The Foundation of Perspectival Knowledge There are no facts, only interpretations. This statement from Nietzsche’s notebooks captures his doctrine of perspectivism and has caused endless confusion. It sounds like relativism, the claim that truth is whatever you want it to be. But Nietzsche is making a more sophisticated and more radical point. All knowledge is perspectival, shaped by the position, needs, and drives of the knower. There is no view from nowhere, no God’s eye perspective, no objective standpoint outside all perspectives. Every claim about reality comes from some particular perspective shaped by biological, psychological, and cultural factors. This does...