I think your point relates two questions: what does the concept of a worldview cover (and what behaviors or views should it predict) and how stable are these causes at the individual level (i.e. does it make sense to identify an individual’s worldview).
I agree much of our behavior is irrational, but our arti…
I think your point relates two questions: what does the concept of a worldview cover (and what behaviors or views should it predict) and how stable are these causes at the individual level (i.e. does it make sense to identify an individual’s worldview).
I agree much of our behavior is irrational, but our articulated political and moral views often rest on some conscious and rational thought, even if in reality your position is more a reflection of your social group than it is those arguments. As someone who grew up in a more progressive setting, I internalized various beliefs about human nature and potential and the causes of human suffering and injustice - maybe I wouldn’t have been able to precisely articulate them but they were there and they influenced my views on a whole host of other issues. And I think we can identify these sorts of core values and beliefs which lead to very different interpretations of the world even while recognizing that we didn’t come to hold them for rational reasons.
And on the stability part, my view is that worldviews shift significantly over your life but are actually very stable in the short term. Things that disagree with the worldview might get noticed, but they won’t cause a real change right away, only after many, many challenges have built up will someone have a shift and begin to see a bunch of issues in a new light. So I think it’s much less stable than a personality but stable enough to discuss. And at the level of a culture I think it’s more clear that there are shared worldviews which explain differences with the median person from another culture or time period.
Yeah. One of the things I especially enjoy in your substack is that I feel I'm learning stuff even when I don't agree. So let's see... Do I think (at least most) people have something that an outsider could call a "worldview"? Yup, though I'm not sure most people would call it that themselves, nor even that they would acknowledge having one.
Do I think they interpret stuff based on their worldview? Again yes. But I think some of it is circular rationalization. So, they have visceral reactions. If challenged by others (or if they wonder about it themselves) they construct reasons for their reaction. But while some of this reflects a logically-consistent perceptual process, much (I think most) reflects instead that, at least when talking to someone like you or me, they don't want to say "duhhh," or "I don't know," or even "because he pisses me off," so they come up with some narrative that sounds consistent. Moreover, even if they believe that's why, I'm not sure they're correct. I don't mean to degrade non-logical reasoning. Certainly most of the brain is concerned with such, and visceral judgments may well be more reliable for most practical purposes than logically rigorous ones, but still.
Finally, yeah, I'm confident that my own worldview was molded originally by my parents, and then by various life experiences before age 40 and especially before 30. On the other hand, probably even concepts as abstract as worldview probably have at least some genetic component.
In any case, whatever the true nature of worldview, it does seem like a potentially useful way to understand large groups of people across time or space. The one that really strikes me (not sure if it has any relationship to what you mean by "worldview" is to ask someone who they are. A member of a modern society will tell you their education, their occupation, their ambitions, etc. A member of a premodern society will tell you the names of their relatives and the nature of each relationship, their shared beliefs, the location of their community, etc.
Yes, I’ve heard that example around how individualized the “who are you” answer is before and think it’s getting at something.
I’d agree that most of this is not explicit but a reflection of the implicit worldview in your culture or subculture, and also that genetic/personality factors influence this (which gets at the folk idea of the “psychological conservative vs progressive”)
Thank you very much, Richard!!
I think your point relates two questions: what does the concept of a worldview cover (and what behaviors or views should it predict) and how stable are these causes at the individual level (i.e. does it make sense to identify an individual’s worldview).
I agree much of our behavior is irrational, but our articulated political and moral views often rest on some conscious and rational thought, even if in reality your position is more a reflection of your social group than it is those arguments. As someone who grew up in a more progressive setting, I internalized various beliefs about human nature and potential and the causes of human suffering and injustice - maybe I wouldn’t have been able to precisely articulate them but they were there and they influenced my views on a whole host of other issues. And I think we can identify these sorts of core values and beliefs which lead to very different interpretations of the world even while recognizing that we didn’t come to hold them for rational reasons.
And on the stability part, my view is that worldviews shift significantly over your life but are actually very stable in the short term. Things that disagree with the worldview might get noticed, but they won’t cause a real change right away, only after many, many challenges have built up will someone have a shift and begin to see a bunch of issues in a new light. So I think it’s much less stable than a personality but stable enough to discuss. And at the level of a culture I think it’s more clear that there are shared worldviews which explain differences with the median person from another culture or time period.
Yeah. One of the things I especially enjoy in your substack is that I feel I'm learning stuff even when I don't agree. So let's see... Do I think (at least most) people have something that an outsider could call a "worldview"? Yup, though I'm not sure most people would call it that themselves, nor even that they would acknowledge having one.
Do I think they interpret stuff based on their worldview? Again yes. But I think some of it is circular rationalization. So, they have visceral reactions. If challenged by others (or if they wonder about it themselves) they construct reasons for their reaction. But while some of this reflects a logically-consistent perceptual process, much (I think most) reflects instead that, at least when talking to someone like you or me, they don't want to say "duhhh," or "I don't know," or even "because he pisses me off," so they come up with some narrative that sounds consistent. Moreover, even if they believe that's why, I'm not sure they're correct. I don't mean to degrade non-logical reasoning. Certainly most of the brain is concerned with such, and visceral judgments may well be more reliable for most practical purposes than logically rigorous ones, but still.
Finally, yeah, I'm confident that my own worldview was molded originally by my parents, and then by various life experiences before age 40 and especially before 30. On the other hand, probably even concepts as abstract as worldview probably have at least some genetic component.
In any case, whatever the true nature of worldview, it does seem like a potentially useful way to understand large groups of people across time or space. The one that really strikes me (not sure if it has any relationship to what you mean by "worldview" is to ask someone who they are. A member of a modern society will tell you their education, their occupation, their ambitions, etc. A member of a premodern society will tell you the names of their relatives and the nature of each relationship, their shared beliefs, the location of their community, etc.
Yes, I’ve heard that example around how individualized the “who are you” answer is before and think it’s getting at something.
I’d agree that most of this is not explicit but a reflection of the implicit worldview in your culture or subculture, and also that genetic/personality factors influence this (which gets at the folk idea of the “psychological conservative vs progressive”)