ABSTRACT
Nietzsche is not a relativist, but many of his positions – especially his perspectivism and his skepticism about the objectivity of morality – have influenced twentieth-century proponents of relativism and inspired associations with their theories of truth, knowledge, science, culture, ethics, and metaethics. This chapter acknowledges Nietzsche’s influence, discusses its origins, and clarifies distinctions between Nietzschean perspectivism and relativism. In the end, we see that Nietzsche’s call “to translate humanity back into nature” establishes a framework for his philosophical project that is incompatible with all but the weakest versions of relativism (i.e., those that oppose an absolute conception of the world, the objectivity of scientific judgment, and a “pure” epistemic subject of knowledge).
