Editing Worldview

{{short description|Fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}{{About|the concept|the WorldView satellite class|DigitalGlobe|the World View near-space balloon technology|World View Enterprises|the Worldview public television network owned by MHz Networks|MHz Networks#MHz Worldview}}

A '''worldview''' (also '''world-view'''; or {{Langx|de|Weltanschauung}}) is said to be the fundamental [[cognitive]] orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's [[knowledge]], [[culture]], and [[Point of view (philosophy)|point of view]].<ref name="Ken Funk">{{cite web |url=http://web.engr.oregonstate.edu/~funkk/Personal/worldview.html |title=What is a Worldview? |last1= Funk |first1= Ken |date=2001-03-21 |access-date=2019-12-10}}</ref> However, when two parties view the same real world phenomenon, their worldviews may differ, one including elements that the other does not.

A worldview can include [[natural philosophy]]; fundamental, existential, and [[normative]] postulates; or themes, values, emotions, and ethics.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Gary B. |last1=Palmer |title=Toward A Theory of Cultural Linguistics |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=1996 |page=114 |isbn=978-0-292-76569-6}}</ref>

==Etymology==

[[File:Gazing at the Milky Way Morvan 2019-08-31.jpg|thumb|upright|View of the [[world]]]]
The term ''worldview'' is a [[calque]] of the German word {{lang|de|[[wikt:Weltanschauung|Weltanschauung]]}} {{IPA|de|ˈvɛltʔanˌʃaʊ.ʊŋ||De-Weltanschauung.ogg}}, composed of {{lang|de|[[wikt:Welt|Welt]]}} ('world') and {{lang|de|[[Anschauung]]}} ('perception' or 'view').<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/worldview |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=Etymonline.com |access-date=2019-12-02}}</ref> The German word is also used in English. It is a concept fundamental to [[German philosophy]], especially [[epistemology]] and refers to a ''wide world perception''. Additionally, it refers to the framework of ideas and beliefs forming a global description through which an individual, group or culture watches and interprets the [[world (philosophy)|world]] and interacts with it as a [[Social constructionism|social reality]].

=={{lang|de|italic=unset|Weltanschauung}} and cognitive philosophy==

Within [[Philosophy of mind|cognitive philosophy]] and the [[cognitive sciences]] is the German concept of ''Weltanschauung''. This expression is used to refer to the "wide worldview" or "wide world perception" of a people, family, or person. The {{lang|de|italic=unset|Weltanschauung}} of a people originates from the unique world experience of a people, which they experience over several millennia. The [[language]] of a people reflects the {{lang|de|italic=unset|Weltanschauung}} of that people in the form of its [[Syntax|syntactic structures]] and untranslatable [[connotation]]s and its [[denotation]]s.<ref>{{cite dictionary|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Weltanschauung|title=Weltanschauung – Definition of Weltanschauung by Merriam-Webster|dictionary=Merriam-Webster|access-date=2019-12-17}}</ref><ref name="Encyclopedia.com">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/philosophy/philosophy-terms-and-concepts/worldview-philosophy|title=Worldview (philosophy) – Encyclopedia.com|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com|date=2019-12-14|access-date=2019-12-17}}</ref>

The term ''{{lang|de|Weltanschauung}}'' is often wrongly attributed to [[Wilhelm von Humboldt]], the founder of German [[ethnolinguistics]]. However, Humboldt's key concept was ''Weltansicht''.<ref name="Underhill_2009" /> ''Weltansicht'' was used by Humboldt to refer to the overarching conceptual and sensorial apprehension of reality shared by a linguistic community (Nation). On the other hand, {{lang|de|Weltanschauung}}, first used by [[Immanuel Kant]] and later popularized by Hegel, was always used in German and later in English to refer more to philosophies, [[ideology|ideologies]] and cultural or religious perspectives, than to linguistic communities and their mode of apprehending reality.

