Skip navigation
  • Home
  • Browse
    • Communities
      & Collections
    • Browse Items by:
    • Publication Date
    • Author
    • Title
    • Subject
    • Department
  • Sign on to:
    • My MacSphere
    • Receive email
      updates
    • Edit Profile


McMaster University Home Page
  1. MacSphere
  2. Open Access Dissertations and Theses Community
  3. Open Access Dissertations and Theses
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/15648
Title: Nietzsche: Style and Perspectivism
Authors: Paton, Blake Alexander
Advisor: Allen, Barry
Department: Philosophy
Keywords: philosophical, tradition, stylistic, perspectivism, relativism, theory, language, logic,
Publication Date: Apr-1990
Abstract: Friedrich Nietzsche represents a radical departure from alroost all of the philosophical tradition which preceded him. His stylistic differences from the tradition in philosophy find their basis in his perspectivism1 a strong form of relativism. Perspectivism is the theory that there are an indefinite number of different perspectives on the world, none of which can legitimately claim to be the true definition of it. Nietzsche bases a number of interesting arguments about language, truth and logic on perspectivism. His perspectivism is problematic because it cannot be asserted as true without also encountering a paradox: if perspectivism is a definitive perspective on the world, then perspectivism is false. Nietzsche found a method of dealing with this paradox through his writing style itself, viz. through his style he exenplifies perspectivism without seriously asserting it. That means that his style constantly refers to and serves as an exanple of perspectivism, and yet he never plainly asserts that perspectivism is a true description of the world. Nietzsche's style is intended to distinguish him from the rest of the philosophical tradition because he thought that was the only way to have his ideas accepted: on his own terms standing in opposition to the rest of the tradition, especially Socrates.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/15648
Appears in Collections:Open Access Dissertations and Theses

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
Paton Blake.pdf
Open Access
3.16 MBAdobe PDFView/Open
Show full item record Statistics


Items in MacSphere are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship     McMaster University Libraries
©2022 McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L8 | 905-525-9140 | Contact Us | Terms of Use & Privacy Policy | Feedback

Report Accessibility Issue