On Worldviews (1990-1999)

“Systems philosophy brings forth a reorganization of ways of thinking. It creates a new worldview, a new paradigm of perception and explanation, which is manifested in integration, holistic thinking, purpose-seeking, mutual causality, and process-focused inquiry.” (Béla H. Bánáthy, “Systems Design of Education”, 1991)

“Each of us carries within us a worldview, a set of assumptions about how the world works - what some call a paradigm - that forms the very questions we allow ourselves to ask, and determines our view of future possibilities.” (Frances Moore Lappé, “Rediscovering America's Values”, 1991)

“Worldviews are social constructions, and they channel the search for facts. But facts are found and knowledge progresses, however fitfully. Fact and theory are intertwined, and all great scientists understand the interaction.” (Stephen Jay Gould, "Shields of Expectation - and Actuality", 1993)

“World view, a concept borrowed from cultural anthropology, refers to the culturally dependent, generally subconscious, fundamental organization of the mind. This conceptual organization manifests itself as a set of presuppositions that predispose one to feel, think, and act in predictable patterns.” (Kenneth G Tobin, "The practice of constructivism in science education”, 1993) 

“As a result, surprisingly enough, scientific advance rarely comes solely through the accumulation of new facts. It comes most often through the construction of new theoretical frameworks. [..]  To understand scientific development, it is not enough merely to chronicle new discoveries and inventions. We must also trace the succession of worldviews” (Nancy R Pearcey & Charles B Thaxton, “The Soul of Science: Christian Faith and Natural Philosophy”, 1994)

“Clearly, science is not simply a matter of observing facts. Every scientific theory also expresses a worldview. Philosophical preconceptions determine where facts are sought, how experiments are designed, and which conclusions are drawn from them.” (Nancy R Pearcey & Charles B. Thaxton, “The Soul of Science: Christian Faith and Natural Philosophy”, 1994)

“A world view is a system of co-ordinates or a frame of reference in which everything presented to us by our diverse experiences can be placed. It is a symbolic system of representation that allows us to integrate everything we know about the world and ourselves into a global picture, one that illuminates reality as it is presented to us within a certain culture. […] A world view is a coherent collection of concepts and theorems that must allow us to construct a global image of the world, and in this way to understand as many elements of our experience as possible.” (Diederick Aerts et al, “World views: From Fragmentation to Integration”, 1994)

“But making science again a part of every intelligent person's educational resource is the minimum requirement - not because science is more important than other field, but because it is an integral part of a sound contemporary worldview.” (Gerald Holton, “Einstein, History, and Other Passions: The Rebellion Against Science at, the End of the Twentieth Century” Part I, 1995)

“Nothing is more dangerous than a dogmatic worldview - nothing more constraining, more blinding to innovation, more destructive of openness to novelty.” (Stephen J Gould, “Dinosaur in a Haystack: reflections in natural history”, 1995)

"[P]art of the job of the philosopher is to keep at a certain critical distance from current doctrines, whether in the sciences or the arts, and to examine instead how the various elements in our world-view clash, or fit together." (John Cottingham, "Western Philosophy: An anthology", 1996)

"Any global tradition needs to begin with a shared worldview - a culture-independent, globally accepted consensus as to how things are." (Ursula Goodenough, "The Sacred Depths of Nature", 1998)

“Every culture has a shared pattern of thinking. It is the cement that holds a culture together, gives it unity. A culture's characteristic way of thinking is imbedded in its concept of the nature of reality, its world view. […] A change of world view not only brings about profound cultural changes, but also is responsible for what historians call a ‘change of age’. An age is a period of time in which the prevailing world view has remained relatively unchanged.” (Russell L Ackoff, “Re-Creating the Corporation”, 1999)

"Imagining the unseeable is hard, because imagining means having an image in your mind. And how can you have a mental image of something you have never seen? Like perception itself, the models of science are embedded inextricably in the current worldview we call culture." (K C Cole, "First You Build a Cloud and Other Reflections on Physics as a Way of Life", 1999)

"There is no 'scientific worldview' just as there is no uniform enterprise 'science' - except in the minds of metaphysicians, school masters, and scientists blinded by the achievements of their own particular niche […]." (Paul Karl Feyerabend, "Conquest of Abundance", 1999)