Intro: Worldviews Flashcards
Worldview
A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group; the overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world
What are the elements of worldview ?
For example: economy
- values
- geography
- time
- knowledge
- society
- economy
- beliefs
Values
An element of worldview:
Things such as how do people act towards each other, what is important to us
E.g. I value kindness even when someone does not pay me to be kind
Geography
An element of worldview:
A world element in which we think of factors such as climate and location and how people look at the world and believe in it as a result
E.g. I live in a place where I need to learn how to preserve food because the growing season is limited
Time
An element of worldview:
How society views things such as passing of time through clicks, watches, seasons, and the moon
E.g. I see time less precisely than others and sometimes get a little lost in how much time has gone by but I still value trying to be in sync with a watch
Knowledge
An element of worldview:
How do people gain knowledge ,who has access to knowledge, how knowledge is valued, who has knowledge
E.g. I get knowledge by reading, I pay to access knowledge at a university, I value the words I read but do not value all words, I realize that some people do not have the same access to education that I have
Society
An element of worldview:
Who holds power, who has status, how is it maintained and how did they get it
E.g. In our society we have a democracy, but we still have a hierarchy where the people that are elected still have power over those who are not elected
Economy
An element of worldview:
Who controls resources, what resources should be produced, how will the resources be distributed
E.g. I make decisions on how to spend my scarce resources since money is limited and I need to make smart decisions to buy groceries before buying things I do not need. The decision making process is called economics.
E.g. many people think of money when they hear the term economics, though really economics is the study of how we handle resources that are limited (resources that do not have an infinite supply).
Beliefs
An element of worldview:
When we think of things like what do we believe about: life, death, the environment
E.g. I believe that we should protect the environment
