Voluntarism vs. Volunteerism — What's the Difference?

The use of or reliance on voluntary action to maintain an institution, carry out a policy, or achieve an end.

Use of or reliance on volunteers, especially to perform social or educational work in communities.

A theory or doctrine that regards the will as the fundamental principle of the individual or of the universe.

(US) Reliance on volunteers to perform a social or educational function.

(US) A reliance on volunteers to support an institution or achieve an end; volunteerism.

The tendency to volunteer; the activity of volunteering.

(philosophy) A doctrine that assigns the most dominant position to the will rather than the intellect.

(politics) The political theory that a community is best organized by the voluntary cooperation of individuals, rather than by a government, which is regarded as being coercive by nature.

Any theory which conceives will to be the dominant factor in experience or in the constitution of the world; - contrasted with intellectualism. Schopenhauer and Fichte are typical exponents of the two types of metaphysical voluntarism, Schopenhauer teaching that the evolution of the universe is the activity of a blind and irrational will, Fichte holding that the intelligent activity of the ego is the fundamental fact of reality.

The principle or practice of depending on volunteers to support institutions or perform some desired action.

A political philosophy opposed to dependence on governmental action or support for social services that might be performed by private groups.