The worldviews · The question paper

One question, thirteen answers.

Every question in the examination has its own page: the same question, put to all thirteen worldviews, answered side by side. Pick any question and read the whole field at once.

71 QUESTIONS · 10 CATEGORIES · 13 WORLDVIEWS ON EACH

Origins & followers

01When and where did this worldview first appear?
02What events shaped its early growth?
03Who were the key people who taught it or preserved it?
04How did it spread across cultures and regions?
05Where is it followed today, and by roughly how many people?
06What major turning points changed it over time?

The problem & the solution

07What does it say is the main problem with humanity or the world?
08Where does suffering, evil, or injustice come from?
09What deeper thing — moral, spiritual, psychological, or social — does it say is broken?
10What solution does it offer?
11What path leads from the problem to the solution?
12Can the problem be fully solved, partly solved, or never solved?
13How does the solution change the person, the society, and the world?

Source of truth & authority

14What is its final source of truth?
15Does it rely on revelation, reason, science, intuition, tradition, or personal experience?
16Why should that source be trusted?
17How does it tell truth from falsehood?
18Are right and wrong real and fixed, or made up by societies?
19Can humans understand realities beyond the physical world?
20Are its teachings fixed and final, or open to new understanding?

The foundational texts

21What are its foundational texts — scriptures, books, or writings?
22How were these texts written down, collected, and passed on?
23If a text is claimed to come from God, how well was it preserved — and how do scholars judge that claim?
24What are the main themes and the style of these texts?
25What key teachings do the texts state clearly?
26How do followers read the texts — literally, symbolically, or in context?
27What major commentaries or schools of interpretation grew around them?
28Are there different versions, disputed passages, or debates about the original wording?
29What do the texts say about themselves — their origin, their authority, and who they are for?

Reality & human nature

30Is there a God or higher power — and what is it like?
31Is reality only physical, or is there also a spiritual side?
32Is there a soul, or a consciousness beyond the brain?
33What is consciousness?
34What makes you the same person across your whole life?
35Are humans born good, sinful, neutral, divine, or something else?
36Do humans have free will, or is life decided by fate, nature's laws, karma, or divine decree?
37How are mind and body related?
38Why is there something rather than nothing?
39How did the universe begin?

Ethics & daily practice

40What defines right and wrong?
41What virtues does it want people to build?
42What does it forbid?
43What daily or regular practices shape a follower's life?
44How should a follower handle relationships, work, hardship, and community?
45What does its ideal person look like?
46What happens when someone fails morally — punishment, forgiveness, purification, karma, or correction?

Ultimate purpose

47What is the purpose of human life — what gives it meaning?
48What happens after death?
49What does it promise — salvation, enlightenment, liberation, justice, or a meaningful life?
50What is the final destination — for each person, and for humanity as a whole?
51Does it teach a final judgment, repeating cosmic cycles, or the end of the self?

How it is lived

52How do followers experience it, emotionally and socially?
53What major branches or schools exist within it?
54How does culture change the way it is practiced?
55What do its own followers disagree about?
56What criticisms do outsiders raise — which come from misunderstanding, and which from real disagreement?
57How does it shape identity, behavior, and community life?
58How do followers balance it with modern life and science?

Society, law & power

59What kind of society does it call for, and where do its laws come from?
60How should power be limited, and what can people do about an unjust ruler?
61What does it teach about men and women — their rights, duties, and roles?
62How does it treat people who reject it — can it live in peace with those who disagree?
63When does it allow force to be used, if ever — and for what purpose?
64How does it treat those who leave it?

Putting it to the test

65What is the strongest case for it — its best arguments and evidence?
66What are the strongest objections against it, and what are its best answers?
67Do its core claims fit together without contradiction?
68Does it match reality as we find it — in history, in science, and in everyday human experience?
69Can its followers truly live by it in full — or do they quietly borrow from other worldviews to make life work?
70What has it produced through history — its achievements, and the harms done in its name — and how does it answer for them?
71What would count as evidence against it? What would have to be true for a fair person to walk away from it?

At a glance

From the identity cards.

Shorter questions that sit on each dossier's identity card rather than in the examination — compared the same way.

What does its name mean, and where does the name come from?
What kind of worldview is it?
Who holds authority in it, and how is that authority organized?
What is its core idea, in one line?
How does it see the world we live in?
What are its central moral values?
How does it relate to other worldviews and their followers?

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