In political philosophy, a perspective is a particular way or attitude through which an individual of something. For instance, George Washington is commonly perceived as a cautious man who preferred to stand apart from the crowd and lead his country. In political philosophy, a perspective is also a particular way of thinking on a particular matter. This figurative use of the word dates back to 1760, where it was used to interpret events in the French Revolution.

Different perspectives are then used to interpret different situations, depending on the source of information. For instance, a scientist may view human behavior as a purely biological process while a political philosopher would look at human behavior from the perspective of culture, religion, power and class. A psychologist would study human behavior from a scientific viewpoint, while an educator would look at behavior from a social context. Political philosophers look at a myriad of perspectives, each one being subjected to scrutiny and criticism.

Each of these perspectives has its strengths and weaknesses. For instance, the biological perspective of psychology contains a number of exceptions that invalidate its generalization about all human behavior. Furthermore, many psychologists argue that all explanations of human behavior must be cultural in nature. In order for an explanation to be valid, it must be able to explain a range of observed phenomena across cultures. By contrast, the political philosopher will look at human behavior as a socio-cultural phenomenon and only consider explanations within a particular culture.