Part One: Our Problem

As we look at our world, what do we see? Confusion … chaos … anxiety … all of them affect us in one way or another. There is a more perplexing issue at work … one that has deeper implications for us: the issue of fractured and nonexistent worldviews. These are actually one of the byproducts of critical theory. This post is not about critical theory; that is a post for another day. This post is about the manifestations of critical theory and what it is doing to our worldview. Let’s start by developing a proper understanding of the worldview.  

The term worldview actually extends from the German word, Weltanschauung, which presents a worldview as an intellectual perspective on the world. This clarifies why critical theory has made such an impact on culture. Critical theory is not so much a theory as it is an intellectual perspective on the world, an extension of the Frankfurt School, which originated in Germany. 

In the book, Types and Problems of Philosophy, Hunter Mead defines Weltanschauung as an “all-inclusive system of philosophy” which he presented as un “unconscious attitude” toward one’s life and world developed over time. There are also references to James W. Sire and his work in regard to worldviews. Sire actually goes deeper when he labels Weltanschauung as a “set or presuppositions” which we believe about the world that informs our actions in response to the world.

Sire’s view of Weltanschauung is helpful in our discussion of defective worldviews because he discusses the manifestation of them as they are lived it out in conjunction with others. There are different elements that form the composite of a worldview, and these elements are to be in concert with each other. There are many different views in regard to what elements compose a worldview; here are the elements we embrace in regard to worldviews:

• epistemology: beliefs about the nature and sources of knowledge;
• metaphysics: beliefs about the ultimate nature of reality;
• cosmology: beliefs about the origins and nature of the universe, life, and especially man;
• teleology: beliefs about the meaning and purpose of the universe, its inanimate elements, and its inhabitants;
• theology: beliefs about the existence and nature of God;
• axiology: beliefs about the nature of value, what is good and bad, what is right and wrong.

These elements bring to light our primary problem: these elements, which in worldviews of the past were aligned and in concert with each other, are no longer aligned or in concert with each other in worldviews of today. Under normal circumstances all of them came together to form a picture of the world which defined for us both our world and who we are in the world. What happens when each of these elements are out of synch and out of concert with the others? We begin to not think about worldviews anymore? Or, worse we produce fractured worldviews, or worse, yet have nonexistent worldviews, which force us to begin to look outside of ourselves for ways to define ourselves and our world. When we look to our culture for worldview answers our worldviews are affected and eventually changed. How are they affected and changed? In Part Two, we answer those very questions and more!