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 What is a worldview? I would like a few views on metaphysics (what is real?), epistemology (how one knows what is real?).

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The worldview is the "big picture" concept that you may have about your existence and the world around you.  There are many different worldviews.  You make your everyday decisions based upon your worldview, and having one is important since it governs how you run your life.

Discerning the worldview which drives different people is possible through examining the way in which they approach the ultimate questions of life. The four ultimate questions which worldviews deal with are defined by Walsh and Middleton as:

 

  1. Who am I? - what is the nature, task and significance of human beings?

     

  2. Where am I? - what is the origin and nature of the reality in which human beings find themselves?

     

  3. What's wrong? - how can we account for the distortion and brokenness in this reality?

     

  4. What's the remedy? - how can we alleviate this brokenness, if at all?

     

These ultimate questions are questions of faith and the answers we give arise from our ultimate commitment in life - that which we would stake our lives on. (http://crash.ihug.co.nz/~faithact/WORLDV.HTM)

Infants do not possess a worldview, it develops over time based on experiences and on others' influence or even the perpetration of a particular worldview in a society. In our minds, we want the world and the random events that take place to somehow make sense.  So, we organize these events based on our particular set of faith, culture, and social constructs.  Hence, we develop our worldview.

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