From perspectivism to relationism: a rapprochement between Nietzsche and Latour

Abstract

One of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's main adversaries was the notion of truth established by Plato and then adapted by Christianity. For Nietzsche, such truth operated under a reactive and dichotomous metaphysics. In practice, it would act against life, which would be much more complex. As a way of making room for a new epistemology, Nietzsche proposed perspectivism, which would demonstrate how we can only interpret reality in a situated way, from the point from which we perceive it, without ever totalising it. His intention was also to get away from relativism. Although he doesn't mention Nietzsche directly, Latour faced comparable problems and suggested similar answers. His relationism proposes that the perspectives that participate in collectives need to be taken into account; the more perspectives, the more ‘reality’. In a way, Latour thus becomes a continuator of Nietzsche, someone who escaped simplistic realism without falling into value-free relativism.