Good afternoon everyone, dear readers of the avisi.ru blog. Probably many have heard the word voluntarism, but not everyone fully understands the meaning of this concept.
Therefore, on this page we will give an answer to the question of what voluntarism is. Let us define this concept in different areas of human activity.
What is voluntarism? Definition of this concept
If we turn to science, the term “voluntarism” was introduced by F. Tönnies. It is found in various fields of knowledge. And depending on time, voluntarism can change its meaning. But the will is always understood as the fundamental principle of everything human.
Definition
In simple words, voluntarism is a daring line of behavior, the owner of which tries with all his might to make his most cherished dream come true. That is, voluntarism is a persistent desire to achieve what you want, even despite factors that contradict it. Often these are unrealistic plans. But even if such dreams are feasible, such a person will not think about the consequences. You might have seen something like this in the film “Prisoner of the Caucasus.” But there the meaning of voluntarism is shown only superficially.
Voluntarism – explaining a complex concept in simple and understandable language
Very often in life we have to deal with unfamiliar words. In order to more accurately understand the philosophical meaning of the concept of voluntarism, we will first begin to analyze it as a philosophical term, and consider its philological interpretation.
It was borrowed by the Russian language in the 19th century from other languages, although it has a common root “volo”, which forms many adverbs in the languages of the Indo-European group. Including in Russian as “will”. In Latin (lat. voluntas - will) it will be like (to desire, to feel a need). Following linguistics, we see how the lexeme created a transformation from the root “will” into the noun “voluntas”, denoted by (lust, desire).
The next step was the birth of the Latin expression “voluntaris” - “acting, acting of one’s own will.” Then this concept quickly spread through other European languages, including into English - “voluntary actions”.
The concept of voluntarism as a person’s opposition to certain external circumstances
Over time, some concepts lose their original meaning and acquire another one that significantly changes the meaning. Such terms can safely include the interpreted concepts of voluntarism in relation to the social sphere of society.
We can say that this term can have completely different and opposite connotations. It may be applicable in a positive sense and a negative one. It all depends on the goal, result or desire to achieve it through what actions and actions.
Voluntarism as a philosophical concept
Representatives of various philosophical movements defined the essence of this term in different and ambiguous ways. But the majority accepted that a person has a certain conscious consciousness and is endowed with action to achieve a result - freedom of choice as opposed to the resistance of society and the state system.
Philosophy interprets voluntarism as the subjectivity of the individual (human) and his desire to become the master of his life, through the firm manifestation of his will. Every child is born free, but a social society living according to certain rules (social paradigm) makes everyone living in it dependent on him. Everyone who lives in a social society always depends on society at every stage of life
Let's make a note at this point and accept the point of view of the ancient sages - philosophers, as well as modern scientists who adhere to this assessment. And so in their simple language it looks like this: voluntarism is a person’s position based on his will and desires to achieve a certain goal in life.
But at the same time, it is important to understand how these goals and actions will interact with other members of society and influence the socio-political and social processes of society. So, striving for your own goal and freedom, you can look like a “bull in a china shop”
Voluntarism – economics and politics
The Soviet period of development of the country of the USSR was subjected to the voluntaristic decisions of I.V. Stalin, N.S. Khrushchev (the latter was relieved of his post with the wording, including for pursuing a voluntarist policy).
Nowadays, we are witnessing the negative voluntarism of the President of Ukraine P. Poroshenko, whose rating does not exceed 10% of the country's population. This is one of the most illustrative examples, thanks to such rule - the state of Ukraine. Which has lost its sovereignty and security and continues to decline. Livelihood is supported by external borrowings. The country is split, the transport and financial infrastructure has been lost.
The Western world is also replete with examples of extreme voluntarists led by presidents such as the United States, France and the British Prime Minister, as well as their high-ranking officials. They brought the world to the brink of a cold war.
International laws in the field of world trade, diplomacy and other areas of world relations have been violated. Trade wars, sanctions and other insane demands and conditions have been announced to please global corporations and billionaires. Wars do not subside on the planet; every day someone’s lives are claimed.
