Is your mind a servant to your will, or vice versa?
In short: Most people assume reason is the master of our actions. Voluntarism argues the opposite: that the will is the fundamental driver of reality. From medieval theology to modern psychology, this philosophy suggests that choice precedes logic, making human effort—rather than material conditions—the true engine of history.
At its core, voluntarism is any metaphysical or psychological system where the will (voluntas) holds a more predominant role than the intellect. This stands in direct opposition to intellectualism, famously championed by Thomas Aquinas. While an intellectualist believes our actions are guided by reason and knowledge, a voluntarist argues that the will is the basic factor in both human conduct and the universe itself.
The concept has manifested in diverse ways across history. In medieval theology, figures like Duns Scotus and William of Ockham emphasized divine will over intellect, suggesting that morality stems from God's choice rather than His reason. This implies an omnipotent being whose actions cannot be fully rationalized. In the 19th century, Arthur Schopenhauer pushed this into metaphysics, describing the will as an irrational, unconscious urge at the core of all reality, while the intellect is merely a secondary phenomenon.
In practical and political spheres, voluntarism often describes the belief that human effort can overcome material limitations. This was seen in Mao Zedong's view that personal effort could expedite history, the Soviet Union's 'shock work' during the First Five-Year Plan, and Julius Nyerere’s African socialism, which posited that people alone are the motive force of history. Even in epistemology, voluntarism suggests that belief is a matter of will; one might feel certain about a proposition while simultaneously assigning it a low subjective probability.
This philosophical thread connects various thinkers: from Nietzsche's 'will to power' and Freud's 'will to pleasure' to the empirical science of Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle. It suggests that whether we are forming beliefs, building economies, or understanding existence, the primary spark is not a calculation of facts, but an act of volition.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Voluntarism (philosophy)
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