In my first post about worldviews, we talked about what exactly is meant by “worldview.” I defined a worldview as a set of ideas or premises through which we intellectually and spiritually perceive the world. And we discussed how those premises parallel the 5 senses through which we physically perceive the world.
In this segment, we’ll delve further into the concept of premises. You must understand premises because, regardless of why you accept them, premises shape the way you see the world. And most importantly, most people remain completely unaware of many premises they’ve accepted in life.
So first of all, what is a premise? Simply put, a premise is an assumption. To be more precise, a premise is something that you assume to be true, and by which you, knowingly or not, form conclusions about the world around you. If you understand your premises, you will form a greater understanding of your interpretation of world events and social structures.
Foundational Premises
Having established what constitutes a premise, we should now examine some basic premises that form the “foundation” for worldviews. This is important because, like it or not, foundational premises have profound implications on how we understand the world, which in turn has a profound effect on how we react to social pressures, conflicts, and problems. If you understand your foundational premises, you can better understand whether or not you truly accept a given worldview. So, without further ado, here are some foundational premises (listed as 1 and 2) and several derivative premises for each (listed as bullet points):
- God exists
- God is the God of the Bible
- God is some other god or multitude of gods
- God is the universe
- God is some other unknown being
- God doesn’t exist
- Something other than God exists which guides the world (i.e. principles, spirits, etc.)
- The world is guided by nothing except random chance
The premises listed here are far from all the premises that we could bring up. However, I think they are sufficient to show some degree of what a premise or assumption is. As we start exploring religions later, we’ll explore more premises related to each one. But for now, you may be asking, are those really the only two foundational premises?
Two Foundational Premises
Perhaps these are not the only two foundational premises, but they are the two most important. Others (such as whether or not the physical world itself is real) have no real bearing on how we interact with the physical world, or how we react to social pressures, conflict, or the like. Some (like “we can’t know if God exists”) lead us down the same road as others, therefore rendering them moot.
Of course, that’s not to say that two people starting from opposite ends can’t come to similar conclusions. Premises possess a very interesting caveat: derivative premises may completely change the path of foundational premises. In this way, you might say that there are different orders of foundational premises. The two roots are still the same, but beneath each of these are second-order foundational premises that determine the way your outlook will proceed from there.
Here’s an example. If you accept that God exists as your first-order foundational premise, you then face a huge number of second-order foundational premises. Among these, I will single out the premise that God exists, but he keeps His distance from the world. In other words, God doesn’t intervene in affairs of the world for good or ill, but just lets everything happen. In this example, your second-order foundational premise brings you in practice to the second-order premises of a person who believes God does not exist.
On the other hand, if you choose to believe that God exists, or many gods exist, that are known or have been known by any number of cultures throughout world history, you now have second-order premises that will each lead you down a new road depending on which you choose. This is because each and every being worshiped by cultures in the past has their own set of guidelines and rules that must be followed (or should be followed). If you truly accept the existence of God, or of a pantheon of gods, then following a specific path laid out for you through the religious texts will determine your blessing or lack thereof.
Derivative Premises
The second type of premise I want to talk about is a derivative premise. A derivative premise is a premise that requires another premise to be true before it can be accepted. For example:
Premise: God exists
Derivative Premise: God is the God of the Bible
Now, please understand that derivative premises and conclusions are not the same. A conclusion, which we will touch on later, is something that can be deduced if one or more premises are true. For example:
Premise: God exists
Derivative Premise: God is the God of the Bible
Conclusion: God created the world
Maybe it seems strange to emphasize the difference between conclusions and derivative premises so strongly. However, too many people confuse derivative premises with conclusions, which makes it very hard to have meaningful conversations about worldviews. For example, Many people might believe that the conclusion “God created the world” could be drawn simply from the single premise that “God exists,” but there are plenty of religions that will tell you that “God exists” without holding that their god created the world. Similarly, in western culture, many people take for granted that “God” means the God of the Bible, but that’s not necessarily the case. There are, as Paul reminds us, many things that can be called “god.”
Compromising Premises
Another type of premise that exists in worldviews is what I like to call a “Compromising premise.” This is a derivative premise that exists for the sole purpose of compromising with another worldview.
I touched on this briefly in the prior point. In the case that you believe the premise, “God exists,” the premise that God neither interferes in or cares for the world in any way would be a compromising premise. It essentially cancels out your belief in God because the God you believe in is impotent. Therefore, you can just pretend he doesn’t exist and carry on life however you believe is right.
Similarly, if you believe God doesn’t exist, maybe you have a premise that people invented God because they need a strong moral code that they believe is above themselves. In this way, though you believe God does not exist, you annul that premise by your belief that belief in God is necessary for a moral society. So, despite not believing in God, you would encourage people and interpret things as though God were real.
I know there’s a lot to remember, but all of these concepts will re-emerge as we examine the Christian Worldview more closely. For now, if nothing else, remember the concepts of foundational premises, derivative premises, and compromising premises. These will be the foundation for building a worldview and understanding the worldview that you hold.
Premises: Some Examples
Before we move on to the premises that comprise a Christian worldview, I just want to give a couple examples of premises in action.
Let’s suppose that Bob believes the following premise: Every yellow fruit is a banana.
Every week, Bob goes to the grocery store. Bananas are prominently displayed at the front of the store. Therefore, Bob buys bananas and leaves. Bob’s faulty premise, at this point, causes no damage in practice.
But then one week, Bob goes to the grocery store and doesn’t see bananas in the front of the store. Unphased, Bob explores the fruits in the store till he finds small, round yellow fruits. They don’t really look or feel like the bananas he’s bought up till now, but a banana is a banana, right? Bob buys a bag of these, discovering they’re significantly cheaper in the process, and brings them home.
Now there are negative consequences for Bob’s faulty premise. The lemons, which of course are what he bought, are nothing like bananas. They can’t be used like bananas. They can’t be substituted for bananas in recipes. And anybody counting on Bob to bring them bananas will be sorely disappointed.
Now of course this is ridiculous. Everyone knows, from a young age, the difference between lemons and bananas. However, it serves to make a point. In this example, until Bob had to move further into the grocery store to find more bananas, he had no reason to doubt his premise. In the same way, until we have to dig deeper into something that we believe, we usually won’t think to examine or consider our own premises.
In the next segment, I’ll lay out the premises that are foundational to the Christian Worldview, and we’ll briefly discuss why each premise is foundational. Depending on time and space, we may also discuss some of the compromising premises that have taken hold in the church and which derivative or foundational premises they seek to remove. For now, I hope you have a clear understanding of what a “premise” is and why it’s important in a worldview.
