The world-famous English writer Agatha Christie once remarked:
This is a strange world, where two people look at the same thing, but see the complete opposite.
Agatha Christie
It is amazing that all of us, so different, so special and individual, can get along in the same world, live in at least partial mutual understanding. But why are we so different? In fact, worldview plays a huge role in our lives. How is it formed? What does it represent? We will try to answer these and other questions further.
Concept and structure of worldview
The term “worldview” belongs to the field of philosophical teaching. In fact, all philosophical science is aimed mainly at studying a person’s worldview, studying the sources of its formation and the factors influencing it. The first philosophers to devote their works to worldview were Immanuel Kant (who did not distinguish it from the concept of “worldview”) and Wilhelm Schelling. The latter used this term in the sense in which we interpret it today.
Based on accumulated philosophical knowledge, we define a worldview as a set of a person’s most general ideas about the world, about his place in this world, about his possibilities and about the ways of translating these possibilities into reality. From the definition it is clear that in the course of life a person forms a certain picture of the universe, reflects on his place in it, tries to assess his capabilities, strengths, as well as the barriers that prevent him from implementing his plans.
Worldview is an integral part of worldview, which refers to an already established system of ideas and understanding of the world around us and our place in it. However, it, the worldview, is preceded by some more stages of perception of the world. In general, the scheme for forming an assessment of the world is as follows:
Attitude → Worldview → Worldview → Worldview
At the same time, worldview is understood as the most superficial level of perception of the world, the primary awareness of comfort or discomfort in life, a separate part of it. Worldview is the level of reason and the formation of elementary connections between one’s personality and the world around us.
It is also necessary to remember that the worldview is created due to environmental conditions and external factors, but all incoming information about them is refracted under our emotional background, which is understood as the totality of our characteristic traits, temperament, characteristics of the nervous system, etc. Therefore, it is important to maintain emotional balance in order to adequately perceive the surrounding reality.
An important component of a person’s ideological system are also the norms and values that accompany the period of our life. In this case, religious, legislative, moral, etc. norms are understood. This component of the worldview is formed due to the place in which we were born, mentality, upbringing, interests, as well as other factors.
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Types and types of worldview
The classical classification of worldview comes down to distinguishing two types of worldview: ordinary and scientific.
The everyday worldview is spontaneous in nature, that is, it is formed unconsciously, through the usual perception of information, drawing up simple practical conclusions, assessing other people’s opinions and judgments, and daily practice. The everyday worldview is formed continuously and is supplemented with information with its subsequent assessment every moment.
The scientific worldview presupposes the work of thinking, the connection of the analytical apparatus, and the formation of judgments based on proven information. Here we already have to face some problematic situations, contradictions and try to understand them.
The division of worldview into types with the indicated names is quite arbitrary, because, in principle, a person working in the field of science can operate to a greater extent with an ordinary worldview, that is, rely on practical arguments, without succumbing to the analysis of the events taking place in his life. At the same time, a person who has an applied nature of employment, for example, a sales consultant, a nanny or an artist, can think quite intensively, resorting to comparison, juxtaposition, study, analysis, criticism. As a rule, it is not easy to impose one’s opinion on such a person, to force her to think differently from what she would prefer at the moment.
In philosophy, there are also three types of worldviews that have been formed in the course of history:
- mythological;
- religious;
- philosophical.
The first of these types of thinking is based on myth as an attempt to explain surrounding phenomena. Mythology arose in primitive society, and people, through images of similar gods, animals and other characters, tried to explain what they drew from the surrounding reality. Why did they do this? The only thing that prompted them to do this was fear. Today, mythology is also part of culture, and therefore part of society. But why is it needed today?
People have always tended to “finish out” those situations and circumstances that raised doubts, to “find out” what is difficult to explain. The mythological episode form is a great way to do this by incorporating an element of fantasy or interweaving seemingly unrelated ideas. In general, a myth is a reflection of life cases with their embellishment and final meaningful design.
The religious worldview arose with the formation of class society, when the need arose to find a force that would promote the unity of society and the search for a compromise between elementary social groups. It is no coincidence that the verb religare (Latin) is translated as “to reunite.”
The religious worldview differed from the mythological one in that it was more progressive in nature due to the endowment of a person with a large amount of freedom, which seemed to be limited by divine forces. However, man was endowed with freedom of choice and will, which seriously allowed him to rise above external circumstances. We can say that human fear has taken on a slightly different form.
The religious worldview still influences the psychology of the individual today. Statistical forecasts indicate an increase in the number of believers, especially Muslims, who by 2050 will make up about 30% of the population (today only 23% of the world's population). Therefore, if you thought that religion in our time is fading into the background, do not rush to conclusions.
And the last type of worldview is philosophical. The most developed, progressive form of worldview, which assumes the ability to use one’s analytical potential, thinking, and formulate one’s point of view, regardless of the opinions of other people. The philosophical type of worldview does not necessarily involve the study of some philosophical materials or specialized literature. This is just an opportunity to treat any material in the described way.
Knowing the types of worldview, we can now trace how human consciousness has changed historically, and what remnants of the past can remain in our consciousness to this day. For example, fear of external circumstances, the creation of fictitious images that facilitate real patterns of behavior, reluctance to fight and look for a way out of the situation using real methods and opportunities are typical traits that we inherited from the mythological worldview.
Religion, you need to realize, was originally based on the reunification of people, their reconciliation and connection with the surrounding, sometimes cruel world through God as a supernatural force, and also served as a restrictive tool in regulating the behavior of people in society.
A philosophical worldview in its pure form presupposes getting rid of stereotypes imposed both by historical forms of worldview and by modern society. Therefore, the ability to analyze events around and rely on the arguments of reason are features of a philosophical worldview.
To make the process of forming a worldview easier and more interesting, we suggest you start by getting to know yourself. Our online Self-Discovery program in 4 weeks will help you find out what you really want in life, what your strengths and points for development are.
The modern world largely requires clarity and confidence from us, while not giving it in external circumstances. Let's look at why one should have a concrete understanding and perception of the world.
Why is it important to have a clear worldview?
Is it really important to talk about worldview, to know and understand its structure, types, etc.? Certainly. Worldview is like the interface of a program through which you evaluate the elements of the environment, their functional connections, and try to take your place among these elements. The more colorful and pleasant the interface, the more you like the program.
Worldview forms a set of values, ideals, life principles of a person, and all this taken together sets the rules by which you play, influences the goals and guidelines that guide you in your daily practice. If you think that biology is boring, and music is fraught with many secrets and mysteries that you are interested in solving, then this will most likely determine your specialty, your circle of friends, to some extent your appearance, vocabulary, manner of communication and much more. That is, worldview directly affects our lives.
If you still have any questions, you can watch a short but informative video about what alignment is and what its role is:
Is attitude an uncontrolled mechanism or an acquired layer of human consciousness?
Considering all of the above, a logical question arises: “Is it possible to change your perception or is it unchanged?” Initially, many philosophers believed that the worldview is an innate gift of a person that appears at birth. Therefore it cannot be changed.
However, over the years, philosophy grew stronger and was supplemented by the works of scientists studying not only the Western school, but also the Eastern one. And their views differed from those stated earlier. A direct confirmation of this is the spiritual practice of Buddhist monks, which can radically change a person’s perception of the world.
