Abstract
I investigate the consequences of Nietzsche's perspectivism for notions of truth and objectivity, and show how the metaphor of visual perspective motivates an epistemology that avoids self-referential difficulties. Perspectivism's claim that every view is only one view, applied to itself, is often supposed to preclude the perspectivist's ability to offer reasons for her epistemology. Nietzsche's arguments for perspectivism depend on “internal reasons”, which have force not only in their own perspective, but also within the standards of alternative perspectives. Internal reasons allow a perspectivist argument against dogmatism without presupposing aperspectival criteria for theory choice. Nietzsche also offers “internal” conceptions of truth and objectivity which reduce them to a matter of meeting our epistemic standards. This view has pluralistic implications, which conflict with common sense, but it is nevertheless consistent and plausible. Nietzsche's position is similar to Putnam's recent internalism, and this is due to their common Kantian heritage.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Nietzsche, F. W.: 1980ff. Werke: Kritische Studienausgabe, G. Colli and M. Montinari (eds.), W. de Gruyter, Berlin.
The Gay Science, trans. Walter Kaufmann, Vintage, New York (1974) (1882, 1887).
Beyond Good and Evil, trans. Walter Kaufmann, Vintage, New York (1966) (1886).
On the Genealogy of Morals, trans. Walter Kaufmann, Vintage, New York (1968) (1887).
Twilight of the Idols, trans. Walter Kaufmann, Viking, New York (1954) (1888).
The Will to Power, trans. Walter Kaufmann and R. J. Hollingdale, Vintage, New York (1967) (1911).
Alberti, L. B.: 1966 On Painting, trans. J. R. Spencer, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
Anderson, R. L.: 1996 'Overcoming Charity: The Case of Maudemarie Clark's Nietzsche on Truth and Philosophy', Nietzsche-Studien 25, 307–341.
Bruner, J. S. and Goodman, C. C.: 1947 'Value and Need as Organizing Factors in Perception', Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 42, 33–44.
Clark, M.: 1990 Nietzsche on Truth and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Davidson, D.: 1984 'On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme', in Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation, Clarendon, Oxford.
Ebbs, G.: 1992 'Realism and Rational Inquiry', Philosophical Topics 20(1), 1–33.
Hales, S. and Welshon, R.: 1994 'Truth, Paradox, and Nietzschean Perspectivism', History of Philosophy Quarterly 11, 101–119.
Hatfield, G.: 1990 The Natural and the Normative: Theories of Spatial Perception from Kant to Helmholtz, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Hatfield, G.: 1997 'The Workings of the Intellect: Mind and Psychology', in P. Easton (ed.), Logic and the Workings of the Mind: The Logic of Ideas and Faculty Psychology in Early Modern Philosophy, North American Kant Society.
Kant, I.: 1781(A), 2nd, rev. ed. 1787 (B) Kritik der reinen Vernunft, Hartknoch, Riga. Tans. by Paul Guyer and Allen Wood, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1998).
Kant, I.: 1992 Theoretical Philosophy, 1755–1770, trans. and ed. D. Walford and R. Meerbote, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Leibniz, G. W.: 1969 Philosophical Papers and Letters, 2nd ed., trans. and ed. L. E. Loemker, D. Reidel, Dordrecht.
Leibniz, G. W.: 1973 in G. H. R. Parkinson (ed.), Philosophical Writings, trans. M. Morris and G. H. R. Parkinson, Dent, London.
Longino, H.: 1990 Science as Social Knowledge, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Nehamas, A.: 1983 'Immanent and Transcendent Perspectivism in Nietzsche', Nietzsche-Studien 12, 473–490.
Nehamas, A.: 1985 Nietzsche: Life as Literature, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Putnam, H.: 1975 'The Meaning of “Meaning”', in Mind, Language, and Reality: Philosophical Papers, Vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 215–271.
Putnam, H.: 1978 'Realism and Reason', in Meaning and the Moral Sciences, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, pp. 123–140.
Putnam, H.: 1981 Reason, Truth, and History, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Putnam, H.: 1987 The Many Faces of Realism, Open Court, LaSalle, IL.
Putnam, H.: 1988 Representation and Reality, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Putnam, H.: 1990 Realism with a Human Face, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Putnam, H.: 1992 'Reply to Gary Ebbs', Philosophical Topics 20(1), 348–358.
Rorty, R.: 1972 'The World Well Lost', Journal of Philosophy 69, 649–665.
Rorty, R.: 1993 'Putnam and the Relativist Menace', The Journal of Philosophy 90, 443–461.
Rosenthal, B. G.: 1968 'Attitude Toward Money, Need, and Method of Presentation as Determinants of Perception of Coins from 6 to 10 Years of Age', The Journal of General Psychology 78, 85–103.
Schacht, R.: 1983 Nietzsche, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.
Schopenhauer, A.: 1969 The World as Will and Representation, trans. E. P. J. Payne, Dover, New York.
Williams, B.: 1981 'Internal and External Reasons', in Moral Luck, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 101–113.
Williams, B.: 1985 Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Anderson, R.L. Truth and Objectivity in Perspectivism. Synthese 115, 1–32 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004984312166
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004984312166