There is little consensus among scholars as to what Nietzsche’s “perspectivism” is or what it entails. I will focus on a limited number of Nietzsche’s commentators, describing and commenting upon the writings of Brian Leiter, R. Lanier Anderson, Maudemarie Clark, Christoph Cox, and John Wilcox. Each commentator provides insight into the problems generated by the interpretations previous commentators have given, while simultaneously generating different problems within these newer interpretations…
Read moreThere is little consensus among scholars as to what Nietzsche’s “perspectivism” is or what it entails. I will focus on a limited number of Nietzsche’s commentators, describing and commenting upon the writings of Brian Leiter, R. Lanier Anderson, Maudemarie Clark, Christoph Cox, and John Wilcox. Each commentator provides insight into the problems generated by the interpretations previous commentators have given, while simultaneously generating different problems within these newer interpretations. I hope to draw together the salvageable elements of each of these five interpretations in order to alleviate some general interpretive problems. My own interpretation is as follows: perspectivism entails the two positions ‘knowledge coherentism’ and ‘truth constructivism.’ ‘Knowledge coherentism’ is the need for coherence within a system of knowledge. This position saves perspectivism from relativism. ‘Truth constructivism’ is the claim that we humans intersubjectively create truth; this entails a rejection of the dichotomy of the real and the apparent.
