Understanding Doxastic Voluntarism

What is Doxastic Voluntarism?

Doxastic voluntarism is the philosophical doctrine in which people have voluntary control over their beliefs.

I believe this is just a fancy word used to describe the utility of self-awareness and the value of utilizing the awareness to choose our vices and mold our worldviews towards one that fits best with who we truly are.

The process of utilization may not be easy, depending on which stage you are in. Imagine you reach a state of self-awareness suddenly at the age of 12 after having relied on your parents and society for most of your existence. The idea of having the autonomy to concretize an identity can be daunting. It is usually much easier to just have others choose for you who you should be.

The process itself is gradual: from a young human getting exposed to the vast complexity of life and from there making specific choices to try to understand who they are. In essence, the most optimal approach is to be in a constant state of change, as the alternative would be to make a single final choice and never
change, which is unrealistic.

With the complexity that exists in human cultures, practicing direct doxastic voluntarism could give one more autonomy with experimenting and refactoring their belief systems to customize the values that work well with one’s inner world.

The aim is reducing inner turmoil and letting people just be based on what deeply resonates with them, as long as they are not causing harm to their environment and the people in it. It could serve as a gateway to growing one’s character and mindset.

This is an interesting idea as it makes us question if we as a society were to consider introducing a system that teaches people to critically think. This system would embody the spirit of doxastic voluntarism, to allow people to question and choose what resonates closest to their spirit rather than mechanically indoctrinate people with traditions and assign them dogmatic identities. As humans, we would learn to trust in ourselves more and be closer to our authentic characters in order to live a more purposeful life, rather than be miserably stuck in our factory-setting identities.

As Muhammad Ali put it in simple words – “I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be who I wanna be and think what I wanna think.”

She writer Neelofer Hilal is a passionate freelance writer, avid traveler, podcaster, futurist, dreamer, and social science enthusiast.