In 1911, the German philosopher [[Wilhelm Dilthey]] published an essay entitled "The Types of {{lang|de|italic=unset|Weltanschauung}} and their Development in Metaphysics" that became quite influential. Dilthey characterized worldviews as providing a perspective on life that encompasses the cognitive, evaluative, and volitional aspects of human experience. Although worldviews have always been expressed in literature and religion, philosophers have attempted to give them conceptual definition in their metaphysical systems. On that basis, Dilthey found it possible to distinguish three general recurring types of worldview. The first of these he called naturalism because it gives priority to the perceptual and experimental determination of what is and allows contingency to influence how we evaluate and respond to reality. Naturalism can be found in Democritus, Hobbes, Hume and many other modern philosophers. The second type of worldview is called the idealism of freedom and is represented by Plato, Descartes, Kant, and Bergson among others. It is dualistic and gives primacy to the freedom of the will. The organizational order of our world is structured by our mind and the will to know. The third type is called objective idealism and Dilthey sees it in Heraclitus, Parmenides, Spinoza, Leibniz and Hegel. In objective idealism the ideal does not hover above what is actual but inheres in it. This third type of worldview is ultimately monistic and seeks to discern the inner coherence and harmony among all things. Dilthey thought it impossible to come up with a universally valid metaphysical or systematic formulation of any of these worldviews, but regarded them as useful schema for his own more reflective kind of life philosophy. See [[Makkreel]] and Rodi, Wilhelm Dilthey, Selected Works, volume 6, 2019.

Anthropologically, worldviews can be expressed as the "fundamental cognitive, affective, and evaluative presuppositions a group of people make about the nature of things, and which they use to order their lives."<ref>{{cite book|last=Hiebert|first=Paul G.|title=Transforming Worldviews: an anthropological understanding of how people change|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan|publisher=Baker Academic|year=2008|page=15|isbn=978-0-8010-2705-5}}</ref>

If it were possible to draw a [[map]] of the [[world]] on the basis of {{lang|de|italic=unset|Weltanschauung}},<ref name="Whorf">{{cite book|author-last=Whorf|author-first=Benjamin Lee|author-link=Benjamin Lee Whorf|editor-last=Carroll|editor-first=John Bissell|editor-link=John Bissell Carroll|orig-year=1st pub. 1956 |year=1964|title=Language, Thought, and Reality. Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W2d1Q4el00QC|location=Cambridge, Mass.|publisher=Technology Press of Massachusetts Institute of Technology<!--|ISBN=0-26273006-5 -->|isbn=978-0-262-73006-8}} Pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=W2d1Q4el00QC&pg=PA25 25], [https://books.google.com/books?id=W2d1Q4el00QC&pg=PA36 36], [https://books.google.com/books?id=W2d1Q4el00QC&q=%22environmental+conditions%22 29-30], [https://books.google.com/books?id=W2d1Q4el00QC&pg=PA242 242], [https://books.google.com/books?id=W2d1Q4el00QC&pg=PA248 248].</ref> it would probably be seen to cross political borders—{{lang|de|italic=unset|Weltanschauung}} is the product of [[political]] borders and common experiences of a people from a [[geographical]] region,<ref name="Whorf" /> [[natural environment|environmental]]-[[climatic]] conditions, the economic resources available, socio-cultural [[system]]s, and the [[Language families and languages|language family]].<ref name="Whorf" /> (The work of the [[Population genetics|population geneticist]] [[Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza]] aims to show the gene-[[historical linguistics|linguistic]] co-[[evolution]] of people).

According to James W. Underhill, worldview can periodically be used very differently by certain [[linguistics|linguists]] and [[sociology|sociologists]]. It is for this reason that Underhill, and those who influenced him, attempted to wed metaphor in, for example, the [[sociology of religion]], with [[discourse analysis]]. Underhill also proposed five subcategories for the study of worldview: world-perceiving, world-conceiving, cultural mindset, personal world, and perspective.<ref name="Underhill_2009">{{cite book|title=Humboldt, Worldview and Language|last1=Underhill|first1=James W.|date=2009|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0748638420|edition=Transferred to digital print.|location=Edinburgh, Scotland}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Creating worldviews : metaphor, ideology and language|last1=Underhill|first1=James W.|date=2011|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0748679096|location=Edinburgh, Scotland}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Ethnolinguistics and Cultural Concepts: truth, love, hate & war|last1=Underhill|first1=James W.|date=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1107532847|location=Cambridge}}</ref>

==Comparison of worldviews==
{{See also|Social Axioms Survey}}
One can think of a worldview as comprising a number of [[basic belief]]s which are philosophically equivalent to the axioms of the worldview considered as a logical or consistent theory. These basic beliefs cannot, by definition, be proven (in the logical sense) within the worldview – precisely because they are [[axiom]]s, and are typically argued ''from'' rather than argued ''for''.<ref>See for example Daniel Hill and Randal Rauser: ''Christian Philosophy A–Z'' [[Edinburgh University Press]] (2006) {{ISBN|978-0-7486-2152-1}} p200</ref> However their coherence can be explored philosophically and logically.

