Languages are universes that we map over the one and only real universe.
This gets to the most important question in your life:
How do we know what to believe?
We have many sources of information, some of them we trust, some of them we don't trust. We trust the ones which provide information which fits our worldview, and discard as false the information which doesn't fit.
But where does the worldview come from?
It comes from our parents. We are born trusting our parents, and they provide the bedrock network of "truth" into which we incorporate all further information.
By the time we reach adulthood, we have a complex system of "truth" through which we view the world. This is called "worldview". Most people are unaware of the fact that they have a worldview, which is why they have problems understanding people whose worldview is different from their own. They are most likely to have one of two reactions, either they'll think, "They're crazy," or they'll think, "This must be tactical behavior whose underlying goal is something which fits my worldview."
And this explains the difference between foreign-policy "liberals" and "conservatives". I think that neither recognize the existence of their worldview, let alone that theirs is different from others. The "liberals" think, "This must be tactical behavior whose underlying goal is something which fits my worldview," while the "conservatives" simply think, "They're crazy." In terms of practical value, the latter is much more useful.
Posted by David Boxenhorn at April 11, 2004 12:28 AM