Abstract

Was Nietzsche a “perspectivist”? It is commonly supposed that he was. It also is commonly supposed that Hegel was an “idealist,” that Marx was a “materialist,” and that Heidegger was an “existentialist.” And with some reason. For Hegel makes much of what he calls “the Idea [die Idee].” Marx emphasizes the importance of what he calls “material [materieale]” conditions. And Heidegger considers what he calls “existence [Existenz]” to be the very essence [“Wesen”] of our kind of reality [“Dasein”]. But there are ways of understanding “idealism,” “materialism,” and “existentialism” that do not fit them at all; and it is all too easy, and commonplace, for people to attribute to Hegel or Marx or Heidegger whatever they may suppose or want these labels to mean, whether for better or for worse. And the same applies, I suggest, to Nietzsche and “perspectivism.”...