Philosophy, Its Range of Problems, and Its Role in Society

Worldview: Its Structure and Types

Philosophy, as has already been discussed, is something familiar to everyone, even those who have not studied it formally, though often this familiarity is not fully understood. This is no coincidence, for philosophy is inextricably linked to the notion of worldview. Most philosophers, both past and present, have recognized this connection, though there are certain philosophical schools, such as neopositivism, that deny such a link. Yet a worldview is a phenomenon without which human existence as a conscious, individual entity would be inconceivable. Every person, whether an academic or a simple laborer, holds their own worldview.

A worldview is the sum of knowledge, evaluations, and principles that provide a generalized understanding of the world as a whole, including the individual's place within it, one's life stance, and a guide for behavior and actions. It constitutes a complex, integrated formation, where different components—knowledge, values, ideals, principles, norms, and beliefs—are fused into a single unity. All these elements are essential components of a worldview.

The most crucial element of a worldview is knowledge. This knowledge may come from various sources: everyday experience, scientific inquiry, or even prescientific wisdom. In our time, the "quality of a worldview" is largely determined by the degree to which it incorporates scientific knowledge, as science allows us to delve deeper into the essence of the world and humanity, and to understand their interconnectedness. However, this does not imply that we can rank individual worldviews based solely on the presence of scientific knowledge. The same can be said of the dominant worldviews throughout human history. It would be a mistake to conclude that the worldview of our century is "superior" to that of the ancient Greeks. Karl Jaspers rightly observed that science only reveals to us what is truly inexplicable. This, to some extent, was already clear to Socrates, with his famous proclamation, "I know that I know nothing."

To comprehend the paradox of this situation, we must recognize the unique nature of worldview knowledge. Science provides us with knowledge of various facts and phenomena, and the amount of such knowledge increases over time. Yet not all of this knowledge enters the structure of a worldview. As mentioned earlier, a worldview is a perspective on the "world as a whole." However, we must acknowledge the inherent contradiction in the expression "world as a whole," for, on one hand, humanity has never known, and never will know, the world in its entirety. Such knowledge is practically unattainable, rendering the phrase itself somewhat meaningless. On the other hand, it is undeniable that humanity is driven by a desire for wholeness, for unity, for a complete understanding of the world—an ambition to construct a picture of the universe that is, at least in its fundamental elements, comprehensive. When Hegel speaks of the completion of the development of the absolute idea, he does not imply that there will be no further growth in scientific knowledge. Rather, he is asserting that the essence of the world has already been grasped, and in this sense, we already possess a unified picture of the world, making the process of cognition complete. Thus, only the scientific or everyday knowledge that helps us grasp the world's unity, to penetrate its mystery as a whole, has relevance to a worldview. Moreover, we must keep in mind that the content of this knowledge is historical, making it difficult to definitively determine which scientific knowledge bears "worldview significance" and which does not. For instance, the heliocentric view of our planetary system once sparked intense debates, with Giordano Bruno paying for it with his life as a martyr. These debates arose precisely because this doctrine was ascribed significant worldview implications. Today, few of us, including clergy, attach such significance to this knowledge. Scientific or everyday knowledge takes on worldview significance when it concerns the primary relationship in the structure of a worldview: the "world-person" dynamic. Typically, such knowledge can be considered "ultimate" knowledge, shedding light on fundamental relations and properties of nature and humanity. This includes knowledge about the foundations of society, as the "nature-human" relationship is always mediated by society.

When discussing the pivotal role of knowledge within a worldview, we must pay attention to the transformation it undergoes when it becomes a structural element of that worldview. Even "ultimate" scientific or everyday knowledge is not simply incorporated into the worldview; it is extrapolated to encompass parts of the world that lie beyond the limits of this knowledge. Thus, knowledge becomes conviction. The distinction between knowledge and conviction lies in the fact that knowledge is objective, universally significant, and exists "independently of me," whereas conviction fuses the objective and subjective, turning knowledge into "my" knowledge, thereby guiding "my" actions and behavior. Jaspers calls this kind of knowledge "philosophical faith."

However, the cognitive relationship with the world is only one aspect of the worldview; the other is the evaluative relationship. It is the unity of these two facets that expresses the unique nature of a worldview.

An evaluative relationship to the world is in many ways the opposite of a cognitive one. While the goal of cognition is truth—an objective, universally significant grasp of the real world—the purpose of an evaluative approach is to consider phenomena from the perspective of goals, needs, interests, and the meaning of life. The evaluative approach introduces a personal element into our understanding. Moreover, it introduces a social and class element, as each of us belongs to a particular social group, whose value system leaves an imprint on our view of the world. It is because of this that different and even polar worldview positions coexist, interact, and often clash in a socially heterogeneous society.

The evaluative approach filters our knowledge through the lens of its significance to us, selecting the meaningful and discarding the irrelevant, playing a crucial role in transforming knowledge into convictions and principles of action. Without the evaluative approach, the formation of such elements of a worldview as ideals and an understanding of the meaning of life would be unimaginable.

Knowledge and values undoubtedly form the core of a worldview, its fundamental content. Yet these are primarily rational elements. Alongside them, a worldview includes feelings, faith, and emotional relationships with the world and oneself. Only the totality of all these elements allows us to understand the complex spiritual formation that is a worldview.

However, a worldview is not identical to philosophy, as was noted earlier. After all, people lived long before philosophy emerged, and today, the worldview of many people can scarcely be called philosophical.

In philosophical literature, three types of worldview are generally distinguished: mythological, religious, and philosophical. These are listed in the order of their historical emergence, though the latter two still coexist today, and we have not entirely freed ourselves from elements of mythological understanding even now.

Myth is undoubtedly the oldest known form of humanity's understanding of the world and its spiritual culture. It served as a unified, syncretic form of consciousness, where everything was intertwined: the beginnings of knowledge, religious beliefs, forms of art, and philosophical notions. The syncretism of myth is evident in another respect: within its content, there is no opposition between nature and humanity, spirit and matter, this world and the otherworld. In myth, the world lives as a unified whole, and humanity is seen as a part of this whole, endowed with all the properties of the totality. There is no boundary between humans and natural beings, between humans and gods. In myth, a person can transform into animals, and animals into people; a person can become a god and, conversely, gods can become humans. The unique content of myth is inseparably linked to its unique form, where thought is expressed in emotional, sensuous images and metaphors.

In contrast to mythological worldviews, the religious worldview divides the world into two parts: the natural, "earthly," "this-worldly" realm, and the otherworldly, "heavenly," supernatural realm. A clear boundary is drawn between god and humanity, god and nature, and humanity and nature. The religious worldview also reveals the unity of the world, but unlike myth, it locates this unity in God, the creator of both nature and humanity. A defining feature of the religious worldview is its mode of existence: faith. Faith in the existence of supernatural forces is the core of the religious worldview. "I believe because it is absurd," proclaimed the early Christian theologian Tertullian. Based on these beliefs, religious worldviews shape life values, ideals, principles of behavior, and action.

Philosophy, historically, is the third type of worldview, rooted in both myth and religion.