In philosophy the term perspectivism was coined by the 19th century German philosopher Gustav Teichmüller. With this concept he expressed the following general thesis: knowledge of any reality can be made from different perspectives and all of them with a justification .
In this way, each point of view provides a unique view of any area of reality. This initial idea is based on Leibniz’s philosophical conception, in which there are abstract or nomadic entities that allow us to understand the world from different approaches (related to mathematics, physics, metaphysics, psychological or biological). The approaches of these two philosophers served as inspiration for other currents of perspectivism.
Nietzsche’s Perspectivism
For Nietzsche, knowledge of reality itself is impossible, since any opinion, belief or theory depends on the observer’s point of view. In this context, each individual has their own representation of the world. There is no better view or perspective than another. This means that any data we have is conditioned on our personal interpretation. Anyway, there are no facts, only the perspectives of the facts. Perspectivism
Ortega and Gasset’s Visions
This 20th century Spanish thinker affirms that every human being knows reality from his personal perspective. However, this does not mean that the truth does not exist. To reach the truth of something it is necessary to incorporate contributions from all possible perspectives. In other words, when we seek the truth about a subject, we must know the most varied versions about it. As in practice this position is not viable, all we can do personally is to know the world from our individual perspective.
the possibility of knowledge
Reflections on perspectivism remind us that throughout the history of philosophy there have been several views on the possibility of knowledge. According to the skeptical approach, man knows nothing about the world around him.
On the other hand, dogmatism suggests that it is possible to know the world as it really is. Between one position and another there is an intermediary, Kant’s criticism. Kantian criticism claims that knowledge is not absolute, but it is not acceptable to claim that our ignorance is absolute. In this sense, relativism defends the thesis that there is no absolute truth.
