INTRODUCTION
David Naugle serves as professor of philosophy at Dallas Baptist University, Dallas, Texas. He has contributed a great deal to the study and history of philosophy. His book Worldview: The History of a Conceptguides the reader through a development of the idea of worldview. This review examines chapters 7-11 and the first appendix, summarizing, critiquing, and interacting with each.
CHAPTER 7
In chapters seven and eight Naugle begins to focus on the impact of worldview on the natural and social sciences. Chapter seven specifically deals with the issue of worldview and the natural sciences. He first summarizes Michael Polanyi’s tacit dimension and personal knowledge in the natural sciences. Polanyi argued that one’s personal knowledge could not be divorced from one’s own perspective. He says that all knowledge is tacit, fiduciary, circular, and it must be communicated in alternative pedagogies. He wants to avoid the two extremes of subjectivity and objectivity.
Next in this chapter Naugle looks at Thomas Kuhn’s paradigm revolution in the philosophy of science. Kuhn rejected the traditional approach to science and said that scientific investigation could not take place outside of a worldview. In other words, science is more than just objective evaluation of data collected in a lab. Naugle provides several summary statements about Kuhn’s break through. First, Kuhn highlighted how all of thought and science takes place under a worldview. Second, he has pointed out their incommensurability. Third, he suggested that the canons of rationality are not transcendent, but are rooted in one’s worldview. Fourth, Kuhn’s assertions raise the question of what is knowledge. Naugle concludes by saying, “From these four factors it is evident that Kuhnian paradigms incommensurable, relative, irrational, and antirealist (205).” Polanyi and Kuhn both impacted the philosophy of science in drastic ways. Their assertions made scientist rethink the way they approached their tasks. The notion of worldview not only impacted the natural sciences, but it also had a major impact on the social sciences.
CHAPTER 8
Chapter 8 deals with the issues of worldview and the social sciences. Naugle makes the argument that just as the natural sciences are governed by worldviews so are the social sciences. He points out that there is a major difference between the two sciences. In the natural sciences the issue of a worldview is just something that needs to be acknowledged, but in the social sciences the worldview is the primary focus of everyone’s attention. Naugle examines how the notion of worldview has impacted psychology, sociology, and cultural anthropology.
In examining psychology Naugle presents Sigmund Freud and C. G. Jung. Freud rejects the idea of a worldview and in doing so reveals his own worldview. His naturalism will not allow him to believe that there exists an overarching, driving force behind one’s actions. Jung however, admits the reality of worldview, and says that it impacts both the counselor and the counselee. In his approach to counseling Jung wants to try and answer some of the big questions of life. He realizes that by doing this he will be able to assist people with their problems.
Karl Mannheim seeks to determine the proper place of worldview in discussion of the social sciences, and he wants to understand how a worldview can be properly analyzed. Mannheim asserted that worldview was pretheoretical, meaning that it lies as the foundation for all other thoughts and beliefs. He wants to determine how to find the unity present in all worldviews from a particular period of time. Naugle points out that this task is impossible. Naugle also examines the contributions of Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann. They understood the sociology of knowledge must be concerned with whatever a culture sees as knowledge. It does not matter to them if the knowledge is valid or invalid. They deny that they are setting forth another worldview, but in the end this is exactly what they do. Finally, under sociology Naugle discusses Karl Marx. Marx wanted to, “Purge the working classes of their false consciousness so as to liberate them for the revolution against their oppressors (237).” He developed from his cultural framework an ideology which explained the cultural domination and oppression.
In the third section of the chapter Naugle addresses the relationship between worldview and cultural anthropology. In the chapter he summarizes the thought of Michael Kearney. Kearney attempts to set forth a theory of worldview. First, he says that worldview can be used to explore the recesses of socially constructed human consciousness. Second, he argues for a connection between worldview and ideology. Third, he calls for a reformation concerning the ideological biases concerning worldview. At its foundational level Kearney wishes that most of the people discussing worldview knew what it meant to live like most of the world does. Many of the people talking about worldviews have never experienced hunger or poverty like most of the world.
CHAPTER 9
Chapter 9 provides the reader with some theological reflections on worldview. Naugle attempts to prove that any view of worldview is dependent upon a worldview. He states, “Definitions meanings, and models about worldview are defiantly not the result of presupposition less thinking, but reflect the perspectives and interest of their originators (254).” In other words people cannot escape their worldviews. A person’s worldview will impact everything they do and think.
Naugle then begins to discuss the importance of the Christian worldview. He summarizes James sire’s The Universe Next Door. Because the notion of worldview is not native to the Christian thought, the Christian must redeem the ideas contained within it. They must seek to understand how the Christian worldview seeks to answer the big questions of life. Naugle thinks that certain parts of the secular worldview need to be replaced with solid biblical content. His reasoning for this replacement lies at the reality of the baggage which comes with the idea of worldview. The word worldview has with it many modern and postmodern implications. The Christian must understand the history of the concept and know how to deal with its various aspects. Naugle asks several questions the Christian community needs to answer. First, are believers aware of the relativistic and privatized connotations that worldview has acquired over time? Second, do these implications render it unacceptable for Christian use? Third, can the term worldview be regenerated and baptized in biblical waters, cleansing it of the modern and postmodern toxins and making it useful for Christian service? He does believe that the idea of worldview can and should be used in Christian thinking. He uses the rest of the chapter to discuss how.