But there are also positive examples. So world leaders Russia, China and a number of other countries are uniting to resist this bacchanalia.
What is voluntarism in politics
Voluntarism in politics can often be observed. When officials are guided by their own interests and goals, and do not serve the people, thanks to whom they came to power. But even in this case, political reality is simply ignored. That is, these are infantile boys and girls who love to play with their toys and not be responsible to people.
The situation is significantly aggravated when there is bureaucracy among officials, and there is no political culture at all.
Voluntarism"
Cult of personality".
The cult of personality is the exaltation of an individual (usually a statesman).
The cult of Stalin’s personality is the exaltation of Stalin’s personality by means of mass propaganda, in works of culture and art, government documents, laws, the creation of a semi-divine aura around his name.
During the Stalinist period, Soviet propaganda created an aura around Stalin as an infallible leader. After Stalin gained full power, the titles “great leader”, “great leader and teacher”, “father of peoples”, “great commander”, “brilliant scientist”, “best” were often used in relation to him and were almost obligatory in official journalism and rhetoric. friend (of scientists, writers, athletes, etc.)”, etc. Stalin was the only Generalissimo of the Soviet Union.
In view of the announcement of Stalin as a theorist of Marxism-Leninism, his name was mentioned and his portrait image was depicted on a par with Marx, Engels and Lenin, and also, like “Marxism-Leninism”, the term “Stalinism” was sometimes used, decades later it became the concept-definition of what was created them of the political regime with a negative assessment and interpretation.
6 large settlements were named in honor of Stalin (Stalingrad - Volgograd, Stalino - Donetsk, Stalinabad - Dushanbe, Stalinsk - Novokuznetsk, Stalinogorsk - Novomoskovsk, Staliniri - Tskhinvali).
In 1937-1938, proposals were made to rename Moscow to the city of Stalinodar.
Names associated with Stalin were assigned to the highest peaks of the USSR (Communism Peak), Bulgaria (Musala), Slovakia and all of the Carpathians (Gerlachovsky Stit), as well as Mount Peck located in Canada.
The Semenovskaya metro station of the Moscow Metro, Izmailovsky Park in Moscow, the White Sea-Baltic Canal, the Likhachev Plant, a number of universities, including Tbilisi State University, National Research Technological University "MISiS", Moscow State Mining University, Moscow State Technological University were named after Stalin. "Stankin", Belarusian National Technical University, etc.
A series of tanks, steam locomotives, and an armored train were named in honor of Stalin.
After Stalin's death, there was a significant democratization of Soviet society. The 20th Congress of the CPSU took place in 1956, February 14–25. At this Congress, the assessments that had previously been given to Stalin's policies were revised. Stalin’s personality cult is also condemned. Khrushchev’s report “On the cult of personality and its consequences” was presented on February 25 at a closed morning meeting and contained very harsh criticism of Stalin’s cult of personality and his activities in general, as well as political repressions of the 1930s, as well as the 1950s, and all the blame for the events of those years was placed personally on Stalin.
Voluntarism - in economics: arbitrary decisions in economic practice, neglecting objective conditions and scientifically based recommendations (in this sense this word was officially used in the USSR in 1964-1985 in relation to N. S. Khrushchev).
One of its varieties is subjectivism in economic policy. Economic voluntarism can sometimes cause short-term, momentary success, but it inevitably leads to a decrease in the efficiency of social production, weakens the initiative of the masses, and does not allow the use of the richest opportunities and advantages of socialism.
Economic voluntarism in one form or another is found at various levels of economic management.
Particularly dangerous in their consequences are manifestations of economic voluntarism with unjustifiably high centralization of management of the national economy. One of its forms is running ahead, an attempt to “jump” over the natural stages in the development of society, to introduce communist principles without taking into account the achieved level of development of the productive forces and the real degree of maturity of socio-economic relations. A decisive fight against economic voluntarism presupposes strict and comprehensive consideration of objective economic laws and an increase in the scientific level of planning and management.
