Perspectivism

Abstract

The relativistic concept of rationality above is consonant with our relativism throughout the preceding chapters. In the following two sections:

• 23.1 Relativism, Contextualism, Perspectivism

• 23.2 Perspectivism de re and Perspectivism de dicto

we shall demonstrate that (i) relativism enables a viable theory of knowledge and action that may be termed perspectivism; and (ii) perspectivism may be conceived as a modal theory that has both de re and de dicto aspects with significant metaphysical consequences. The basic idea of perspectivism, which we shall further elaborate here, comes from the German philosophers Leibniz , Kant , and Nietzsche (Kaulbach , 1990; Hales and Welshon , 2000; Baghramian , 2004; Giere , 2006; Ibbeken , 2008; DeRose , 2009).