If two different worldviews have sufficient common beliefs it may be possible to have a constructive dialogue between them.<ref>In the Christian tradition this goes back at least to [[Justin Martyr]]'s ''Dialogues with Trypho, A Jew'', and has roots in the debates recorded in the [[New Testament]] For a discussion of the long history of religious dialogue in India, see [[Amartya Sen]]'s ''The Argumentative Indian''
</ref>

On the other hand, if different worldviews are held to be basically incommensurate and irreconcilable, then the situation is one of [[cultural relativism]] and would therefore incur the standard criticisms from [[philosophical realist]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://iep.utm.edu/cognitive-relativism-truth/|title=Cognitive Relativism &#124; Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy}}</ref><ref>The problem of self-refutation is quite general. It arises whether truth is relativized to a framework of concepts, of beliefs, of standards, of practices.[http://www.science.uva.nl/~seop/entries/relativism/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
</ref>
Additionally, religious believers might not wish to see their beliefs relativized into something that is only "true for them".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/RATZRELA.HTM|title=Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger|website=www.ewtn.com}}</ref>
[[Subjective logic]] is a belief-reasoning formalism where beliefs explicitly are subjectively held by individuals but where a consensus between different worldviews can be achieved.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jøsang |first1=Audun |title=A Logic For Uncertain Probabilities |journal=International Journal of Uncertainty, Fuzziness and Knowledge-Based Systems |date=21 November 2011 |volume=09 |issue=3 |pages=279–311 |doi=10.1142/S0218488501000831 |url=https://eprints.qut.edu.au/7204/1/Jos2001-IJUFKS.pdf }}</ref>{{clarify|date=May 2024}}

A third alternative sees the worldview approach as only a methodological relativism, as a suspension of judgment about the truth of various belief systems but not a declaration that there is no global truth. For instance, the religious philosopher [[Ninian Smart]] begins his ''Worldviews: Cross-cultural Explorations of Human Beliefs'' with "Exploring Religions and Analysing Worldviews" and argues for "the neutral, dispassionate study of different religious and secular systems—a process I call worldview analysis."<ref>[[Ninian Smart]] ''Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Beliefs (3rd Edition)'' {{ISBN|0-13-020980-5}} p14
</ref>

The comparison of religious, philosophical or scientific worldviews is a delicate endeavor, because such worldviews start from different [[presupposition]]s and cognitive values.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vidal |first1=Clément |title=Metaphilosophical Criteria for Worldview Comparison |journal=Metaphilosophy |date=April 2012 |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=306–347 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9973.2012.01749.x |citeseerx=10.1.1.508.631 }}</ref> Clément Vidal has proposed metaphilosophical criteria for the comparison of worldviews, classifying them in three broad categories:

# ''objective'': objective consistency, scientificity, scope
# ''subjective'': subjective consistency, personal utility, emotionality
# ''intersubjective'': intersubjective consistency, collective utility, narrativity

=== Characteristics ===

While [[Leo Apostel]] and his followers clearly hold that individuals can construct worldviews, other writers regard worldviews as operating at a [[community]] level, or in an [[Unconscious mind|unconscious]] way. For instance, if one's worldview is fixed by one's language, as according to a strong version of the [[Linguistic relativity|Sapir–Whorf hypothesis]], one would have to learn or invent a new language in order to construct a new worldview.

According to Apostel,<ref>[[Diederik Aerts]], [[Leo Apostel]], Bart de Moor, Staf Hellemans, Edel Maex, Hubert van Belle & Jan van der Veken (1994). [https://lirias.kuleuven.be/retrieve/659775 "World views. From Fragmentation to Integration"]. VUB Press. Translation of Apostel and Van der Veken 1991 with some additions. – The basic book of World Views, from the Center Leo Apostel.{{page needed|date=May 2020}}</ref> a worldview is an [[ontology]], or a descriptive [[Mental model|model]] of the world. It should comprise these six elements:

# An [[explanation]] of the world
# A [[futurology]], answering the question "Where are we heading?"
# Values, answers to [[ethical]] questions: "What should we do?"
# A [[praxeology]], or [[methodology]], or theory of [[Action (philosophy)|action]]: "How should we attain our goals?"
# An [[epistemology]], or theory of [[knowledge]]: "What is [[truth|true]] and false?"
# An [[etiology]]. A constructed world-view should contain an account of its own "building blocks", its origins and construction.

