What Is a Worldview? Key Elements of a Worldview

The term worldview refers to someone’s set of answers to all the big questions of life. This might include assessing whether or not there is a God, what ethical duty human beings have to each other, or how we can know certain things to be true. The concept derives from the German word “Weltanschauung,” meaning “a particular philosophy of life.”

Some people might feel the urge to construct their own worldview as an individual, while others might choose to subscribe to a long-established one informed by one of the world’s major religions.

Different worldviews prioritize different aspects of the human experience. Here are just a few types of worldviews you might encounter:

1. 1. A humanist worldview: A person’s worldview might be humanist if they prioritize the importance of human beings solving the big questions of existence for themselves. This stands in contrast to more religious viewpoints, in which people hew close to what they consider to be divine or enlightened answers to these questions from deities or inspired teachers.
2. 2. A naturalistic worldview: Some people believe the world is totally explainable through purely natural means. Naturalists also often take a stance of agnosticism or outright skepticism when it comes to any claims of the supernatural or divine.
3. 3. A postmodern worldview: When someone holds to a postmodern viewpoint, they likely consider the concept of worldviews to be totally subjective. In other words, it’s difficult to ground your point of view in anything beyond personal preference. This renders all beliefs and precepts equally valid.
4. 4. A religious worldview: People of faith base their worldviews around the values and dogmas espoused in their sacred texts. For instance, if you chose to espouse a Christian worldview, you would base your philosophical assessments of reality and ethical beliefs on the teachings and ministry of Jesus Christ. People of faith often turn to apologetics (or arguments in favor of their beliefs) to make a case for their worldviews.

Plenty of philosophical concepts go into building a worldview. These are some of the key elements you might seek to define in your own search for meaning:

• Anthropology: While this term means the study of humanity in a pragmatic sense, it can also mean assessing what the purpose of human life is in a philosophical way. By defining other aspects of your worldview, your understanding of humankind’s role in the universe might also come into view.
• Cosmology: Your view of the world is part of your wider view of the universe as a whole. To better define your personal cosmology, ask yourself why there is something instead of nothing.
• Epistemology: No definition of worldview would be complete without a definition of epistemology as well. Epistemology is an attempt to answer how we know the things we know. Think about how you know something to be true and then dig deeper into why that is.
• Ethics: Matters of morality and ethics are where philosophical worldviews enter the realm of pragmatic reality. Define what you think you can do to help solve humanity’s problems. Ask what people owe to one another in terms of ethical conduct. Consider what makes something right or wrong.
• Metaphysics: This branch of philosophy refers to your basic beliefs about the nature of ultimate reality. Perhaps human beings have souls or perhaps they’re merely made of matter. Maybe the world truly exists, or maybe everyone is in a simulation. Everyone gets to decide where they fall on metaphysical quandaries like these as they define their own worldviews.
• Theology: Religious people consider the issue of God’s existence to be the most important of all. All other presuppositions extend out from their belief in this central precept. By contrast, those who hold to an atheist worldview believe there is no God and it’s possible to find meaning and be ethical without any divine reference point.
• Teleology: This concept refers to a set of presuppositions about what your innate purpose is. In other words, this is the element of your worldview in which you get to define what you believe the meaning of life to be.

A person’s worldview influences every aspect of their lives. How you answer the important questions of existence will inform how you behave in your day-to-day existence. Additionally, defining your personal worldview will also give you a far deeper source of meaning and understanding than you would be able to attain if you never attempted to answer these existential questions.

Still, always remember the importance of respecting how other people might come to drastically different conclusions about these age-old queries than you have. Friendly persuasion and the free exchange of ideas leaves everyone better off, but belligerent disregard for others’ beliefs will almost certainly never win anyone over to your side.

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