceived differently from different perspectives (or that perspective determines one's limited and
Precursors and early developments
In Western languages, scholars have found perspectivism in the philosophies of
Ancient Greek philosophy
The Western origins of perspectivism can be found in the pre-Socratic philosophies of Heraclitus[23] and Protagoras.[2] 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.[24] The antiperspectivism of Plato made him a central target of critique for later perspectival philosophers such as Nietzsche.[25]
Montaigne
Montaigne's philosophy presents in itself a perspectivism less as a doctrinaire position than as a core philosophical approach put into practice. Inasmuch as no one can occupy a
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 perspectivism begins by challenging the underlying notions of 'viewing from nowhere', 'viewing from everywhere', and 'viewing without interpreting' as being absurdities. 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.[28]
In this, Nietzsche takes a "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. 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." 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.[30] While Nietzsche does not plainly reject truth and objectivity, he does reject the notions of absolute truth, external facts, and non-perspectival objectivity.[4][25]
Despite receiving much attention within contemporary philosophy, there is no academic consensus on Nietzsche's conception of truth.[31] While his perspectivism presents a number of challenges regarding the nature of truth, its more controversial element lies in its questioning of the value of truth.[3] 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.[32] In the 20th century, perspectivism was discussed separately by José Ortega y Gasset[33] and Karl Jaspers.[34]
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.[35] 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.[36] Ortega also maintained that perspective is perfected by the multiplication of its viewpoints.[37] He noted that war transpires due to the lack of perspective and failure to see the larger contexts of the actions among nations.[37] 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.[38] In this discourse, he highlighted the role of "circumstance" in finding out the truth since it allows us to understand realities beyond ourselves.[38]
Contemporary varieties of perspectivism include:
Truth theory and the value of truth
Later developments
Ortega
Philosophy of science
Varieties
See also
References