Module I · Worldview Comparison
Worldview Survey
Each worldview is summarized along the three pillars of a micro-philosophy: what reality is, what matters, and how to live. Rate each from 1 (strongly foreign) to 7 (strongly resonant).
Rate your honest reaction, not what you think you should believe. A worldview can resonate even if you were not raised in it. Your scores stay on this device.
Before you begin
Browse the comprehensive list
109 worldviews in 9 families, grouped by origin, not by merit.
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| Worldview | World Beliefs | Values | Ethics / Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ancient Greek and Roman schools | |||
| Pythagoreanism | Number and harmony structure the cosmos; the soul is immortal and reincarnates | Purity, order, knowledge | Communal discipline, dietary rules, study of mathematics and music |
| Platonism | The visible world copies eternal Forms; the soul is immortal and akin to them | Truth, justice, the Good | Order the soul by reason; pursue philosophy as preparation for death |
| Aristotelianism | Nature is purposive; each kind of thing has a function and a characteristic excellence | Flourishing (eudaimonia), virtue, contemplation | Build virtues by habit; aim at the mean; live actively in a political community |
| Cynicism | Nature is sufficient; convention is artificial and corrupting | Freedom, self- sufficiency, frankness | Strip away needs; live simply and shamelessly in public; mock pretension |
| Cyrenaicism | Only present experience is known with certainty | Bodily pleasure in the present moment | Seek pleasure now while staying its master |
| Epicureanism | Atoms and void; the gods are indifferent; death is the end of sensation | Tranquility, friendship, freedom from pain and fear | Limit desires to the natural and necessary; withdraw from politics; live among friends |
| Stoicism | A rational, providential cosmos governed by logos; everything is fated | Virtue as the only good; externals are indifferent | Distinguish what is up to you; fulfill your roles; assent only to accurate impressions |
| Skepticism (Pyrrhonian and Academic) | The real nature of things cannot be established; arguments balance on every side | Tranquility through suspended judgment | Follow appearances, custom and instinct without dogmatic assent |
| Neoplatonism | All reality emanates from the One through Intellect and Soul | Unity, contemplation, return to the source | Purify the soul through virtue and contemplation; ascend toward union with the One |
| Indian traditions | |||
| Advaita Vedanta | Only Brahman is real; the individual self (atman) is identical with it; plurality is appearance | Liberation (moksha), knowledge, discrimination | Study, reflection and meditation under a teacher until non- duality is realized |
| Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita Vedanta | A personal God is supreme; souls and world are real and depend on God | Devotion (bhakti), grace, service | Loving worship of Vishnu; surrender; fulfill dharma as offering |
| Samkhya | Two eternal principles: pure consciousness (purusha) and nature (prakriti) | Discriminating knowledge, liberation | Recognize consciousness as distinct from mind and body |
| Yoga (Patanjali) | Samkhya dualism, with a special self (Ishvara) as an object of devotion | Stillness of mind, liberation | The eight limbs: restraints, observances, posture, breath, withdrawal, concentration, meditation, absorption |
| Nyaya-Vaisheshika | A real, plural world of substances and atoms, knowable by valid means of knowledge; God as its maker | True knowledge, logical rigor | Remove false belief through inquiry and debate; liberation follows |
| Mimamsa | The Vedas are eternal and authorless; ritual action sustains the world | Dharma, duty, ritual correctness | Perform prescribed rites and obligations precisely |
| Theravada Buddhism | Impermanence, suffering and no-self; dependent origination; rebirth without a soul | Nirvana, wisdom, non-attachment | The Noble Eightfold Path; monastic discipline; insight meditation |
| Mahayana Buddhism | All phenomena are empty of fixed essence; Buddha- nature is universal | Compassion, wisdom, awakening of all beings | The bodhisattva path; the six perfections |
| Vajrayana (Tibetan Buddhism) | Mahayana emptiness; mind is primordially pure and luminous | Swift awakening for the sake of others | Tantric practice, visualization, mantra, devotion to a teacher |
| Jainism | Countless eternal souls bound by karmic matter; no creator; reality is many-sided (anekantavada) | Non-violence (ahimsa), truth, non- possession | Strict non-harm to all life; asceticism; vegetarianism; five vows |
| Charvaka (Lokayata) | Only matter exists; perception is the only source of knowledge; no afterlife or karma | Pleasure and worldly well-being | Enjoy this life; reject ritual and priestly authority |
