philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

, a point of view is a specific attitude or manner through which a person thinks about something. This figurative usage of the expression dates back to 1760. In this meaning, the usage is synonymous with one of the meanings of the term perspectiveCampos, Gutiérrez, p. 2 (also epistemic perspective). The concept of the "point of view" is highly multifunctional and ambiguous. Many things may be judged from certain personal, traditional or moral points of view (as in "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"). Our knowledge about reality is often relative to a certain point of view. Vázquez Campos and Manuel Liz Gutierrez suggested to analyse the concept of "point of view" using two approaches: one based on the concept of "

propositional attitude A propositional attitude is a mental state held by an agent toward a proposition. Linguistically, propositional attitudes are denoted by a verb (e.g. "believed") governing an embedded "that" clause, for example, 'Sally believed that she had won ...

s", the other on the concepts of "location" and "access".

Analysis

Margarita Vázquez Campos and Antonio Manuel Liz Gutiérrez in their work, "The Notion of Point of View", give a comprehensive analysis of the structure of the concept. They point out that despite being crucial in many discourses, the notion has not been adequately analyzed, though some important works do exist. They mention that early classical Greek philosophers, starting from

Parmenides Parmenides of Elea (; grc-gre, Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia. Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Elea, from a wealthy and illustrious family. His date ...

and

Heraclitus Heraclitus of Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἡράκλειτος , "Glory of Hera"; ) was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire. Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrot ...

discussed the relation between "appearance" and reality, i.e., how our points of view are connected with reality. They specifically point out

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian- British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is consi ...

's ''

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus The ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'' (widely abbreviated and cited as TLP) is a book-length philosophical work by the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein which deals with the relationship between language and reality and aims to define th ...

''. They consider Wittgenstein's theory of "pictures" or "models" (Wittgenstein used the German word ''Bild'', which means both "picture" and "model") as an illustration of the relationship between points of view and reality.

Propositional attitudes

The internal structure of a point of view may be analysed similarly to the concept of a propositional attitude. A propositional attitude is an attitude, i.e., a mental state held by an agent toward a

proposition In logic and linguistics, a proposition is the meaning of a declarative sentence. In philosophy, " meaning" is understood to be a non-linguistic entity which is shared by all sentences with the same meaning. Equivalently, a proposition is the no ...

. Examples of such attitudes are "to believe in something", "to desire something", "to guess something", "to remember something", etc. Vazques Campos and Gutierrez suggest that points of view may be analyzed as structured sets of propositional attitudes. The authors draw on

Christopher Peacocke Christopher Arthur Bruce Peacocke (born 22 May 1950) is a British philosopher known for his work in philosophy of mind and epistemology. His recent publications, in the field of epistemology, have defended a version of rationalism. His daught ...

's ''Sense and Content''. Within this approach one may carry out

ontological In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exi ...

classification of various distinctions, such as individual vs. collective points of view, personal vs. non-personal, non-conceptual vs. conceptual, etc.Manuel Liz & Margarita Vázquez
"Two approaches to the notion of Point of View"
extended abstract for
''14th Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science''
, July 19–26, 2011 (retrieved August 31, 2015)

Location and access

Whereas propositional attitudes approach to analyze points of view internally, the "location/access" approach analyzes points of view externally, by their role. The term "access" refers to the statement of Liz Gutierrez that "points of views, or perspectives, are ways of having access to the world and to ourselves", and the term "location" is in reference to the provided quotation of Jon Moline that points of view are "ways of viewing things and events from certain locations". Moline rejects the notion that points of view are reducible to some rules based on some theories, maxims or dogmas. Moline considers the concept of "location" in two ways: in a direct way as a vantage point, and in an extended way, the way how a given vantage point provides a perspective, i.e., influences the perception.Moline, Jon, "On Points of View", ''American Philosophical Quarterly'', 1968, vol. 5, 191–298. (as cited by Manuel Liz) This approach may address

epistemological Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...

issues, such as

relativism Relativism is a family of philosophical views which deny claims to objectivity within a particular domain and assert that valuations in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assessed. Ther ...

, existence of the absolute point of view, compatibility of points of view (including " faultless disagreement"), possibility of a point of view without a bearer, etc.

Notes

References

*Margarita Vázquez Campos, Antonio Manuel Liz Gutiérrez
"The Notion of Point of View"
in: ''Temporal Points of View: Subjective and Objective Aspects'', Springer, 2015, *Manuel Liz
"Models and Points of View: The Analysis of the Notion of Point of View"
in: Lorenzo Magnani (ed.), ''Model-Based Reasoning in Science and Technology: Theoretical and Cognitive Issues'', Springer Science & Business Media, 2013,

External links

* * {{World view A priori Abstraction Belief Bias Cognitive science Communication Concepts in epistemology Concepts in metaphysics Conceptual modelling Mental processes Metaphysics of mind Ontology Perception Phenomenology Philosophical theories Philosophy of mind Propositional attitudes Psychological attitude Reality Reasoning Subjective experience Thought Truth