In many of my posts, I use the word “worldview” a lot.
What Does “Worldview” Mean?
According to Dallas Willard, a well-respected philosopher, “worldview, simply put, consists of the most general and basic assumptions about what is real and what is good—including assumptions about who we are and what we should do. That may sound terribly abstract to you, but there is, in fact, nothing more practical than our worldview, for it determines the orientation of everything else we think and do” (Willard, Kindle Location 682). In other words, a worldview is our operating frame of reference that guides our behaviors and choices.
Examples of Worldviews
Examples of worldviews include different world religion, deism, agnosticism, and atheism. It is our set of beliefs about the reality of the world. Thus, in a way, we are all believers even if we were not the followers of any religions.
Other Characteristics of Worldviews
Having a worldview is also “unavoidable” and is “a biological necessity” yet not an empirical thing (Willard, Kindle Location 683). Have you ever seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled a frame of reference before? Yet, it poses itself as an inherent property of our minds; we use it all the time without thinking and we cannot live without one.
In my posts on postmodernism, I said that in postmodernism’s view, anything that’s not empirically detected cannot be known as objectively true. In effect, we are asked to believe that our worldview, which dictates all what we are and what we do, to be a subject of desires and a matter of opinion and not knowable. This is a very dangerous idea. Ideas have consequences and thus must be thoroughly examined. But I digress.
Back to worldviews. The point is worldviews can be corrective or distortive, just like lenses. Proceed carefully.
Finally, worldviews shape the answers to the biggest questions of life, destiny, morality, human origin and purpose. For example, if you believe that the value of human life is conditional on being able to do certain things, you will have a hard time defending the value of the lives of those who are physically or mentally impaired. Your worldview may lead to the justification of euthanasia for the disabled against your moral intuition. Another example is the belief that we are basically stardust with no objective value or purpose. All that we do is vain. That can be quite depressing to anyone holding that belief. So, it is quite a serious matter to know which worldview best answers these questions in accordance with reality.
When was the last time you examined your set of beliefs and worldview?
Conclusion
In short, a worldview is a set of beliefs and assumptions functioning in the background. A worldview dictates what we do and who we are. It is also unavoidable and necessary for us to function. Moreover, it is dangerous and has serious consequences especially if it is a distorted worldview that misinterprets reality.
References:
Willard, Dallas. Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge. HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
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