Diasporas - Theory of Worldviews

Factual Dimension

Fondamental beliefs about the world and ourselves.

ex: sugar is sweet

Normative Dimension

Values on how the world ought to function. ( behaviours that ppl expect)

ex: “Teachers should be respectful towards students”

Behavioural Dimension

Actions that are performed unconcious, often influenced by one’s culture.

ex: how ppl greet ( hand shake, etc)

Weltanschauung

Vision of the world

• People began to be interested in the 17th c.

• With the intent of conversion not to understand how ppl are

World views are shaped by:

• Comprehensive philosophy

• an individual or society

• One’s past (victim, privilege, etc)

• Religion

• Culture

• Inherited values ( class, ethics, language)

Lens analogy

Assumes that if you take someone else’s glasses and view the world from their POV.

Issue: not just the way you see the world but also how you interact with it. Too simplistic.

Snowglobe analogy

If you are in a shaken snowglobe a storm occurs and everything in your life is also shaken and that’s how you see the world.

Issue: doesn’t account for collective world views, but our understanding of the world relies on others.

Web analogy

each knot on the web represents a value, but as they break it affects the other knots (values).

Issue: people don’t stop re-inventing themselves, the analogy forgets that you can create other knots.

Jenga analogy

each piece represents a value.

Issue: it doesn’t allow for growth, it assumes that humans are static.

Elements of a worldview

Conscious attitudes beliefs and behaviours that one adheres to in order to make sense of the world.

ex: Core aspects of one’s personality. (but these are changeable)

Attitudinal

Core aspects of one’s personality. (but these are changeable)

ex: compassionate, ambitious, personality

Ideological

Values and ideas

ex: populist, libertarian, marxist, socialist, etc.

ex: how the world should function

Religious

System of beliefs, practices, and dispositions.

ex: catholic, buddhist, agnostic, athiest

Philosophical

Addressing existential and moral questions

ex: donologist, consequential, determinism

ex: why is the sky blue ?

Components of a worldview classification

To easily classify an individual

Questions it attempts to answer:

1. What is the nature of our world (structure and function)

2. Why is the world the way it is ? (good and evil)

3. What’s reality ? What is the role of our specie ? (epistemological and ontological questions)

4. How should we act ? (ethical and sociological)

5. What is our future ? (eschatological)

6. How do we make sense of the world to ans. 1,2 &3 ? ( set of beliefs)

7. What are partial answers that give meaning to these questions ? ( Grand - Narrative)

What is metanarrative ?

A series of narratives to tell an overarching stories, or grand story in a universal manner.

ex: single stories, focus on specific events, a message or moral dimension.

Tell a larger story about human destiny, the universe, etc. Often framed as the “truth” of past events.

Types of Metanarratives

Dystopian: Things were good initially but currently we are in a bad state.

Utopian: The current condition is ideal. (ex: medical model)

What does it attempt to answer ?

Current condition & where we are headed as a society

ex: Christianity, Scientific M.N, Marxist model