Between Interdisciplinary Science and Pluralistic Ethics - The Worldviews Concept Reconsidered

Explore the philosophical concept of worldviews through this 37-minute conference talk examining how humans navigate between totality and particularity in their understanding of existence. Delve into Leo Apostel's late philosophical work on worldviews as essential frameworks that prevent existential crisis by providing theoretical and practical unification of factual and normative convictions about human nature, society, history, life, and the universe. Examine how worldviews serve as complex, heterogeneous, and incomplete systems that enable people and cultures to maintain stability and reproduce themselves across generations. Investigate the contemporary relevance of Apostel's worldview concept in today's increasingly complex world, particularly its potential for fostering interdisciplinary science and pluralistic ethics. Consider how these philosophical frameworks address the fundamental human tension between survival in its narrowest sense and the broader need for embedding individual existence within meaningful images of past and present communities and surroundings. Analyze the role of worldviews in offering hard-fought unification of diverse convictions spanning from personal identity to cosmic understanding, and discover how this concept remains vital for navigating modern complexity thirty years after Apostel's death.