==Terror management theory==
{{Main|Terror management theory}}

[[File:Memento Mori! (19496674796).jpg|thumb|upright|In [[terror management theory]], one's worldview helps to alleviate the [[anxiety]] caused by [[Death anxiety|awareness of one's own mortality]].]]

A worldview, according to [[terror management theory]] (TMT), serves as a buffer against death anxiety.<ref name="worm">{{cite journal |last1=Schimel |first1=Jeff |last2=Hayes |first2=Joseph |last3=Williams |first3=Todd |last4=Jahrig |first4=Jesse |title=Is death really the worm at the core? Converging evidence that worldview threat increases death-thought accessibility. |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |date=2007 |volume=92 |issue=5 |pages=789–803 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.92.5.789 |pmid=17484605 }}</ref> It is theorized that living up to the ideals of one's worldview provides a sense of self-esteem which provides a sense of transcending the limits of human life (e.g. literally, as in religious belief in immortality; symbolically, as in art works or children to live on after one's death, or in contributions to one's culture).<ref name="worm" /> Evidence in support of terror management theory includes a series of experiments by Jeff Schimel and colleagues in which a group of Canadians found to score highly on a measure of patriotism were asked to read an essay attacking the dominant Canadian worldview.<ref name="worm" />

Using a test of [[Terror management theory#Death thought accessibility|death-thought accessibility]] (DTA), involving an ambiguous word completion test (e.g. "COFF__" could either be completed as either "COFFEE" or "COFFIN" or "COFFER"), participants who had read the essay attacking their worldview were found to have a significantly higher level of DTA than the control group, who read a similar essay attacking Australian cultural values. Mood was also measured following the worldview threat, to test whether the increase in death thoughts following worldview threat were due to other causes, for example, anger at the attack on one's cultural worldview.<ref name="worm" /> No significant changes on mood scales were found immediately following the worldview threat.<ref name="worm" />

To test the generalisability of these findings to groups and worldviews other than those of nationalistic Canadians, Schimel ''et al'' conducted a similar experiment on a group of religious individuals whose worldview included that of [[creationism]].<ref name="worm" /> Participants were asked to read an essay which argued in support of the theory of evolution, following which the same measure of DTA was taken as for the Canadian group.<ref name="worm" /> Religious participants with a creationist worldview were found to have a significantly higher level of death-thought accessibility than those of the control group.<ref name="worm" />

Goldenberg ''et al'' found that highlighting the similarities between humans and other animals increases death-thought accessibility, as does attention to the physical rather than meaningful qualities of sex.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Goldenberg |first1=Jamie L. |last2=Cox |first2=Cathy R. |last3=Pyszczynski |first3=Tom |last4=Greenberg |first4=Jeff |last5=Solomon |first5=Sheldon |title=Understanding human ambivalence about sex: The effects of stripping sex of meaning |journal=Journal of Sex Research |date=November 2002 |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=310–320 |doi=10.1080/00224490209552155 |pmid=12545414 |s2cid=24419836 }}</ref>

==Religion==

[[File:Religion collage (large).jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|Religious practices will tie closely to a religion's worldview.]]

[[Nishida Kitaro]] wrote extensively on "the Religious Worldview" in exploring the philosophical significance of Eastern religions.<ref>Indeed Kitaro's final book is ''Last Writings: Nothingness and the Religious Worldview''
</ref>

According to [[Neo-Calvinist]] [[David Naugle]]'s ''World view: The History of a Concept'', "Conceiving of [[Christian worldview|Christianity as a worldview]] has been one of the most significant developments in the recent history of the church."<ref>David K. Naugle ''Worldview: The History of a Concept'' {{ISBN|0-8028-4761-7}} page 4</ref>

The Christian thinker [[James W. Sire]] defines a worldview as "a commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart, that can be expressed as a story or in a set of presuppositions (assumptions which may be true, partially true, or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently) about the basic [[Social constructionism|construction of reality]], and that provides the foundation on which we live and move and have our being." He suggests that "we should all think in terms of worldviews, that is, with a consciousness not only of our own way of thought but also that of other people, so that we can first understand and then genuinely communicate with others in our pluralistic society."<ref>James W. Sire ''The Universe Next Door: A Basic World view Catalog'' pp. 15–16 (text readable at Amazon.com)</ref>

