weltanschauung
noun·/ˈvɛlt.ænˌʃaʊ.ʊŋ/
A worldview. The underlying scheme of assumptions (moral, metaphysical, political, aesthetic) through which a person or culture interprets reality. A weltanschauung is structural: it decides what counts as evidence before evidence arrives.
They argued policy, but their weltanschauungen were doing the real fighting beneath the words.
Etymology
From German Welt “world” + Anschauung “viewing; perception.” The compound implies not just “view” but “way of seeing.”
Related Words
ideologysystem of beliefs; often more political
ethoscharacteristic spirit; partial overlap
noeticof the mind; the instrument that forms a worldview
paradigma governing model; often in science