Világképtől a világszövedékig. Filozófiai és antropológiai megjegyzések a világkép problémájához
From Worldview to the Meshwork of the World: Some Philosophical and Anthropological Notes on the Problem of Worldview

Summary/Abstract: This study examines the historical development and contemporary crisis of the concept of worldview (Weltbild), from early modern philosophy to contemporary anthropology. Its central claim is that the difficulties surrounding the notion of worldview are not recent developments, but are rooted in the very conditions under which the concept emerged. The discussion begins with early modern thinkers such as Fontenelle, Descartes, and Bacon, who recognised the difficulty of forming an objective picture of the world from within it. Since all knowledge is shaped by perspective, bias, and the limitations of the observing subject, their project aimed at transcending these constraints and approximating the standpoint of an ideal observer. The essay then explores how modern science sought to realise this ideal through an impersonal, mechanistic conception of nature, often at the cost of human meaning and existential belonging. Martin Heidegger’s critique of the “age of the world picture” radicalises this diagnosis by arguing that modernity transforms the world into an object of representation, calculation, and technological control. The final part turns to contemporary anthropology, focusing on the debate between Philippe Descola and Tim Ingold. Whereas Descola identifies relatively stable ontological frameworks through which societies organise their experience of the world, Ingold emphasises dynamic processes, interwoven practices, and relational “meshworks” rather than fixed worldviews. The article concludes that, although the classical ideal of a coherent worldview has lost much of its credibility, the early modern tension between subjective participation and objective observation continues to shape both philosophy and the human sciences.

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