In TST Philosophy, a lens is an available worldview approach to things like truth, belief, and ethics. Think of it as a way of looking at and evaluating ideas. A lens helps us see a subject through a particular philosophical framework. We might use a Stoic lens to examine virtue, an Epicurean lens to explore pleasure, or a Humean lens to examine experience and the limits of knowledge. Anyone can use these lenses without adopting the entire philosophy behind them.
Within the Open Viewpoint Method (OVM), three worldview lenses are specifically defined: Empirical Pragmatist, Rational Pragmatist, and Irrational Pragmatist. All three consider the usefulness of ideas, but they differ in how they balance usefulness against truth. The empirical pragmatist embraces empirical and rational truths while striving to exclude irrational beliefs. The rational pragmatist generally accepts those truths but makes room for selected personal, cultural, or faith-based beliefs. The irrational pragmatist allows usefulness, emotion, identity, or preference to override evidence or sound reasoning. These three lenses help us understand our own worldview and those of others.
TST Ethics brings additional lenses into its Ethics Roadmap, especially within Personal Morality. The Epicurean Lens helps a moral agent evaluate pleasure. The Stoic Lens focuses acts onto wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance. The Existential Lens encourages one to consider authenticity. Each brings something unique to ethical decisions.
Beyond these examples, TST embraces lenses from many philosophical traditions. A Buddhist lens might help us examine attachment and suffering, while a Kantian lens helps us explore duty and principles we could reasonably apply to everyone. The goal is not to adopt every lens or remain trapped within one. It’s to recognize how different approaches shape thinking.