05 July 2019

On Worldviews (2000-2009)

“One measure of the depth of a physical theory is the extent to which it poses serious challenges to aspects of our worldview that had previously seemed immutable.” (Brian Greene, “The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest, for the Ultimate Theory”, 2000)

"When we acquire a language we don’t simply learn how to use the correct words, grammar and conventions for speaking appropriately in context, we also acquire a ‘world view’: an implicit set of assumptions and presuppositions regarding how to understand the world, who and what we are within it, and everything else that is entailed in categorising our experience." (Michael Forrester," Psychology of the Image", 2000)

“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 Feyerabend, “Conquest of Abundance”, 2001)

"It is not so much that particular languages evolve and then cause us to see the world in a given way, but that language and worldview develop side by side to the point where language becomes so ingrained that it constantly supports a specific way of seeing and structuring the world. In the end it becomes difficult to see the world in any other light."  (F David Peat, "From Certainty to Uncertainty", 2002)

“Art is constructivist in nature, aimed at the deliberate refinement and elaboration of mental models and worldviews. These are the natural products of cognition itself, the outcome of the brain’s tendency to strive for the integration of perceptual and conceptual material over time. […] human culture is essentially a distributed cognitive system within which worldviews and mental models are constructed and shared by the members of a society. Artists are traditionally at the forefront of that process, and have a large influence on our worldviews and mental models.” (Mark Turner, “The Artful Mind : cognitive science and the riddle of human creativity”, 2006) 

“Mathematics is more than a tool and language for science. It is also an end in itself, and as such, it has, over the centuries, affected our worldview in its own right.” (Stephen Hawking, “God Created the Integers”, 2007)


“Mathematics provides a good part of the cultural context for the worlds of science and technology. Much of that context lies not only in the explicit mathematics that is used, but also in the assumptions and worldview that mathematics brings along with it.” (William Byers, “How Mathematicians Think”, 2007)

“Beneath the problems that often seem so ‘given’ lie cultural norms and practices and ultimately whole worldviews. Our problems have contexts, backgrounds, roots. These in turn can be shifted and reconstructed. Problems can be circumvented or at least reshaped so that they arise in more manageable forms.” (Anthony Weston, “How to Re-Imagine the World”, 2007)

“Systemic problems trace back in the end to worldviews. But worldviews themselves are in flux and flow. Our most creative opportunity of all may be to reshape those worldviews themselves. New ideas can change everything.” (Anthony Weston, “How to Re-Imagine the World”, 2007)

“One of the things cognitive science teaches us is that when people define their very identity by a worldview, or a narrative, or a mode of thought, they are unlikely to change-for the simple reason that it is physically part of their brain, and so many other aspects of their brain structure would also have to change; that change is highly unlikely.” (George Lakoff, “The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientist's Guide to Your Brain and Its Politics”, 2008)


“A worldview must be coherent, logical and adequate. Coherence means that the fundamental ideas constituting the worldview must be seen as proceeding from a single, unifying, overarching concept. A logical worldview means simply that the various ideas constituting it should not be contradictory. Adequate means that it is capable of explaining, logically and coherently, every element of contemporary experience.” (M. G. Jackson, “Transformative Learning for a New Worldview: Learning to Think Differently”, 2008)

“A theory is a speculative explanation of a particular phenomenon which derives it legitimacy from conforming to the primary assumptions of the worldview of the culture in which it appears. There can be more than one theory for a particular phenomenon that conforms to a given worldview. […]  A new theory may seem to trigger a change in worldview, as in this case, but logically a change in worldview must precede a change in theory, otherwise the theory will not be viable. A change in worldview will necessitate a change in all theories in all branches of study.” (M G Jackson, “Transformative Learning for a New Worldview: Learning to Think Differently”, 2008)

“Great stories agree with our worldview. The best stories don't teach people anything new. Instead the best stories agree with what the audience already believes and makes the members of the audience feel smart and secure when reminded how right they were in the thirst place.” (Seth Godin, “All Marketers are Liars”, 2009)


No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

On Theorizing

"Observation is so wide awake, and facts are being so rapidly added to the sum of human experience, that it appears as if the theorizer...