The commitment mentioned by James W. Sire can be extended further. The worldview increases the commitment to serve the world. With the change of a person's view towards the world, he/she can be motivated to serve the world. This serving attitude has been illustrated by Tareq M Zayed as the 'Emancipatory Worldview' in his writing "History of emancipatory worldview of Muslim learners".<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/9631989|title=History of emancipatory worldview of Muslim learners|first1=Tareq M|last1=Zayed}}</ref>

[[David Bell (author)|David Bell]] has also raised questions on religious worldviews for the designers of [[superintelligence]]s – machines much smarter than humans.<ref>{{Cite book |title= Superintelligence and World-views: Putting the Spotlight on Some Important Issues|last1= Bell|first1= David|date=2016 |publisher= Grosvenor House Publishing Limited |isbn= 9781786237668 |location= Guildford, Surrey, UK|oclc= 962016344}}{{page needed|date=May 2020}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Life stance]]
* [[Belief#Belief systems]]
* [[Mindset]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikiversity|Exploring Worldviews}}
* [[b:Nature|Wikibook:The scientific world view]]
* [http://www.projectworldview.org/wikiworldviewthemes.htm ''Wiki Worldview Themes: A Structure for Characterizing and Analyzing Worldviews''] includes links to roughly 1000 Wikipedia articles
* {{cite web |url= http://cognation.stanford.edu/press/newscientist.pdf |title= ''You are what you speak'' |url-status= bot: unknown |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090920230544/http://cognation.stanford.edu/press/newscientist.pdf |archive-date= 2009-09-20 }}&nbsp;{{small|(5.15&nbsp;MB)}} – a 2002 essay on research in linguistic relativity (Lera Boroditsky)
* {{cite web |url= http://www.wmich.edu/slcsp/SLCSP106/SLCSP106.PDF |title= Cobern, W. ''World View, Metaphysics, and Epistemology'' |url-status= bot: unknown |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174819/http://www.wmich.edu/slcsp/SLCSP106/SLCSP106.PDF |archive-date= 2016-03-03 }}&nbsp;{{small|(50.3&nbsp;KB)}}
* [http://www.inTERRAgation.com inTERRAgation.com—A documentary project. Collecting and evaluating answers to "the meaning of life" from around the world.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170919220123/http://interragation.com/ |date=19 September 2017 }}
* [http://www.godcontention.org The God Contention—Comparing various worldviews, faiths, and religions through the eyes of their advocates.]
* [http://henrycenter.tiu.edu/resource/do-christians-have-a-worldview/ Cole, Graham A., ''Do Christians have a Worldview?''] A paper examining the concept of worldview as it relates to and has been used by Christianity. Contains a helpful annotated bibliography.
* [http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/WORLVIEW.html ''World View article on the Principia Cybernetica Project''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100105211827/http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/WORLVIEW.html |date=5 January 2010 }}
* [http://ldm.sagepub.com/content/12/1/57 Pogorskiy, E. (2015). Using personalisation to improve the effectiveness of global educational projects. E-Learning and Digital Media, 12(1), 57–67.]
* [http://www.projectworldview.org/worldviews.htm ''Worldviews – An Introduction''] from Project Worldview
* [http://www.asa3.org/asa/topics/worldview/index.html "Studies on World Views Related to Science" (list of suggested books and resources)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100204062538/http://www.asa3.org/ASA/topics/worldview/index.html |date=4 February 2010 }} from the [[American Scientific Affiliation]] (a Christian perspective)
* Eugene Webb, [https://web.archive.org/web/20100113045231/http://press.umsystem.edu/spring2009/webb.htm ''Worldview and Mind: Religious Thought and Psychological Development.''] Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2009.
* Benjamin Gal-Or, ''Cosmology, Physics and Philosophy'', Springer Verlag, 1981, 1983, 1987, {{ISBN|0-387-90581-2}}, {{ISBN|0-387-96526-2}}.

{{World view}}

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[[Category:Belief]]
[[Category:Concepts in aesthetics]]
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[[Category:Concepts in metaphilosophy]]
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[[Category:Epistemology of religion]]<!-- do both parties of an argument have the exact same world view? -->
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