Generally a position seeing reason and intellect as subservient to the will: any position sympathizing with Hume's dictum that reason is and ought to be the slave of the passions. In ethics, voluntarism is the position that it is will or desire that creates values, although this is more commonly called projectivism or emotivism . The theological position that all values are so through being chosen by God is also known by the name. Also in theology, voluntarism is a term for the fideistic position that it is legitimate to believe in things because it is legitimate to want to do so. This position is found in Pascal, Kierkegaard, and the pragmatist James . Finally, the term is applied to the embracing metaphysic of Schopenhauer that places a blind and all-powerful will at the basis of all nature.
Philosophy dictionary. Academic. 2011.