PERSPECTIVISM: ORIGIN, CHARACTERISTICS AND OUTSTANDING WORKS - PHILOSOPHY - 2025

The perspectivismo is a philosophical theory whose thesis proposes that no single knowledge or absolute truth of the world, but multiple and varied interpretations or views of the same.

This doctrine states that all perceptions, schemes or concepts come from a particular perspective. This approach was initially made by Leibniz and later developed by other philosophers such as Ortega y Gasset, Friedrich Nietzsche Gustav Teichmüler and Ernst Nolte.

Gottfried Leibniz was the one who made the first approach to perspectivism. Source: Christoph Bernhard Francke

It maintains that the human being approaches the world from the interpretation and the individual point of view from his own experience and reason.

From time immemorial there have always been these reflections on perspectives, as well as the questioning of truth as an objective fact. The human being has tried to reach the deepest knowledge, and the philosophers and thinkers forging the modern world approached this area more diligently.

Origin

In the nineteenth century, the German philosopher Gustav Teichmüler defined the term perspectivism as the various ways of coming to know a reality, considering the justification of each of these.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz developed a broader theory about perspectivism on several central axes. The first axis focuses on the ideas of metaphysical reason, which are those that lead us to truths beyond scientific knowledge.

The second axis is related to the fact that the human perspective is finite and limited, and that it starts from one's own perceptual and reasoning capacities. This is explained because we occupy a certain place in the world in time and space.

Leibniz also states that knowledge is the evaluative interpretation of each interpreter and focuses his philosophical analysis on the power of life, beliefs, the everyday and the way in which the human being reasons about these elements.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Nietzsche

Nietzsche posited as impossible the fact of knowing the true reality, since the vision and interpretation of each individual is given from his perception, from a place and a specific moment; this makes zooming subjective.

According to Nietzsche, the facts do not exist as such, there is only the interpretation that each one makes of them, and that human perspective is loaded with all individual beliefs and ideas that are far from being objective and, therefore, true.

Likewise, the philosopher explains that there is no real nature of objects either because the observer's gaze will always be an interpretation: there are different perspectives from which an element can and is wanted to be looked at, all of these full of circumstances that vitiate and deviate the essence real of said object.

José Ortega y Gasset

José Ortega y Gasset was a 20th century Spanish philosopher who figures as one of the most important exponents of perspectivism.

This thinker affirmed that the truth could be reached incorporating all the possible individual contributions from his reality.

Every human being is inseparably linked to every personal circumstance. Each experience, meditation and analysis of that personal reality is unique and, therefore, each perspective on the truth is unprecedented and personal.

From this idea arises the well-known phrase "I am me and my circumstances" that comes from Ortega's analysis of the existence of the self with "things", referring to both the material and immaterial creation of each individual and their particular perception.

characteristics

-Perspectivism is based on philosophical precepts that propose the constant relativity of knowledge. There is no purity in perceptions, so the capture occurs from the process of observing things, from a perspective focused on personal experience.

-This theory does not accept the alternative of the global perspective, which suggests accepting the different points of view so that reality itself becomes accessible to all. In such a way that perspectivism categorically rejects this notion of an integrative perspective since it borders on incongruity.

-From the field of vision, perspectivism implies the way in which the eye physically captures objects. It focuses on the spatial characteristics and measurements of the element, and on the relative position of the visual organ in terms of distance and location of objects.

-Perspectivism dismisses the ideas of philosophers like Kant, Descartes and Plato, who argue that reality is an immovable and absolutely concrete and objective event. They indicate that it is impossible to make an evaluation from this point of view.

-For perspectivism theorists there is no absolute truth or categorical ethics, just as there is no definitive epistemology. The truth is created from the study and the conjunction of diverse points of view that justify it, regardless of the context and culture from which they come.

Outstanding works

Leibniz

Leibniz's most emblematic work is Dissertation on Combinatorial Art, which came to light in 1666. The publication of this text was controversial since the work was published without having the necessary permission from Leibniz.

Although the philosopher expressed his disagreement with the early publication of the work on several occasions, it brought a new point of view for the time and helped to develop his legitimacy as a philosopher.

In Dissertation on Combinatorial Art Lebniz proposes a kind of alphabet associated with the thought he took from Descartes. The idea behind this notion was to point out that all concepts are made up of simpler ones; he proposed a rational and systematic way of breaking down big ideas.

Between 1686 and 1714 Leibniz wrote and published New Essays on Human Understanding, Discourse on Metaphysics, Theodicy and Monadology.

Nietzsche

Between 1872 and 1879 Nietzsche published a significant number of works, among which are The Origin of Tragedy in the Spirit of Music, Untimely Considerations, and Human, Too Human.

In the 80s he had his most intense period of creating diverse works, among which are Aurora, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, The Genealogy of Morals, Beyond Good and Evil, The Antichrist, The Twilight of Idols. and Nietzsche against Wagner.

This last book was written in the last lucid years of the philosopher and details in essay form his considerations on the German composer Richard Wagner, who was also his close friend.

Nietzsche speaks of Wagner's philosophical approach to art, music and tone and also expresses the disappointment he feels at the personal decisions the composer made, such as converting to Christianity.

Ortega y Gasset

Among the most relevant works by Ortega y Gasset are Meditations on Don Quixote and Old and New Politics, both published in 1914.

Between 1916 and 1920 he had various publications such as The Spectator I, The Spectator II and People, Works, Things.

In the 1920s he published other works. Among the main ones are The Spectator III, The Theme of Our Time, Invertebrate Spain. Sketch of some historical thoughts, The dehumanization of art and ideas about the novel, The spectator IV and Kant.

Between 1930 and 1940 his work The Rebellion of the Masses, the best known of the philosopher, stood out especially. The central object of the book, translated into more than 20 languages, is to develop the relationship between the notions of mass and man, the characteristics of agglomerations and everything that implies that the minority is subdued by the majority.

Other works published in that decade were Goethe from within, Around Galileo, Ensimmness and alteration, Studies on love and Theory of Andalusia and other essays.

After his death in 1955, the compilation of the lectures given between 1928 and 1929 was published, entitled The idea of ​​principle in Leibniz and the evolution of deductive theory.

References

1. Huéscar Antonio Rodríguez. "The central concept of Ortega perspectivism" in. Retrieved on March 22, 2019 from Miguel Virtual Library from: Cervantes: cervantesvirtual.com
2. Vergara H. Fernando J. "Perspectivism of knowing and genealogy of interpreting" in Scielo. Retrieved on March 22, 2019 in Scielo: scielo.org.co
3. Rivera Novoa Ángel "Perspectivism and Objectivity in The Genealogy of Morality" in Thought and Culture Universidad de la Sabana. Retrieved on March 22, 2019 from Thought and Culture Universidad de la Sabana: thoughtycultura.unisabana.edu.com
4. Bueno, G. "The idea of ​​principle in Leibniz and the evolution of deductive theory" in Philosophy in Spanish. Retrieved on March 22, 2019 from Philosophy in Spanish.: philosophy.org
5. Romero, J. “Perspectivism and social criticism. From Nietzsche to critical theory ”in Complutense Scientific Journals. Retrieved on March 22, 2019 from Complutense Scientific Journals: magazines.ucm.es