Perspectivism of the Cognitive Sciences

A philosophical framework holding that our understanding of cognition is always from a perspective—that what cognitive science discovers depends on the methods, models, and theoretical frameworks it employs. Perspectives in cognitive science include computational models, neural approaches, embodied theories, extended-mind frameworks, phenomenological accounts—each revealing different aspects of cognition, each limited by its assumptions. Perspectivism doesn't claim that all accounts are equally valid, but that validity is always validity-from-a-perspective. It demands that cognitive scientists be explicit about their commitments, recognizing that the tools they choose shape what they can find.

Example: "Her perspectivism of the cognitive sciences meant she could see that computational models revealed something real about the mind, but so did phenomenological accounts of lived experience. Neither was the whole truth; each was truth-from-a-perspective."

Perspectivism of the Cognitive Sciences by Dumu The Void March 20, 2026