| Ajivika | Absolute fate (niyati) governs everything; effort changes nothing | Acceptance, austerity | Ascetic life with no expectation of altering one's destiny |
| Sikhism | One formless God pervades creation; rebirth until union with God | Devotion, equality, honest work, service | Remember the divine Name; earn honestly; share with others; reject caste |
| East Asian traditions | |||
| Confucianism | A moral order (the Way of Heaven) runs through family, society and cosmos; humans are relational | Humaneness (ren), ritual propriety (li), filial piety, learning | Cultivate yourself through study and ritual; fulfill your roles; lead by moral example |
| Daoism (Laozi, Zhuangzi) | The Dao is the nameless source and pattern of all things; opposites depend on each other | Naturalness, simplicity, spontaneity | Effortless action (wu wei); yield; drop artificial distinctions and ambitions |
| Mohism | Heaven wills the benefit of all; outcomes can be measured | Impartial care, benefit, frugality | Care for all equally; condemn aggressive war; reject wasteful ritual and luxury |
| Legalism | Humans are self- interested; order is made, not natural | State power, order, uniformity | Govern by clear law, reward and punishment; distrust moral appeals |
| Neo- Confucianism | Principle (li) and vital force (qi) compose all things; mind and cosmos share one pattern | Sagehood, sincerity, moral knowledge | Investigate things; practice quiet sitting; unite knowledge with action |
| Chan / Zen Buddhism | Buddha-nature is already present; awakening is direct and beyond concepts | Immediacy, simplicity, awakening | Seated meditation, koan practice, mindful ordinary work |
| Pure Land Buddhism | Amitabha Buddha's vow offers rebirth in a realm where awakening is assured | Faith, gratitude, humility | Recite the Buddha's name with trust; rely on other-power, not self-effort |
| Shinto | The world is alive with kami (spirits) in nature, ancestors and places | Purity, harmony, sincerity, gratitude | Purification rites, shrine worship, seasonal festivals, respect for ancestors |
| Bushido | Loosely Confucian, Zen and Shinto assumptions; death is always near | Honor, loyalty, courage, self-control | Serve faithfully; train constantly; face death without hesitation |
| Abrahamic and other theistic worldviews | |||
| Zoroastrianism | One wise Lord (Ahura Mazda) opposed by a destructive spirit; history is a cosmic struggle ending in renewal | Truth (asha), purity, free moral choice | Good thoughts, good words, good deeds; side with order against the Lie |
| Judaism (Rabbinic) | One God created the world and made a covenant with Israel; history has direction | Holiness, justice, study, community | Keep the commandments (mitzvot); study Torah; repair the world; observe Sabbath and festivals |
| Catholic Christianity (Thomism) | A triune God creates and sustains all; humans are fallen and redeemed in Christ; reason and revelation agree | Love (caritas), the beatific vision, natural and theological virtues | Sacramental life; follow natural law; works of mercy; obedience to Church teaching |
| Eastern Orthodoxy | The triune God is unknowable in essence but present in his energies; creation is meant for transfiguration | Union with God (theosis), humility, beauty | Liturgy, fasting, the Jesus Prayer, guidance of spiritual elders |
| Protestant Christianity | God is sovereign; scripture alone is the final authority; salvation is by grace through faith | Faith, gratitude, vocation, conscience | Read scripture personally; serve God in ordinary work; evangelize |
| Islam (Sunni and Shia) | One God (tawhid); Muhammad is the final prophet; the Quran is God's word; judgment follows death | Submission to God, justice, mercy, community (ummah) | The Five Pillars; follow sharia; emulate the Prophet |
| Sufism | God is the only true reality; the heart can know God directly | Divine love, purification of the self, remembrance | Follow a path under a master; practice dhikr (remembrance), poverty and service |
| Latter-day Saint Christianity | God is an embodied Father; humans are his literal spirit children with potential for exaltation; revelation continues | Family, agency, eternal progression | Covenants and temple ordinances; missionary service; health code; family devotion |
| Baha'i Faith | One God revealed progressively through all major prophets; humanity is one | Unity, equality, harmony of science and religion | Daily prayer, service, eliminating prejudice, working for world peace |
| Deism | A creator designed the universe and its laws but does not intervene; reason is the only revelation | Reason, natural morality, tolerance | Live virtuously by reason; reject miracles, clergy and dogma |
| Indigenous, African and traditional worldviews | |||
| Animism | Animals, plants, places and objects are persons or have spirit | Reciprocity, respect, balance | Ask permission, give thanks and make offerings; treat the non-human world as kin |
