Proof of Viewpoint Pluralism

Viewpoint Pluralism is a philosophy about our knowledge of the world. More precisely, it is a philosophy about points of view. Here are the principles of Viewpoint Pluralism:

1. There are indefinitely many distinct points of view.

2. Our knowledge is proportional to the number and kind of points of view we take.

3.What points of view we ought to take depends on our purposes.

Proof of Principle 1: There are indefinitely many distinct points of view.
There are two types of points of view: perceptual and conceptual.

Proof of Principle 1 for Perceptual Points of View

Imagine a house. There are many visual points of view of the house, from all sides, from above, and from the inside. Now imagine someone with a telescope that becomes more powerful the farther away he is from the house. Suppose this person uses his telescope to look at the house. He has a point of view of the house.

Now imagine thus person receding into the distance. As he recedes, he acquires different points of view. Yet he keeps the house in view, since the telescope grows stronger as he recedes. Since visual is a type of perceptual point of view, there are indefinitely many perceptual points of view of the house. Repeat the argument for any subject or object.

Proof of Principle 1 for Conceptual Points of View

Think of monism, dualism, and pluralism as points of view about how many types of things there are in the universe. Monism says thereís one, dualism says there are two, etc. Someone might hold triism, believing there are three types of things (e.g., minds, bodies, and persons). In theory, there could be a different name for each point of view that there is some specific number of types of things in the universe. Each one is the name of a conceptual point of view. Because there are indefinitely many numbers, it follows that there are indefinitely many conceptual points of view.

Proof of Principle 2: Our knowledge is proportional to the number and kind of points of view we have.

There are two kinds of knowledge: perceptual and conceptual.

Proof of Principle 2 for Perceptual Knowledge

To have perceptual knowledge is to have knowledge through the senses. When we take a perceptual point of view of an object, we perceive it through one of the senses. This creates an internal impression of the object based on information received from the object. This representation constitutes a part of our knowledge of the object in this context. Therefore, the more representations like this we have, the more knowledge we have of the object.

If we see a house from every angle, we know better what it looks like on all sides. The more senses we perceive an object through, the more knowledge we have of it.
Quality of perception counts too. Good quality perception produces good quality representation, which in turn produces good quality knowledge. Seeing a famous person in person is much better quality knowledge than seeing them on television.

Proof of Principle 2 for Conceptual Knowledge.

To have conceptual knowledge of an object is to have knowledge through concepts. When we take a conceptual point of view of an object, we conceive it through one or more concepts. This creates an internal conceptual representation of the object. This representation constitutes our knowledge of the object in that context. Therefore, the more conceptual points of view we have of the object, the better our knowledge of it.
When we think of an object as being a house, we conceive of it as a physical object having a certain purpose. When we also see it from the points of view of color, shape, size, and price, we have even better knowledge of it.
Quality also counts. As our concepts improve, so does our knowledge. If our concepts are confused, as when people believed the earth was flat rather than round, our knowledge will be limited or nonexistent.

Proof of Principle 3: The point of view we ought to take depends on our purposes.

Points of view vary with our purposes. An architect has one point of view of a house, while a buyer has another. A marketing manager may have a different point of view of a flowmeter from the product manager, the treasurer, or from a customer. The purpose of the marketing manager is to sell flowmeters, the purpose of the treasurer is to keep down costs, and the purpose of the customer is to measure flow rate.

Even though our particular point of view is determined by our purposes, we can sometimes avoid disagreements if we understand the other person's point of view. And seeing many different perspectives is the key to having a full understanding of a situation.

Of course, not all points of view are equally valuable or desirable. Points of view based on false assumptions, like the view that the sun revolves around the earth, ought to be discarded. By testing out and evaluating different points of view, we learn which ones to keep and which ones to discard.
Click here for an explanation of Viewpoint Pluralism and how it applies to industrial market research.

Click here for practical applications of Viewpoint Pluralism.

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