1. Worldview Interview: This paper will involve an interview by you of someone outside of your worldview to see how they answer
Sire’s eight questions.
- What is prime reality–the really real? — Possible answers are God (theism), or the gods (paganism), or the material cosmos (naturalism).
- What is the nature of external reality, that is, the world around us? — Here our answers point, as Sire notes, to whether we see the world as created or autonomous, as chaotic or orderly, as matter or spirit; or whether we emphasize our subjective, personal relationship to the world or its objectivity apart from us.
- What is a human being? — We might say that a human is an illusion, a complex machine, a “naked ape,” or a person made in the image of God.
- What happens to a person at death? — We may answer that after death a person ceases to exist, is reincarnated and returned to life, or enters into another realm or state (such as Heaven).
- Why is it possible to know anything at all? — Our ability to think and reason may align with reality because it was designed by an all-knowing God or our cognitive processes may have developed accidentally through the process of evolution and have no certain claim to being able to determine truth.
- How do we know what is right and wrong? — What is morally right may be known because it is rooted in the character of a beneficent God or it may be mere agreement among humans that was necessary for cultural or physical survival.
- What is the meaning of human history? — To this we might answer, says Sire, that the meaning is to realize the purpose of God or the gods, to make a paradise on earth, to prepare a people for a life in community with a loving and holy God, and so forth.
- What personal, life-orienting core commitments are consistent with this worldview? — We can provide abstract or purely intellectual answers to the previous seven questions. But answering this last one reveals whether we truly live out what we claim to believe. As we’ll see in future articles, the failure to properly consider this question leads to syncretism.
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In this paper you will determine what this person believes. This will be the subject of your worldview paper. After writing out your interview with the person, you will reflect upon:
- Which worldview you believe the person you interviewed follows.
- What sources have influenced them or are incorporated into their primary worldview.
- Which of Sire’s questions do they feel absolutely certain to have discovered the right answer, and for which questions are they still struggling to find an answer.
The following guidelines will apply to the project:
- Find a person who believes one of the worldviews that we are studying this semester. You must choose a worldview other than the worldview you personally hold.
- Ask the person if you may record the interview with a tape recorder. This will be the easiest and most time-efficient way to conduct the interview. If you do not have access to a tape recorder, be sure to take careful and accurate written notes.
- Do not identify the person by name in the paper, but ask them to describe their religious affiliation.
- Ask the person to answer each of the eight questions from The Universe Next Door. Try to stimulate the person to give an answer that is as complete as possible to each of Sire’s eight worldview questions.
- What is the ultimate reality?
- What is the nature of the external reality around us?
- What is the nature of a human being?
- What is right and wrong?
- How do we know anything? What is the source of knowledge?
- What is the nature of history?
- What happens to a person when he dies?
- What personal, life-orienting core commitments are consistent with this worldview?
- Do not argue or debate with the person being interviewed. Your goal is simply to discover how the person answers the eight questions and not to change or persuade the person’s perspective.
- Transcribe the conversation word-for-word, in typewritten form.
- Identify the worldview of the person whom you interviewed and summarize what you learned in the interview about his/her worldview.
- Use the following format:
- Minimum of 4 pages
- Double-spaced text
- 1″ margins
- 12-point Times New Roman or 10-point Arial font
- Be sure to indicate who is speaking at all times in the paper