Third, whether you realize it or not, you and virtually everyone else has some kind of worldview. A worldview is a mental map we use to interpret evidence, form beliefs and understand reality. It is comprised of specific assumptions, commitments, norms, standards, values, principles, beliefs and theories that filter and process evidence and/or information. Sometimes we are even unaware of the ways in which our worldview is filtering, processing, “coloring” and assisting us when forming beliefs and interpreting reality.
All one needs to do in order to learn more about the kind of worldview one uses to form beliefs and interpret reality is discover whether or not one already has beliefs about the following kinds of questions:
- Does God exist?
- If God exists, what is God like? Does God have a character?
- Do only physical things exist? In other words, is materialism true or false?
- Do humans have free will and the ability to sometimes act differently than they did?
- Do humans have an essence or nature?
- Can humans have knowledge about the way the world really is? That is, do humans have the ability to get truth, knowledge and understanding — at some level — about reality?
- Is there objective meaning and purpose in the world; and can humans discover them?
- Is there an objective way for humans to flourish and be happy at both an individual and collective level?
- Is there life after death?
This list of questions is by no means exhaustive. But it does begin to capture the kind of ingredients that go into forming a worldview. (By the way, if you don’t understand some of these questions, then that’s another reason why philosophy is valuable. Studying philosophy will help you understand and think better about why these “big-ticket” questions matter and how to form reasonable answers to them.)
The current state of one’s worldview will then not only filter and process the uptake of information, evidence, etc. one receives from the external world at the subconscious level; it will also govern how likely one consciously takes some idea, statement or belief to be true or false, depending on how well it coheres with other things one already believes.
The important thing to learn from this is that your worldview affects the fluctuating number of true beliefs and false beliefs you have. So, don’t we want to continue living in such a way wherein we increase the number of true beliefs we have and decrease the number of false beliefs we have? Of course, we do! This is another reason, then, why philosophy is so important: the practice of philosophy helps us to actively monitor, refine and maintain a more accurate, coherent worldview.