Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the history and theory of the concept of 'Weltanschauung' . This is not a study of various worldviews, but of the very idea of 'Weltanschauung'. Little effort has been made to trace its history, or to reflect theoretically on its nature, and thus this dissertation seeks to make a contribution in both areas. It argues an essentially Augustinian thesis that 'Weltanschauung' is best understood as a set of pretheoretical commitments regarding reality that precede and condition theorizing and human life comprehensively. ;This study commences with an examination of the history of the word 'Weltanschauung', tracing its origin to Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgment, and showing its rapid spread to other languages, including French, Italian, Danish, and English. The philosophical history of the concept begins with its use in German idealism and romanticism by Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. It received considerable theoretical development in the nineteenth century in the thought of Kierkegaard , Dilthey , and Nietzsche . In the twentieth century, Husserl and Heidegger analyzed the conflict between scientific philosophy and the pragmatics of Weltanschauung, while Jaspers focused on worldviews as mental gestalts, and Wittgenstein discussed 'world pictures' as the fusion of forms of life and language games. Analytic philosopher Donald Davidson has questioned the possibility of diverse conceptual schemes, and Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault have tweaked the notion in postmodern ways. The history of Weltanschauung continues in a disciplinary context where it has been remarkably influential as its role in the natural sciences, the social sciences , religious studies, and theology indicate. ;The emphasis shifts in the second part of this work to the theoretical mode in an attempt to construct a semiotically conceived, narrative based model of Weltanschauung which underlies and conditions the exercise of human reason, rhetorical performance, hermeneutic activity, and epistemic propositions. In conclusion it is argued that the philosophical and disciplinary history of worldview can be explained in terms of the theoretical model presented, and that all aspects of human thought and life stem from a faith commitment to a presupposed Weltanschauung