| Shamanism | Several worlds interpenetrate; specialists can travel between them | Healing, balance, guidance from spirits | Trance, ritual and journeying to heal and restore relations with spirits |
| Ancient Egyptian (Ma'at) | The cosmos rests on Ma'at, a divine order of truth and balance; the heart is judged after death | Truth, order, justice | Speak and act truly; uphold order against chaos; prepare for judgment |
| Norse and Germanic paganism | Many gods and powers; fate (wyrd) binds even the gods; the world ends in Ragnarok | Honor, courage, loyalty, reputation | Keep oaths; show hospitality; meet fate bravely |
| Aztec (Nahua) philosophy | One sacred, self- transforming energy (teotl) constitutes everything; life on earth is slippery and brief | Balance, rootedness, moderation | Walk the middle path; fulfill communal and ritual obligations |
| Ubuntu (Southern Africa) | A person is a person through other persons; community includes the living, the dead and the unborn | Humaneness, solidarity, reconciliation | Share; restore relationships rather than punish; decide by consensus |
| Yoruba (Ifa) | A supreme being (Olodumare), orishas and ancestors; each person chooses a destiny (ori) before birth | Good character (iwa pele), destiny, balance | Divination, offerings, cultivating character, honoring ancestors |
| Lakota and related Plains traditions | All beings are relatives (mitakuye oyasin) within a sacred whole (Wakan Tanka) | Generosity, bravery, wisdom, respect | Ceremony, giveaways, living in right relation with land and kin |
| Aboriginal Australian (the Dreaming) | Ancestral beings shaped land and law; that creative time remains present in Country | Kinship, custodianship, law | Care for Country; keep and pass on story, song and ceremony |
| Polynesian (mana and tapu) | Sacred power (mana) flows through genealogy, people and places; all descend from the gods | Genealogy, guardianship, hospitality | Observe tapu; protect mana; care for land and sea as ancestors |
| Modern Western philosophical systems (1500-1900) | |||
| Renaissance Humanism | Humans hold a special dignity and can shape themselves; antiquity is a guide | Learning, eloquence, civic virtue | Study the classics; cultivate many talents; take part in public life |
| Spinozism | God and Nature are one infinite substance; everything follows necessarily | Understanding, freedom from passive emotion, joy | Grasp the causes of your emotions; love God intellectually by understanding nature |
| Enlightenment Rationalism | Nature is lawful and knowable; humanity can progress | Reason, liberty, tolerance, progress | Think for yourself; challenge superstition and arbitrary authority; reform institutions |
| Kantianism | We know appearances, not things in themselves; freedom, God and immortality are postulates of practical reason | Autonomy, dignity, the good will | Act only on maxims you could will as universal law; never treat persons merely as means |
| Hegelianism | Reality is Spirit coming to know itself through history, by way of contradiction and resolution | Freedom realized in ethical community | Find your freedom inside family, civil society and state; understand your age in thought |
| Romanticism | Nature is a living, organic whole; feeling and imagination reach truths that analysis misses | Authenticity, passion, creativity, the sublime | Trust intuition; create; seek intense experience and communion with nature |
| Transcendentalism | The divine lives in nature and in every soul; intuition is higher than tradition | Self-reliance, simplicity, nonconformity | Trust yourself; live deliberately; resist unjust laws |
| Utilitarianism (classical) | Humans are governed by pleasure and pain; no value exists beyond well-being | The greatest happiness of the greatest number | Judge every act and law by its consequences for all affected; reform accordingly |
| Positivism (Comte) | Knowledge passes through theological, metaphysical and scientific stages; only observable facts count | Order, progress, humanity | Apply scientific method to society; serve Humanity in place of God |
| Marxism | Material and economic conditions drive history through class struggle | Emancipation, equality, unalienated labor | Raise class consciousness; organize; replace capitalism through collective action |
| Schopenhauerian Pessimism | The world is the appearance of a blind, striving Will; life is mostly suffering | Compassion, aesthetic contemplation, denial of the will | Reduce desire; find relief in art; act from compassion; lean toward asceticism |
| Kierkegaardian Christian Existentialism | The individual stands alone before God; truth is subjectivity; faith goes beyond reason | Passionate inwardness, faith, becoming a self | Choose yourself; move from the aesthetic through the ethical to the leap of faith |
| Nietzscheanism | God is dead; the world is will to power; there are no moral facts, only interpretations | Life-affirmation, self-overcoming, creation of values | Revalue inherited values; give style to your character; love your fate |
