Voluntarism is a descriptive term for a school of thought that regards the will as superior to the intellect and to emotion

Emotion

Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...

. This description has been applied to various points of view, from different cultural eras, in the areas of metaphysics

Metaphysics

Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...

, psychology

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

, sociology

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

, and theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

.

The term voluntarism was introduced by Ferdinand Tönnies

Ferdinand Tönnies

Ferdinand Tönnies was a German sociologist. He was a major contributor to sociological theory and field studies, best known for his distinction between two types of social groups, Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft...

 into the philosophical literature and particularly used by Wilhelm Wundt

Wilhelm Wundt

Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt was a German physician, psychologist, physiologist, philosopher, and professor, known today as one of the founding figures of modern psychology. He is widely regarded as the "father of experimental psychology"...

 and Friedrich Paulsen

Friedrich Paulsen

Friedrich Paulsen was a German philosopher and educator.-Biography:He was born at Langenhorn and educated at Erlangen, Bonn and Berlin, where he became extraordinary professor of philosophy and pedagogy in 1878...

. The etymology of the word is from Latin (voluntas: the will, the desire; also: arbitrariness).

Will Durant

Will Durant

William James Durant was a prolific American writer, historian, and philosopher. He is best known for The Story of Civilization, 11 volumes written in collaboration with his wife Ariel Durant and published between 1935 and 1975...

, in the glossary to The Story of Philosophy

The Story of Philosophy

The Story of Philosophy: the Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers is a book by Will Durant that profiles several prominent Western philosophers and their ideas, beginning with Plato and on through Friedrich Nietzsche...

, defines voluntarism as "the doctrine that will is the basic factor, both in the universe and in human conduct."

Medieval voluntarism

Associated with John Duns Scotus

Duns Scotus

Blessed John Duns Scotus, O.F.M. was one of the more important theologians and philosophers of the High Middle Ages. He was nicknamed Doctor Subtilis for his penetrating and subtle manner of thought....

, one of the foremost medieval scholastic

Scholasticism

Scholasticism is a method of critical thought which dominated teaching by the academics of medieval universities in Europe from about 1100–1500, and a program of employing that method in articulating and defending orthodoxy in an increasingly pluralistic context...

 philosophers. It is generally taken to be the philosophical emphasis on the divine will and human freedom. It is usually contrasted with intellectualism

Intellectualism

Intellectualism denotes the use and development of the intellect, the practice of being an intellectual, and of holding intellectual pursuits in great regard. Moreover, in philosophy, “intellectualism” occasionally is synonymous with “rationalism”, i.e. knowledge derived mostly from reason and...

.

According to the Christian theologians of medieval times who advocated voluntarism, God should be defined as absolute power

Omnipotence

Omnipotence is unlimited power. Monotheistic religions generally attribute omnipotence to only the deity of whichever faith is being addressed...

 whose actions should not be rationalized and explained through reason.

Theological voluntarism

Voluntarism also refers to theological commitments—that is, specific interpretations of doctrines of Christianity—arguably held by such figures as Pierre Gassendi

Pierre Gassendi

Pierre Gassendi was a French philosopher, priest, scientist, astronomer, and mathematician. With a church position in south-east France, he also spent much time in Paris, where he was a leader of a group of free-thinking intellectuals. He was also an active observational scientist, publishing the...

, Walter Charleton

Walter Charleton

Walter Charleton was an English writer. According to Jon Parkin, he was "the main conduit for the transmission of Epicurean ideas to England".-Life:...

, Robert Boyle

Robert Boyle

Robert Boyle FRS was a 17th century natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor, also noted for his writings in theology. He has been variously described as English, Irish, or Anglo-Irish, his father having come to Ireland from England during the time of the English plantations of...

, Isaac Barrow

Isaac Barrow

Isaac Barrow was an English Christian theologian, and mathematician who is generally given credit for his early role in the development of infinitesimal calculus; in particular, for the discovery of the fundamental theorem of calculus. His work centered on the properties of the tangent; Barrow was...

, and Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...

. It resulted in an empirical approach associated with early modern science. Voluntarism therefore allows that faith or belief in God can be achieved by will as opposed to requiring a prior divine gift of faith to the individual. This notion holds at least in so far as it has found favor among some historians and philosophers (e.g., the historian Francis Oakley and the philosopher Michael B. Foster).
A twentieth century theologian of voluntarism was James Luther Adams

James Luther Adams

James Luther Adams , an American professor at Harvard Divinity School, Andover Newton Theological School, and Meadville Lombard Theological School, and a Unitarian parish minister, was the most influential theologian among American Unitarian Universalists in the 20th century.Adams was born in...

.

Metaphysical voluntarism

A proponent of metaphysical voluntarism is 19th century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer

Arthur Schopenhauer

Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher known for his pessimism and philosophical clarity. At age 25, he published his doctoral dissertation, On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, which examined the four separate manifestations of reason in the phenomenal...

. In his view, the will is not reasoning, but an irrational, unconscious urge, in relation to which the intellect represents a secondary phenomenon. The will is actually the force at the core of all reality.

This putting out of the drive-detention-vital dynamics has influenced Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...

 (as will to power), Eduard von Hartmann, Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...

 and the philosophy of life.

Epistemological voluntarism

In epistemology, 'voluntarism' describes the view that belief is a matter of the will rather than one of simply registering one's cognitive attitude or degree of psychological certainty with respect to a stated proposition. If one is a voluntarist with respect to beliefs, it is coherent to simultaneously feel very certain about a particular proposition, P, and assign P a very low subjective probability. This is the basis of Bas Van Fraassen's Principle of Reflection.

Realization and science theory

In another context the realization and science theory of Hugo Dingler

Hugo Dingler

Hugo Albert Emil Hermann Dingler . Dingler was a German scientist and philosopher.-Life:...

, which starts with the unavoidable will act (as "I-Here-Now"). The methodical constructionalism of the school of Erlangen and the methodical culturalism

Methodical culturalism

Methodical culturalism is a philosophical approach developed by Peter Janich and his pupils. The core statement of this approach is that science is not developed from purely theoretical considerations, but as a development of everyday, proto-scientific human behavior...

of Marburg is to be seen subsequently.

External links

• Voluntarism entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.