Friday, February 26, 2016

Appearance, Phenomenon, Perspective

In #10 of Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche contrasts "appearance" and "perspective".  But, more sharply distinguished from the latter is Phenomenon, which, though often used interchangeably with Appearance, is not quite equivalent to it, and, in fact, has more in common with Perspective.  For, in Phenomenalism, and in most of its Phenomenological variations, a Phenomenon is an absolutely private and discrete element of Experience, whereas, according to Perspectivism, the object of Perception, while also "for me", is an appearance of an object that is in the world, and to which the objects of alternative perspectives can be attributed.  In other words, according to Phenomenalism, there is no inherent relation between the perception of one side of a house and that of another, while Perspectivism accepts that each visual image can be attributed to one and the same substratum.  Furthermore, and correspondingly, the concept of a Perspective, but not of a Phenomenon, entails the possible existence of other subjects of Perception, whose Perspectives might delimit one's own.  In other words, Perspectivism is essentially a social concept, entailing the possibility of coordination between members, while Phenomenalism is inherently Atomistoc.

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