| Pragmatism | Ideas are tools; truth is what works in the long run of inquiry; the universe is unfinished | Growth, experiment, democracy | Test beliefs by their consequences; revise them; solve problems together |
| Twentieth-century and contemporary worldviews | |||
| Existentialism (atheistic) | No God and no fixed human nature; existence precedes essence; we are radically free | Authenticity, freedom, responsibility | Choose and own your choices; refuse bad faith; define yourself through action |
| Absurdism | Humans demand meaning and the universe stays silent; the gap cannot be closed | Lucidity, revolt, passion | Live without appeal to hope or despair; keep the absurd in view and say yes to life |
| Nihilism | No objective meaning, value or purpose exists | None are binding (the passive form); the clearing of ground for new values (the active form) | Ranges from resignation to destruction of inherited values |
| Secular Humanism | A natural universe with no supernatural; humans are the source of meaning and morality | Human dignity, reason, compassion, human rights | Reduce suffering; advance knowledge; build just institutions by human effort |
| Scientific Naturalism | Only what the sciences describe exists; mind is a product of evolved brains | Evidence, truth, intellectual honesty | Proportion belief to evidence; apply scientific thinking to every question |
| Logical Positivism and Scientism | Only empirically verifiable or logical statements are meaningful; metaphysics is empty | Clarity, verification, scientific progress | Discard unverifiable claims; treat ethics as expression of attitude or leave it to science |
| Process Philosophy | Reality is made of events and becoming, not static substances; God, if any, changes with the world | Creativity, relationship, novelty | Contribute to richer experience for all; persuade rather than coerce |
| Personalism | Persons are the highest reality and cannot be reduced to matter or to society | The dignity of the person, love, communion | Never use a person as an object; organize society around persons, not systems |
| Critical Theory | Social reality is shaped by domination that presents itself as natural | Emancipation, critique, solidarity | Expose ideology; analyze power in culture and economy; work for liberation |
| Postmodernism | Grand narratives have lost credibility; knowledge is bound up with language and power | Plurality, difference, irony | Question claims to universality; deconstruct fixed categories; attend to the margins |
| Feminist Philosophy | Gender structures knowledge, society and selfhood; persons are relational and embodied | Equality, care, autonomy | Challenge patriarchal norms; value care work; change institutions and personal life |
| Objectivism (Ayn Rand) | An objective reality known by reason alone; no supernatural | Reason, productive achievement, one's own happiness | Rational self- interest; trade value for value; reject altruism as a duty |
| Deep Ecology | Humans are one strand in the web of life; all living things have intrinsic worth | Biodiversity, wildness, simplicity | Shrink the human footprint; identify with the wider living world; defend ecosystems |
| Transhumanism | Human nature is an unfinished stage; technology can overcome aging, limits and perhaps death | Enhancement, longevity, intelligence | Support and adopt technologies that expand human capacities |
| Effective Altruism and Longtermism | A natural world in which suffering and well-being can be compared and counted, including future lives | Impartial welfare, evidence, the long- term future | Give and choose careers by measured impact; reduce existential risk |
| Antinatalism | Coming into existence is always a harm; life contains more suffering than it can justify | Prevention of suffering, compassion | Do not procreate; reduce the suffering of those already alive |
| Secular Buddhism and Mindfulness | A naturalistic picture; the self is a process; suffering comes from craving | Present-moment awareness, equanimity, kindness | Meditate; observe thoughts without attachment; drop metaphysical claims such as rebirth |
| Expressive Individualism | Each person has a unique inner self that is the final authority on their life | Authenticity, self- expression, personal growth | Discover and express who you really are; choose your own values; avoid judging others' choices |
| Consumerism | The material world is what there is to enjoy; identity is shown through what one owns | Comfort, status, novelty, choice | Work to earn; buy to express and improve the self; upgrade |
| Political and social worldviews | |||
| Classical Liberalism | Individuals are rational and hold natural rights prior to government | Liberty, property, consent, toleration | Limit government; protect rights; allow free exchange and free speech |
