Naming the Elephant

Naming the Elephant: Worldview as a Concept Alex Bondar GRS 601 - History and Philosophy of Ideas Patricia McDonald Siena Heights University

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Introduction The concept of a worldview was presented with many different definitions in the book Naming the Elephant by James W. Sire. He presents the concept of a worldview with a story between a curious son and a father who must answer the sons question of what holds up the world? James W. Sire, himself, ends the book with God is indeed the name of the Elephant (Sire, 2004, p.161), thus presenting us with his own final worldview at the end. The whole book was presented as a gradual development of a worldview as a concept, with many different perspectives and views being presented to the reader. It was an intriguing and thought provoking book, and it really challenges the whole concept of how we think about life. Worldview as a Concept A worldview, in my own very simplistic definition, is simply a way that each one of us looks at life. One of the interesting questions that Sire asked in his book is whether a worldview is public or private? I believe that on the outside each and every worldview has more or less a public origin to it, unless you are like Mowgli, who was born in the jungle and are completely outside the realm of external influences. For instance, the Christian Worldview: the doctrine of creation, the fall of humanity into sin, and transformation through Christian redemption (Sire, 2004, p.96) is a public worldview. No one could have come up with this same exact worldview on their own if there was no, Jesus Christ, to spread this message. This holds true for any religion or philosophy that unless you are the founder, that worldview is never really your own private worldview. However, once we have a basic concept of a worldview formed, whatever it may be, we are able to shape and organize it to our own personal preferences and outlooks on life. Thus, I really like the definition provided by, Wilhelm Dilthey, that a worldview is ours, one that may be held in common with others,

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but only because they are like us (Sire, 2004, p.26). Sire, further writes that Dilthey conceived a worldview to be a set of mental categories from deeply lived experiences (Sire, 2004, p.27), and I think that this is the essence of forming ones own worldview. I believe that we can apply the 19th century philosopher, Friedrich Nietzches definition that a worldview is a specific product of its time, place and culture (Sire, 2004, p.28) to the concept of a public worldview. However, the private worldview is then shaped by ones own life, and can be ever changing. Another statement that I found to be very thought provoking is that there are no absolutes; everything is relative (Sire, 2004, p.29). For me, this statement is in direct conflict with the concept of, a God, who is an absolute. I personally believe that there has to be an absolute out there, as this falls with the Christian worldview that part of the truth about truth is that truth is one and there is an exclusivity to truth (Sire, 2004, p.47.) To me this means that if everything is relative then nothing can be really true or for certain, but if true, this would make it a self-contradictory statement. Conclusion I really enjoyed reading about the debate of whether ontology precedes epistemology or, if its the other way around. Ontology is the theory of being and epistemology is the theory of knowledge. Thus, I would like to agree with Sire, that being comes before knowledge. In other words, you have to first exist before you can think of or about something. Thus, I think that, if we wish to further formulate our own worldviews and seek additional knowledge on the topic of what is really real, we have to continually challenge our minds to understand new beliefs and see how our own concepts stand up to them. For me Christianity is a time tested worldview concept and I would like to end my paper the same way as Sire ended his book, God is indeed the name of the Elephant (Sire, 2004, p.161).

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References Sire, J. (2004). Naming the elephant: Worldview as a concept. (5 ed.). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. DOI: www.ivpress.com

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