Worldview: what it is and what elements influence it

Depending on the specific moment that we analyze and the culture that we use to analyze the world, we will obtain very different visions.

We are going to try to delve into the concept of worldview in order to understand in more detail the implications of this term. Likewise, we will know which are the main features that it takes into account and we will be able to rely on different practical examples.

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What is the worldview?

Worldview is a term used to refer to the vision of the world that a person or society has at a given time and under specific criteria. Therefore, this vision will collect the perception, concepts and evaluations that that person or group of people are doing about the world. Therefore, it is an interpretation that these individuals make about the perceived reality.

In linguistic terms, the word worldview is a translation of the German term Weltanschauung, which literally means to observe the world. This concept was introduced by Wilhelm Dilthey, a 19th century German philosopher and psychologist (in addition to cultivating other sciences).

This author was a representative of hermeneutics and as such considered that the experiences of the individual not only had cognitive components, but that the part corresponding to the emotions and even the moral values ​​that were associated with each event were essential to have a complete perception of the reality.

The worldview, therefore, what it offers us is a framework with the principles that govern the way of seeing the world according to its own inhabitants and from which all aspects of reality will be interpreted of these people. It would, therefore, be the filter with which they perceive the characteristics of the world.

Logically, there is no single worldview, but there will be as many as societies and moments in history we analyze. Some will share a series of traits to a greater or lesser extent, depending on their cultural closeness, while others will will find in the antipodes, giving a greater relevance in their analysis of the world to totally different values, for example.

Different classifications of worldview

We have already seen that the worldview affects the perception and interpretation of all the elements of the reality of a group of people. However, depending on the variable in which we place the emphasis, we will discover that very different typologies can be established. We are going to see some of the main ones.

1. According to religion

Obviously religion has historically been one of the most powerful cultural elements. Therefore, this element will represent one of the main variables on which to establish a worldview. Religion tries to establish on believers a series of behaviors that they must carry out for reasons that go beyond the earthly.

For centuries and even millennia, different religions have created a very particular vision of the world that has diverged from that of the other creeds. Depending on their origin, some may establish similarities in some aspects, as occurs, for example, with Christianity and Judaism. One could even observe elements in common between these and Islam, since all three belong to the so-called Abrahamic religions.

However, if we explore religions with totally isolated origins, we will discover that the worldview that the faithful possess differs greatly from what the aforementioned monotheistic religions can offer.

The more power religion has in a given society, the closer it gets to fundamentalism, that is, to the literal interpretation of their sacred texts. In those cases, the worldview will be as dictated by said writings, since the followers of that religion will all believe the precepts that are found there, however implausible they may seem to a person outside of that religion.

2. According to philosophy

But if there is a field of knowledge that is especially relevant in the development of the worldview, it is that of philosophy, precisely because it tries to explain reality in itself. Therefore, we can anticipate that, based on the different philosophical thoughts that have governed certain societies and cultures over time, conceptions of the world will have been very different.

In ancient Greece, the cradle of philosophy, the great thinkers such as Socrates, Plato or Aristotle, among others, established a series of currents that created a worldview for the society of the time, that is, a way of seeing and understand your world. But they were not the only ones. Intellectuals from many other places and from different times have done the same, adding new ways of understanding reality..

Therefore, philosophy would be another of the most appropriate ways of establishing a differentiation between various worldviews, in this case depending on the philosophical current that underlies said conception.

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3. According to the attitude

But religion and philosophy are not the only ways to study the worldview of a society. There are other ways to do this, such as the one provided by the attitudes of the people who make up this group. In that sense, the way of being and thinking would be acting directly as a filter when constructing the idea of ​​the world that surrounds them.

The attitude of a society, in general terms, can provide a more or less pessimistic worldview, for example. They can see the world in a peaceful way or on the contrary see it as a hostile place. In short, they will attribute to reality the very characteristics that they perceive in their attitudes.

4. According to ideology

We cannot forget ideologies and values ​​as another important way of establishing a worldview at a given time and place. Political ideas, for example, have been as powerful in some societies as religious ones were at other times in history.. Therefore, this will be one of the variables to take into account if we want to know what is the way of perceiving the world of a certain group.

Ideas and political movements as powerful as communism, fascism, socialism or liberalism, to put just Some examples have largely determined how the inhabitants of a nation have perceived the world around them at that time. But it is not just about political ideologies. Movements such as environmentalism, feminism also influence in the same way.

In this category would also enter the different currents of economic thought, such as capitalism, liberalism or protectionism. They are so complex ideas that they establish a framework in the way of life of people and of course this directly affects the way they see the world, that is, the worldview.

5. According to the language

Language is a tool thanks to which human beings structure our speech, but also our thoughts. Therefore, if a certain language is in some way delimiting the way we think, it will undoubtedly have an influence in helping us to create the conception of reality.

In this sense, Language would be another of the criteria that would allow establishing a classification regarding the different worldviews that societies may have. Therefore, those individuals who share a language, regardless of whether they are in different countries, will share a part of that worldview, since they use the same language.

It's not just about the language itself, but what underlies this concept. That is, when several nations share a language, they do so because somehow they have a common past, a part of the history that united them and for which, although they have taken different paths, they maintain ties that twin.

In fact, Wilhelm von Humboldt, a philologist and philosopher born in ancient Prussia, maintained that to understand the worldview of a specific place it was necessary to know the language, because according to this author, these two elements were inexorably United. Humboldt did not see language as a restriction to grasp reality, quite the opposite. For him, language was a form of expression of creativity.

Therefore, having a specific language gave rise to being able to build a rich and unique worldview, different from what individuals from another region could develop with another language, which would also be rich and unique. In other words, what the language would be contributing was an original and creative way of experiencing reality and therefore of having an unrepeatable worldview.

This would be the last of the main ways of classifying the types of worldviews that we can find, although depending on the criteria we want to use, there would be many other possibilities.

Bibliographic references:

• Cano, M., Mestres, F., Vives-Rego, J. (2016). The Weltanschauung * (worldview) in 21st century environmental behavior: Changes and consequences. Ludus vitalis.
• DeWitt, R. (2010). Worldviews. An introduction to the history and philosophy of science. Buridán Library.
• Santos, U.F., (1981). Philosophy and worldview. Philosophical Yearbook.
• Underhill, J.W. (2011). Creating worldviews: metaphor, ideology and language. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press.