A pragmatic version of liberalism as a methodology for the study of the freedom of the volunteer movement

author: Oleh Iliuk

Urgency of the research.  The volunteer movement in Ukraine has turned from an almost imperceptible social phenomenon and a concomitant to the main social processes of the social movement over the last decade into a social mainstream that significantly affects the course of political, economic, and cultural processes in Ukraine. Liberalism should become a methodology for researching the freedom of the volunteer movement, but liberalism itself as a philosophy of social organization has a number of variations of its embodiment – from libertarianism to neoliberalism. In addition, the philosophy of liberalism had its development in different countries of the world, which inevitably influenced the way liberalism was interpreted by philosophers who belonged to different national traditions in politics and the development of civil society.

Target setting. It is worth paying attention to two main circumstances: in which country were the most developed pragmatic interpretations of basic liberal ideas, and also – which country's experience can become the most useful, that is, pragmatically valuable for the volunteer movement of Ukraine.

Actual scientific researches and issues analysis.  As a methodology for the study of liberalism, the ideas of the multiple modernity of the famous Israeli sociologist Shmoel Eisenstadt, as well as the concept of the fluid modernity of the modern British thinker Zygmunt Bauman, were used. A key role is also played by the developments of American researchers – the “Thomas theorem” by William Isaac Thomas and the theory of “self-incarnated prophecy” by Robert Merton. Among the works of representatives of the philosophy of pragmatism, the works of William James, John Dewey and Richard Rorty will be considered, as well as the works of researchers of their work, such as J. Bird, D. Hildebrand, J. McGowan, S. Siegfried, E. Suckiel, as well as such Ukrainian researchers as M. Boichenko and especially Z. Dubniak. The concept of general social atmosphere, proposed by M. Maffesoli, also plays an important role in understanding the nature of the volunteer movement.

 Setting objectives. This determines the need, based on the analysis of the works of key representatives of the philosophy of pragmatism, to find out how, in the conditions of today's fast-changing, risk-filled society, the ways and goals of the individual's self-realization of their own freedom are significantly clarified, in particular in the field of the volunteer movement.

The statement of basic materials. A key concept in the pragmatic reconstruction of liberalism is the concept of pragmatic faith: people unite in communities to achieve a new social reality – the one in which they believe – and achieve this goal through their actions under the influence of their faith. William James emphasizes the priority of a person's beliefs over valueless knowledge, John Dewey demonstrates the power of collective efforts in defense of faith in democracy, Richard Rorty proves the right of an individual to embody his faith even against the existing system of social institutions.

Conclusions. The methodology of the study of freedom in its specific interpretation in the volunteer movement finds the best examples of the understanding of civil freedom in the concepts of the classics of the philosophy of pragmatism, which set themselves the goal of giving higher efficiency to the values of liberalism. Particularly valuable are the principles of contextualizing the application of freedom, following convictions as a basis for finding rational practical solutions, informal and non-standard combination of collective efforts for common goals and protection of common values, as well as the principle of contingency of participation in social projects.

Key words: freedom, pragmatic version of liberalism, volunteer movement, pragmatic faith, political freedom

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