Attention and Worldview: A Neurological and Philosophical Framework for Meaning-Making

This paper proposes an interdisciplinary framework for understanding worldview formation at the intersection of neuroscience, philosophy, and religion. Drawing on Iain McGilchrist’s (2009) account of hemispheric modes of attention, it argues that worldviews emerge from how people first encounter and make sense of reality as meaningful and ordered. Using Clément Vidal’s (2008) model of worldview components, the paper traces how basic understandings of reality, the nature of the world, and future direction shape values, everyday practices, and ways of knowing. Rather than explaining religion as a byproduct of brain activity, this framework treats neurological attention as providing a means whereby worldview formation and construction may be more effectively understood, compared, and discussed.