Naugle’s investigation into the Christian worldview leads him to examine four areas: issues of objectivity, issues of subjectivity, issues of sin and spiritual warfare, and issues of grace and redemption. For the Christian worldview the primary issue of objectivity is the existence of God. If a Trinitarian God does not exist, then Christians are wasting their time. The foundation of the Christian worldview is that a Trinitarian God does exist, and he has created a world which contains a moral order. He writes, “God, therefore, is that ultimate reality whose Trinitarian nature, personal character, moral excellence, wonderful works, and sovereign rule constitute the objective reference point for all reality (261).” Because the world is rooted in God people do not have the right to ascribe an individualistic nature to reality.
The chapter next focuses on subjective issues in the Christian worldview. Naugle says, “Worldview in Christian perspective implies that human beings as God’s image and likeness are anchored and integrated in the heart as the subjective sphere of consciousness which is decisive for shaping a vision of life (267).” He contends that the idea of the heart lies at the center of biblical anthropology. The beliefs and doctrines of one’s heart will control and direct one’s actions and thoughts. Because of the importance of the heart a person must continually examine its contents.
Issues of sin and spiritual warfare are addressed in the third section of the chapter. Naugle states, “Worldview in Christian perspective implies the catastrophic effects of sin on the human heart and mind, resulting in the fabrication of idolatrous belief systems in place of God and the engagement of the human race in cosmic spiritual warfare in which the truth about reality and the meaning of life is at stake (274).” To help the reader understand the effects of sin on the human heart Naugle walks them through Romans 1:18-32. In this passage Paul discusses the drastic impact sin has had on the human heart. Despite being religious beings people have turned away from God and focused on idols of their heart.
The final section of this chapter deals with issues of grace and redemption within a Christian worldview. Naugle writes, “Grace and redemption worldview in Christian perspective implies the gracious in breaking of the kingdom of God into human history in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who atones for sin, defeats the principalities and powers, and enables those who believe in him to obtain a knowledge of the true God and a proper understanding of the world as his creation (284).” The story of the Bible is about redeeming a fallen world for God through Christ. A biblical worldview sees two kingdoms at work in the world, that of God and that of Satan. The Christian worldview is formed through understanding how the Bible speaks to these two kingdoms, and then looking for how they play out in the world. Understanding that the Bible speaks to and impacts every area of one’s life will cause a person to develop a deep rooted Christian worldview.
Naugle’s chapter on the theological reflections of worldview provided the reader with a great understanding of what a Christian worldview should look like. By addressing the four areas he did in the chapter he showed how a worldview based on Scripture will impact every part of a person’s life. He also showed that the biblical worldview will stand against every other worldview. Naugle took the terms associated with a secular worldview and redeemed them for Christians to use.
CHAPTER 10
Chapter ten looks at some philosophical reflections on worldview. Here Naugle looks at the basic make up of a worldview. He contends that a weltanschauung consists of a group of signs which represent a symbolic world. A weltanschauung, however, is not only a group of signs, but more specifically is a group of signs which make up a narrative framework through which a person can view the world. Naugle makes an interesting point when he discusses the notion that all of reality can be illustrated through signs. He mentions that some philosophers will not only say that signs represent reality, but they actually create reality. The modernist tried to reject the idea of the metanarrative. The problem with this attempt is that the only way they can accomplish such a task is to tell their own narrative; therefore, the attempt is self-refuting. When discussing the concept of seeing a worldview as a story, Naugle writes, “The most fundamental stories associated with a weltanschauung-those closest to its metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical epicenter-possess a kind of finality as the ultimate interpretation of reality (302-03).” A person’s metanarrative attempts to provide answers to all of life’s big questions. For the Christian these answers are found in the story of the Bible. Scripture alone can provide sufficient answers to all these questions. This system of signs establishes the foundation for all of one’s thought and action. A person’s ability to reason is grounded in the metanarrative by which he lives his life.
CHAPTER 11
In the final chapter Naugle provides some concluding reflections. When warning against the dangers of worldview Naugle asks three questions. First, to what extent does worldview as a modernist concept not only carry the connotation of relativism, but also conveys a thoroughgoing objectivism which is equally antithetical to an historic Christian understanding? Second, could the formation of a worldview, even a Christian one, potentially distort the process of hearing and responding to the word of God as divine revelation? Third, might the intellectual project of constructing a coherent, biblically based worldview along with a concomitant vision for cultural transformation inappropriately supplant the final end of all Christian activity? Naugle does think the idea of worldview can be used by the Christian, but he does want Christians to beware of the possible problems which come along with viewing the world in this way.
Naugle also sees a philosophical and theological benefit to the notion of worldview. He wants Christians to reclaim the metanarrative and use it to ground all they do. He asserts that viewing Christianity in terms of a story will bring about change in a person’s life like never before. He will begin to view all of life through the lens of Scripture and see how applicable the Bible is to his every day life.
APPENDIX
The first appendix presents several different understandings of the concept of worldview. Here Naugle wants to show how many different perspectives have similarities and differences. He provides a brief summary of each person’s approach to worldview. He mentions several of the questions the person asks in their writings and shows how he or she gives an answer to the question.
CONCLUSION
David Naugle provides a helpful overview of the history of worldview as a concept. This review summarized and interacted with the second half of his book. In this half of the book Naugle deals mainly with the formation of a worldview and how worldview thinking can help one interact with other disciplines. He demonstrates specifically how the Christian worldview can accomplish all of these tasks above all other worldviews.