Perspectivism (final blog post)

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Final Blog Post

By: Bryson Chandler (H01)

             My final blog post topic is about perspectivism and it interested me because, in a time with so much cultural and political turmoil, recognizing the fact that other people have other point of views and not taking it as a personal offense is extremely valuable. Perspectivism is the principle that there is no one true point of view on anything and that all beliefs and all knowledge is constantly changing because the perspectives that perceive them are constantly changing. This means that any observable or existing thing that is capable of being perceived is also able to be perceived differently, and validly, from multiple perspectives. In the image below it shows one observable item but both people view it as a different number.

        These two people will most likely argue over what the number is because they can only see it from their perspective. Studying perspectivism, or, more effectively, experiencing life, will broad your minds eye and allow you to see the world from multiple perspectives. This allows a man to say, "I see this as the number 6, but you see it as the number 9. I know from my studies and past experiences that you really do see it as the number 9. Neither of us are wrong, we just have different perspectives, and that is okay!" This is an extremely important skill to possess, especially in a world with as many different perspectives as the world we live in. Being able to open your mind and accept other, differing perspectives will avoid unnecessary conflict and allow the world to progress socially, politically, and culturally. 

Here is a fun, quick video if you are interested. It is only 2 minutes long and has a very familiar example.

        This is another, similar example of what perspectivism can look like. Each person is looking at the same creature, but they are experiencing only a certain aspect of what makes it its full being. This causes them to have different perspectives about what they are looking at, although they are all looking at the same thing. It would take someone who has experienced the elephant in whole to be able to look at the different characteristics and recognize from those characteristics alone that it is an elephant.

The History of Perspectivism

        An early example of perspectivism in play comes from Plato. He came up with the idea of forms, where everything has one perfect form of itself. He was against perspectivism because he thought everything should be how it "is" and not how people view it from their perspective. 

        The main person that Perspectivism is derived from is Friedrich Nietzsche. The beginning of his perspectivism starts with his belief that God is dead. From here, he takes that their is no one way the world is set to be since God is no longer there to set the standard. This means everybody is free to view life the way they view it. Nietzsche would actually criticize philosophers for being restricted by their perspectives. Nietzsche built up perspectivism for what it is known as today and believed that what people claimed as their philosophy was a byproduct of the truth mixed with their point of view. Here is a book that takes a very analytical approach to Nietzsche and all his works about perspectivism 

        I agree with Nietzsche in what he believed perspectivism to be. Everybody has had to adapt differently to face the different challenges that have sprung up in their lives. As such, everyone has a different view on what life means and what is necessary to make their life successful. This means that life can mean something total different to one person than it does another. Everybody has a different point of view and that is something that needs to be accepted in society. We need to grow our minds to be able to accept other peoples' points of view and be able to shape the world into one that can benefit and thrive with everybody working together. This is only possible through perspectivism.

Final Takeaways

        The world is a vast place with many different ways of living and viewing the world. Everybody has to face different challenges and behave a different way in order to survive. Thus, life and everything in it can be viewed from multiple perspectives. Each perspective is generated from what the true identity of something is mixed with the person's point of view on that item. Many perspectives can be accepted, even if they are competing. Accepting others' points of views is necessary in the maturing of a human being and in the evolution of our species.

Sources

“Friedrich Nietzsche (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).” Friedrich Nietzsche, 17 Mar. 2017, plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/#Pers.

“Perspectivism - New World Encyclopedia.” New World Encyclopedia, 2019, www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/perspectivism.

Pirocacos, View All Posts By Elly. “Telling the Tale – Perspectivism.” Philosophical Confessions, 13 July 2018, ellypiro.wordpress.com/2018/07/05/telling-the-tale-perspectivism.

Vishwanathan, Viji. “The Rise of Perspectivism - Viji Vishwanathan.” Medium, 11 May 2018, medium.com/@connect2vg/the-rise-of-perspectivism-fed4e0935338.

Discussion Questions

What would you call the biggest contributing factor to two people having different perspectives?

What beliefs would have the most difficulty cooperating if perspectivism was learned by the majority of people?