- Jul 31, 2004
- 4,164
- 298
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Male
- Faith
- Presbyterian
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Republican
Triperspectivalism (TP) is a distinctly Christian theory of knowledge advanced by Dr.s John Frame and Vern Poythress. It's super interesting and, I think, illuminating. It's based on the more general "perspectivalism".
Perspectivalism, put forth by philosophers like Nietzsche, is a third alternative to complete subjectivism and complete absolutism. Subjectivism claims that we cannot access reality so all we have are our subjective experiences -- what's true for me is true for me and you for you. Absolutism claims that we can access reality absolutely and so I'm right and you're wrong. Perspectivalism claims that we can access reality but because we're finite beings we can only access things from a perspective. We need the perspectives of others (and of God) to truly understand anything.
Triperspectivalism is the idea that to truly know something we must understand it from three primary perspectives. For any issue we need to look at it from a normative perspective, a situational perspective, and an existential perspective. The normative perspective has to do with norms, rules, standards, etc. The situational perspective has to do with facts of life, science, history, etc. The existential perspective has to do with human experience. At the end of the day each perspective contains the other two so if you understand one you understand them all. Likewise if you misunderstand one you misunderstand them all. Tripersectives are often symbolized by triangles, each corner representing one of the perspectives. Let me give some examples:
Soccer. To truly understand soccer you have to understand the rules of soccer (normative perspective), the facts of soccer -- who are the players, teams, etc... (situational perspective), and what it's like to play soccer (existential perspective).
How we come to know things. Logic (normative), science (situational), and human experience (existential).
Thoughts?
Perspectivalism, put forth by philosophers like Nietzsche, is a third alternative to complete subjectivism and complete absolutism. Subjectivism claims that we cannot access reality so all we have are our subjective experiences -- what's true for me is true for me and you for you. Absolutism claims that we can access reality absolutely and so I'm right and you're wrong. Perspectivalism claims that we can access reality but because we're finite beings we can only access things from a perspective. We need the perspectives of others (and of God) to truly understand anything.
Triperspectivalism is the idea that to truly know something we must understand it from three primary perspectives. For any issue we need to look at it from a normative perspective, a situational perspective, and an existential perspective. The normative perspective has to do with norms, rules, standards, etc. The situational perspective has to do with facts of life, science, history, etc. The existential perspective has to do with human experience. At the end of the day each perspective contains the other two so if you understand one you understand them all. Likewise if you misunderstand one you misunderstand them all. Tripersectives are often symbolized by triangles, each corner representing one of the perspectives. Let me give some examples:
Soccer. To truly understand soccer you have to understand the rules of soccer (normative perspective), the facts of soccer -- who are the players, teams, etc... (situational perspective), and what it's like to play soccer (existential perspective).
How we come to know things. Logic (normative), science (situational), and human experience (existential).
Thoughts?