A Brief Explication of My Worldview

A person's worldview is perhaps the most important thing about them. It guides one's conscious choices, it is the lens through which we interpret events in the world. It is how one sees the relationship between one's self and the rest of the world. I would like to take a brief time to explain the basics of how I see the world, my modus operandi. This is not an explication of my answers to "the big questions", but rather, how I go about considering "big questions."

For my whole life, I have been fascinated by science. I've always been fascinated by the way the world functions, and facts about the world. As such, my dream was to be a scientist one day. Growing up, my favorite science was meteorology. I also considered a career in forensic science at one point. When I first went to college, I studied computer technology, as I was not sure exactly what I wanted to do and computers seemed interesting. I had also picked up an interest in philosophy, which as defined by Frederick Ferré, is the "sustained effort to wonder critically about comprehensive issues." After taking some psychology courses as electives and not doing so well in computer programming courses, I decided to change my major to psychology. My interest in philosophy influenced this somewhat, as the psychologists I knew of such as Sigmund Freud were influenced by philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Arthur Schopenhauer.

For now, I must elaborate on my interest in philosophy. In high school, I had become interested in the topic of religion and spirituality. I had grown up being so fond of science that the claims made in church never sat well with me, and I was always skeptical of Christianity. In my investigations of spiritual issues, the topic of paranormal phenomena had become particularly interesting. One of the books that really got me interested in critical thinking in general was a book called Paranormal Phenomena in the Opposing Viewpoint series. The arguments of the skeptics won me over against belief in the supernatural. However, after this, my interest in the topic waned. It was when I discovered philosophy proper that I became engaged in "wondering critically about comprehensive issues." Philosophy had recovered that sense of wonder at the universe I had as a child. It brought to my attention ultimate questions about life, and how some of the most brilliant people in history have tried to tackle these issues.

The interest in philosophy of course brought to my attention the need for precision in arguments, and the need for logic. In the past few years, my opinions on various topics have changed a multitude of times. Each time I change, my views become more precise. Studying formal logic in school has helped me acheive this. However, mastering critical thinking and logic skills also helps me think scientifically. What does it mean to think scientifically? Logically speaking, science is the application of deductive and inductive logic to observation and experimentation. However, science is also about not believing something to be true unless one has good evidence to support it. It is about being skeptical of a more complicated explanation that makes more assumptions than a simpler explanation that has less assumptions. It is about admitting that you do not know something, but trying to find out.

Some may wonder how I get along without any spiritual or religious views to guide my moral choices or give me meaning in life. I believe that rationality can help one make ethical decisions via the study of philosophical ethics, as well as taking serious the conclusions that you come to and acting by those conclusions. I believe that there is no ultimate meaning to life, no grand purpose. I also believe this gives us freedom to find a way to live that makes us happy. I think that spirituality likes to throw around words such as "quantum" and "energy" without really understanding what these words mean. For instance you often see quantum used in new-age feel good spirituality, but really it is just a more up to date word for atomic, since atom originally meant "not able to be cut", when we now know they can. Quantum just refers to the particles that make up atoms, and the other particles that exist on that scale; the word "quantum" in Latin means "how much" and is also the root of the word quantity. Energy also is merely the ability of one object to perform work on another object, not something immaterial.  Sometimes you will hear people say that Einstein proved that reality is just energy, that matter is just an illusion. This is also false. They are referring to the equation E=MC², which means that energy is equal to the mass of a given object multiplied by the square of the speed of light. What this actually means is that to find out how much work an object (say, a chunk of weapons grade uranium) can do on other objects is deducible by taking the mass of your object and multiplying it by the squared speed of light. Which, of course anyone familiar with nuclear weapons knows, a chunk of weapons grade uranium can do A LOT of work on other objects. There is nothing mystical in this. Once you understand what words like this that mystics often like to throw around actually mean, their statements just dissolve themselves. I understand that spirituality can be encouraging, but I don't think that in the end anyone benefits from the abuse of words and of world views built on those abuses and misunderstandings. 

In summary, my world view is one that celebrates reason, morality, and knowledge. My world view is that I love knowledge, and I hope to know more. My world view acknowledges that I do not and cannot know everything, but the implication of this is that neither does anyone else. This means that I should be skeptical of claims others make, but I also should be humble and listen to what others have to say. For anyone who wishes to understand how a non-spiritual person views the world without being nihilistic, I hope that this has elucidated the answer.



(Originally posted 8/31/12, edited 9/3/12)