Perspectivism

Perspectivism claims that what exists and how we can know what exists are experienced only from a particular point of view. It denies that there is an objective reality independent from the perspectives of individuals or groups. Perspectivism is often mentioned in connection with multiculturalism because beliefs and values vary from one culture to another. Even within the same culture, people with varying religious, racial, ethnic, or gender identities may see issues of truth or justice differently. If each person has a different vision of acceptable beliefs or behavior, then it seems there is no way to privilege one set of practices over another. This dilemma is called relativism; it is an objection to perspectivism that various theorists answer differently.

Perspectivism was developed in the 1700s, and by 1882, the term was used to describe the theory that the world consists of different, equally valid points of view, each offering a unique perspective that is indispensable to the whole. Some aspects of perspectivism appear in many philosophical approaches, including phenomenology, existentialism, pragmatism, and analytic and process philosophy. What these approaches have in common is a move away from an external standard of reality and truth, such as God or a realm of eternal truths or universal concepts. They also include the idea that our interaction with the physical world adds an important dimension—for some, the only dimension—to truth and reality.

German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche used a comparison with perception. The way we see things is influenced by our perspectives—not only our physical connection with what we are looking [Page 1695]at but also the internal concepts that we use to organize our experience of reality. People who have different organizing concepts (such as cultural influences) have different views of the world.

An example of this can be found on a small triangular island in Hawai'i. The native Hawai'ians thought the island looked like the fluke at the end of a lizard's tail and called it Mokoli'i (little lizard). Westerners named the island Chinaman's Hat. Either way, one has a clearer perception of the island when one is physically near to it, and one has a fuller perspective of the island when one knows that it has two names.

But there is a way that perception and perspective are unrelated. With perception, one can point to a physical object that exists apart from one's view of it, and one can consult laws of optics to determine the accuracy of one's perception. If a person is colorblind or using binoculars, the way that that person sees the island is affected in predictable ways, and he or she can determine which perception is more accurate. However, there is no way for a person to experience the world without internal concepts. One's beliefs influence the way that one sees things, and someone's belief that something is true captures only how it appears from that person's perspective. With no objective reality and no neutral standard of truth, each perspective is relative.

Nietzsche suggested that although perspectives are unique to the individual, they overlap sufficiently that we can communicate. The idea of a triangle-shaped island was common to Hawai'ians and Westerners, and they could each understand why the other chose its name, even though they saw something different when they looked offshore. One way that people can broaden their own perspective is to try to see things from other points of view. There may still be times when perspectives are incommensurable and have views of truth that are incompatible. In these cases, there is no way to automatically select one over the other.

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