World Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Worldviews === {{main|Worldview}} [[File:Home in Relation to Everything.png|thumb|Scientific [[worldview]].]] A worldview is a comprehensive representation of the world and our place in it.<ref name="McIvor">{{cite book |last1=McIvor |first1=David W. |title=International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/philosophy/philosophy-terms-and-concepts/worldview-philosophy |chapter=Weltanschauung}}</ref> As a representation, it is a subjective perspective of the world and thereby different from the world it represents.<ref name="Bunge">{{cite book |last1=Bunge |first1=Mario |title=Matter and Mind: A Philosophical Inquiry |publisher=Springer Verlag |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/BUNMAM |chapter=1. Philosophy as Worldview|year=2010 }}</ref> All higher animals need to represent their environment in some way in order to navigate it. But it has been argued that only humans possess a representation encompassing enough to merit the term "worldview".<ref name="Bunge"/> Philosophers of worldviews commonly hold that the understanding of any object depends on a worldview constituting the background on which this understanding can take place. This may affect not just our intellectual understanding of the object in question but the experience of it in general.<ref name="McIvor"/> It is therefore impossible to assess one's worldview from a neutral perspective since this assessment already presupposes the worldview as its background. Some hold that each worldview is based on a single hypothesis that promises to solve all the problems of our existence we may encounter.<ref name="De Mijolla-Mellor">{{cite book |last1=De Mijolla-Mellor |first1=Sophie |title=International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/philosophy/philosophy-terms-and-concepts/worldview-philosophy |chapter=Weltanschauung}}</ref> On this interpretation, the term is closely associated to the worldviews given by different religions.<ref name="De Mijolla-Mellor"/> Worldviews offer orientation not just in theoretical matters but also in practical matters. For this reason, they usually include answers to the question of the meaning of life and other evaluative components about what matters and how we should act.<ref>{{cite book |last1=MARSHALL |first1=GORDON |title=A Dictionary of Sociology |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/philosophy/philosophy-terms-and-concepts/worldview-philosophy |chapter=Weltanschauung}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Weber |first1=Erik |title=Introduction |journal=Foundations of Science |date=1998 |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=231β234 |doi=10.1023/A:1009669806878 |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/WEBI}}</ref> A worldview can be unique to one individual but worldviews are usually shared by many people within a certain culture or religion. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page