| Egalitarian (Social) Liberalism | Individuals are free and equal; fair terms of cooperation can be reasoned out | Liberty together with fairness and equal opportunity | Protect basic liberties; redistribute to benefit the least advantaged |
| Conservatism | Human nature is imperfect; society is an inheritance holding more wisdom than any one generation | Tradition, order, family, prudence | Reform slowly; preserve institutions; distrust abstract schemes |
| Democratic Socialism | Economic structure shapes freedom; markets left alone concentrate power | Equality, solidarity, economic democracy | Extend democratic control over the economy through elections and unions |
| Marxism-Leninism | History moves through class struggle toward communism; a vanguard party must lead | Classless society, collective ownership | Revolution, party discipline, state planning |
| Anarchism | Hierarchy and the state are unnecessary and harmful; people can organize themselves voluntarily | Freedom, mutual aid, equality | Refuse domination; build voluntary associations; act directly |
| Libertarianism | Each person owns themselves; coercion is the basic wrong | Individual liberty, property rights, non-aggression | Minimize or abolish the state; rely on voluntary exchange |
| Civic Republicanism | Freedom is non- domination and depends on shared self-government | Civic virtue, the common good, participation | Take part in public life; guard against corruption and concentrated power |
| Communitarianism | The self is formed by community and tradition, not prior to them | Belonging, shared goods, responsibility | Strengthen families, neighborhoods and associations; balance rights with duties |
| Nationalism | Humanity is naturally divided into nations with distinct characters and claims | National identity, sovereignty, loyalty | Put the nation's interest and culture first; seek or defend self-rule |
| Fascism | Life is struggle between peoples; the nation or race is an organic whole above the individual | Unity, strength, obedience, struggle | Submit to a leader and a single party; suppress opposition; glorify force |
| Cosmopolitanism | All humans belong to one moral community regardless of borders | Universal human dignity, global justice | Weigh distant strangers equally; support global institutions and aid |
| Progressivism | Society can be steadily improved; inherited arrangements often encode injustice | Social justice, inclusion, reform | Use policy and activism to correct inequities and widen rights |
| Green Politics | Human economies sit inside ecological limits | Sustainability, future generations, ecological health | Cut consumption and emissions; restructure the economy around limits |
| Esoteric and alternative spiritual worldviews | |||
| Gnosticism | The material world was made by a lesser, flawed power; a divine spark is trapped in each person | Saving knowledge (gnosis), liberation from matter | Awaken to your true origin; detach from the world |
| Manichaeism | Two eternal principles, Light and Darkness, are mixed in the world | Purity, release of the Light | Ascetic discipline for the elect; support from lay hearers |
| Hermeticism | As above, so below: the cosmos is a living unity and the mind can know the divine | Wisdom, rebirth of the soul, harmony | Contemplation; study of correspondences through astrology and alchemy |
| Kabbalah | God's hidden infinity (Ein Sof) unfolds through ten emanations (sefirot); creation is fractured | Repair (tikkun), union with the divine | Commandments and prayer performed with mystical intention |
| Theosophy | One divine reality underlies all religions; souls evolve through reincarnation and karma | Universal brotherhood, hidden wisdom, spiritual evolution | Comparative study, meditation, service |
| Perennialism (Traditionalism) | A single metaphysical truth lies at the core of all authentic traditions; modernity is decline | Tradition, the sacred, initiation | Commit fully to one orthodox tradition; resist modern assumptions |
| Spiritualism | The dead survive and can communicate with the living | Continuity of life, comfort, moral progress after death | Mediumship and seances; live so as to advance in the next life |
| New Thought (Law of Attraction) | Mind is primary; thought shapes circumstances | Abundance, health, positivity | Affirmations, visualization, expecting good outcomes |
| New Age | Everything is energy or consciousness; humanity is entering a higher age | Personal transformation, holistic healing, oneness | Eclectic practice: meditation, crystals, astrology, energy work |
| Neopaganism and Wicca | Nature is sacred; divinity is immanent and often plural or dual (Goddess and God) | Reverence for nature, seasonal cycles, personal freedom | Seasonal rituals; magic; harm none |
| Spiritual but Not Religious | Some higher power or deeper reality exists, known through personal experience and not institutions | Authenticity, inner peace, connection | Assemble a personal practice from several sources; avoid dogma |