This paper argues for a social constructionist understanding of psychology, morality and historiography. It also attempts to show that the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche is especially pertinent to, and in some ways an anticipation of, the modern social constructionist movement. It is argued that Nietzsche offers a valuable contribution to the developing postmodern conception of historiography, and, using Nietzsche, the paper distinguishes between social `construction' and `constructivism'. Nietzsche's `perspectivism', understood as extending the logic of social construction, forms the basis of a critique against the latest outbreak of `revisionist' history, which often labels past ideas and theories as `sexist' and/or `racist'. It is concluded that such labels resort to a form of `presentism', as well as an implicit realism about what each sex or race is taken to be. As a result, this approach to both history and morality is untenable within a social constructionist perspective. Finally, it is argued that social construction is not a `theory', and that psychology must move beyond western metaphysics.
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