Stepanova Natalia

The problem of studying the spiritual foundations of the inner freedom of the individual in russian psychology

Abstract

Internal freedom is understood by most modern Russian authors as the achievement of a highly organised self-governing successful personality, but the spiritual component of internal freedom is insuffi ciently studied, which makes the understanding of the phenomenon of freedom in psychology one-sided and limited. This article presents an analysis of the legacy of L. S. Vygotsky and L. I. Bozhovich in terms of understanding of the grounds and driving forces of the phenomenon of self-liberation. L. S. Vygotsky considered all psychology the science of freedom. He understood the essence and content of the process of human self-liberation as the desire for conscious and meaningful movement in the living space to achieve the public good, based on the power of reason, will and motivation. L. S. Vygotsky's ideas about inner “freedom for”, meaningfulness of life, self-regulation and self-transcendence, in many respects identical to the ideas of modern existentialist psychologists, found their continuation in the concept of personality of L. I. Bozhovich. She considers free a harmonious, internally consistent personality, aspiring to the realisation of universal values, and as ontogenetic stages of development of internally free personality. Her works describe the stages of development of the will, the highest of which is post-spontaneity, which implies the realisation of the highest human values and meanings without the internal struggle of motives, which is the essence of true spiritual inner freedom. The ideas of L. I. Bozhovich about the developed morality, the priority of universal values in the harmonious internally free personality, living for the benefi t of others, remained without due attention. Modern authors, following their foreign colleagues, shift the emphasis in the study of freedom towards awareness, subjectivity and self-determination. The most complete inner freedom as a manifestation of spirituality is presented in the approach of V. Frankl, but his ideas are largely complementary to the ideas of L. S. Vygotsky, L. I. Bozhovich and a number of other Russian philosophers and psychologists who emphasise the importance of spiritual determination. Based on the analysis, the article proposes the author's defi nition of inner freedom and its spiritual foundations and shows that spirituality can be the main mechanism for the development of inner freedom, allowing one to realise the truly human in a person. Such emphasis in the study of the phenomenon of freedom will signifi cantly enrich the methodological basis of the psychological concept of inner freedom and make a signifi cant step towards the universalisation of this concept.

Keywords

psychology of freedom, inner freedom, self-liberation, spirituality, spiritual determination of freedom, universal values, self-transcendence, self-regulation, meaningfulness, personality

References

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Information about the author

Stepanova Natalia

Academic Degree: Candidate of Sciences* in Psychological Sciences;
Place of work: School No. 1360 of Moscow; 21A Krasnobogatyrskaya Str., 107564, Moscow, Russian Federation;
Post: educational psychologist;
ORCID: 0000-0003-0976-996X;
Email: natalia0663@yandex.ru.

*According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, the degree of Candidate of Sciences (Cand.Sc.) belongs to ISCED level 8 — "doctoral or equivalent", together with PhD, DPhil, D.Lit, D.Sc, LL.D, Doctorate or similar.