The voluntarist does not bother himself with analysis and research of the complexity of a specific social situation, limiting himself to his superficial perception. Acting in conjunction with impulsiveness, he grabs the first thought that comes to his mind and, like a stubborn donkey, insists on its implementation. The voluntarist brings to the fore the ideological and psychological side of the issue, forgetting about its substantive component. As a result, a gap arises between voluntaristic words and the true conditions of real life. Words come into conflict with the laws and naturally developing trends of social life.
An important role in preventing economic voluntarism is played by the development of democratic principles in production management, wide publicity in discussions and decision-making, and control over the activities of planning and economic bodies.
N.S. Khrushchev broke all possible records for demonstrating voluntarism.
Built the infamous Berlin Wall in one night.
Having seized power, he soon promised to catch up and overtake America. In Kyiv, at the plenum of the Republican Central Committee, excited by his own plans, Khrushchev said: “The Americans are worried about one question - when? I answered them: you can write it down in your notebook - in 1970 we will catch up with you (stormy applause) and move on, and in 1980 we will produce twice as much as America produces (stormy applause).”
On December 14, 1959, Khrushchev, at the presidium of the Central Committee, explained what a communist society would be like: “Take all children to a boarding school, take all children from birth to completion of education into state support, all old people from such and such an age - provide for everyone... I think that when Once we have worked for one or two five-year periods, we will be able to move on to feeding all the people as much as they want. We will have bread. Meat - two more five-year plans (this is the maximum), and please - eat. Even in capitalist countries there are restaurants where you can pay a certain amount and you can eat whatever you want. Why can’t this be done under our socialist and communist system?..”
One of Khrushchev's most voluntaristic undertakings was the development of virgin lands. The party issued a cry, and both ordinary collective farmers and educated people, graduates of the best universities in the country, went to Kazakhstan, dreaming of raising empty lands and giving the Motherland the bread it so needed. The development of virgin lands began without any preliminary preparation, in the complete absence of infrastructure - roads, granaries, qualified personnel, not to mention housing and repair facilities for equipment. All tractors and combines produced in the country were sent to the virgin lands, students were mobilized during the summer holidays, and machine operators were sent on seasonal business trips. This led to the high cost of virgin bread, which was much higher than in the center of Russia. The natural conditions of the steppes were not taken into account: sandstorms and dry winds were not taken into account, gentle methods of soil cultivation and grain varieties adapted to this type of climate were not developed. As a result, the yield on virgin lands was on average lower than the all-Union one. About forty-three million hectares of virgin lands were then developed. But the result turned out to be disproportionate to the costs incurred.
After his visit to the USA, Khrushchev decided, as in the USA, to make the cultivation of corn the basis of agriculture. They began to plant it anywhere, even where it does not grow in principle. This epic lasted from 1955 to 1962.
Transfer of Crimea to Ukraine in 1954.
In the work area
Voluntarism in the work sphere. Agree, you have seen bosses who blindly carry out management decisions when this is completely irrational. The main thing is to please, period. Losses are not taken into account. That is, in such an organization it is not efficiency that rules, but real tyranny.
It is also a passionate will to power. An ordinary person thinks that he is not some kind of insect, but a superman. This is a person who thinks that the strongest should win in a battle for power. Or at least the most cunning one.
Everything that gets in the way is discarded or ruthlessly destroyed. Such figures calmly spit on morality, Christian laws and ethics.
In world practice
Voluntarism in world practice is a huge force that controls all processes. This is a constant movement of life, a flow. You want to live and satisfy your desires, even if others consider you reckless. That is, fields in some cases can acquire an omnipotent character. Probably, almost every person would like to be in power and enjoy all the honors.
That is, a person who has not only enormous willpower, but also intelligence, is capable of significantly changing for the better not only himself, but also those around him, the whole world. This suggests that a lot can be done if you combine strength, labor and knowledge.
