Starboy

Sounds good to me. Is there a taxonimy of worldviews? I have no Idea how I would classify myself.

Starboy

Philosoft

Do you mean in the sense that worldviews are interrelated?

Starboy

I don't know, are they? Perhaps they evolve in some sense.

Starboy

Starboy

Survival of the fittest worldview? Worldview ecologies?

Starboy

Starboy

Do worldviews leave fossils?

Starboy

Starboy

Are Greek and Roman mythologies examples of fossil worldviews?

Starboy

Starboy

Christianity as a world view has a rich taxonomy. Lots of variation. In the early church there was fierce competition among the Christian species leading to some extinctions, and certain populations begin restricted to geographic locations. Hmmmmm, there may be something to this idea.

Starboy

echidna

Ummm, from the time I’ve been here, I think you’ll find that most here do acknowledge atheism as a worldview.

The problem is that the word is quite nebulous so much of the discussion is likely to dissolve in semantics anyway.

Given that atheists & agnostics generally accept a world driven by materialistic, secular rules, I’d say that quite qualifies as a worldview.

FWIW, I am no admirer of Ed.

Vorkosigan

Given that atheists & agnostics generally accept a world driven by materialistic, secular rules, I’d say that quite qualifies as a worldview.

Only a tiny minority of atheists accept such a worldview. The vast majority of atheists in the world accept worldviews that incorporate supernatural ideas. Consider the views of certain Confucians, New Agers, Buddhists, Wiccans, pantheists, psychic believers.....

In any case, atheism is not a world view. It is simply a lack of belief about single aspect of the world. Materialism, or metaphysical naturalism, is not a worldview either; it lacks any direct statements about individual and social values, except that such values, whatever they may be, cannot be derived from supernatural entities or processes. It is merely a philosophical belief about the nature of reality. "Secular" simply refers to the nature of the relationship between government, religion and society, and is not a worldview either. I don't know where you guys get these crazy ideas about worldviews from. Atheists differ on almost everything, except their lack of belief in gods.

And when you think about it, a large number of Christians "accept a world driven by materialistic, secular rules."

Vorkosigan

[ July 16, 2002: Message edited by: Vorkosigan ]</p>

echidna

From dictionary.com …

1. The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world.
2. A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group.

I’ve always been a little intrigued by the concept of supernatural atheism. Certainly it still doesn’t fall into my cliché of standard atheism, however I’ll accept it as someone else’s definition. Certainly the majority of Buddhists I’ve come across would deny vehemently that they are atheistic. Anyway …

Where one draws the line over the commonality between viewpoints is entirely arbitrary. However the various flavours of atheism are quite comparable to the various flavours of theism.

To rephrase, theists differ on almost everything, except their belief in some form of god(s).

To follow that reasoning, then neither is theism a worldview.