W

Wang Chung (27–104)

Chinese materialist philosopher. In his main work Animadversions (Lun Heng) he resolutely opposed mysticism and idealism and the doctrine of "heaven" as the supreme guiding force that controls the origin and development of things and phenomena. According to Wang's teaching, everything in the world has its source in the basic material elements, the ch'i. Man is part of nature and comes into being as a result of the concentration of the ch'i. Dispersal of the ch'i leads to death and destruction.

Wang declared that the process of cognition began with man's sensory perception, and rejected the idea of "innate" knowledge. He opposed the theory that the life of society depends on spontaneous natural phenomena. History, he said, develops in cycles; periods of greatness are followed by decline, and then the process repeats itself.

War

Armed struggle as a means of effecting the policy of a class. The scientific explanation of war was provided by Marxism. Marx and Engels disproved the theory that war is eternal and inevitable and showed that wars come about because of the domination of private ownership and the policy of the exploiting classes.

In Marxism-Leninism a distinction is made between two kinds of wars: unjust and just. Wars that continue the policy of the exploiting classes, consolidate their rule, and add to their wealth are unjust. Wars that have the aim of liberating the people from class and national oppression are just. In the age of imperialism, world wars occurred owing to the formation of a world capitalist system of economy and the urge felt by the bourgeoisie to seize markets and colonies.

War has always been hated by the mass of the people, but it is only since the setting up of the world's first socialist country that the forces of war have been opposed by an organised force of peace. As the sole reasonable alternative to war Lenin evolved the principle of peaceful coexistence. Although after the Great October Socialist Revolution imperialism ceased to be a social system exercising undivided control over the destinies of the world, world war remained inevitable because imperialism was economically and militarily stronger than the USSR. But when socialism became a world system, war ceased to be inevitable.

The problem of war and peace is the fundamental issue of modern times; in the age of missiles and thermonuclear weapons it is a question of life or death for millions of people. The proletariat, and indeed all progressive mankind, condemn war in general, making exception only for just wars of liberation and defence, which nations that become the victims of aggression are compelled to wage. Marxists disagree with the position of those who wish, or justify the wish, to resolve all contradictions between socialism and capitalism, all conflicts arising between nations by means of war.

The growing superiority of the forces of socialism over the forces of imperialism, of the forces of peace over the forces of war, provides a guarantee that war will disappear from the life of society with the result that all controversial issues will be settled peacefully. The historic mission of communism is to abolish war and bring about eternal peace on Earth.

Wave-Corpuscular Dualism

A specific property of microscopic objects, treated in quantum mechanics and implying the possession by these objects of properties belonging to both particles and waves. An exact physical formula of wave-corpuscular dualism is contained in the equations of de Broglie. Wave-corpuscular dualism symbolises the close inner relationship between the macrocosm and the microcosm and the peculiarities of their unity.

The positivist interpretation of wave-corpuscular dualism denies any inner unity of the wave and particle properties of microscopic objects and declares them to be mutually exclusive and merely mutually complementary (see Complementarity Principle). A consistently materialistic interpretation of wave-corpuscular dualism, as developed by Langevin and Vavilov and other scientists, views the microparticle as being neither corpuscle nor wave, but something else, their synthesis, though tangible evidence of this has been so far lacking. Such evidence is beginning to be furnished by the new theories of elementary particles.

Weber, Max (1864–1920)

German sociologist. Associated with Neo-Kantianism and positivism. According to Weber, the essence of any socio-economic phenomenon is determined not so much by its objective aspects as by the viewpoint of the investigator, the cultural significance attached to any given process. Proceeding from the assumption that the social sciences study only individual aspects of various phenomena, Weber tried to substitute for scientific abstraction the arbitrary notion of an "ideal type". This "ideal type", he claimed, had no basis in reality, but was merely a device for systematising and comprehending individual facts, a concept against which the investigator could measure reality.

The weight of Weber's ideas was directed against Marxist teaching on socio-economic formations. His theory of "ideal types" and also his conception of the "plurality" of historical factors had considerable influence on contemporary bourgeois sociology. Works: Der Nationalstaat und die Volkswirtschaftspolitik (1895), Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus (1905), Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (1921), etc.

Weitling, Wilhelm (1808–1871)

First German utopian communist. A tailor by profession, he was active in organising and spreading his ideas among the workers. He took part in the work of the secret Bund der Gerechten, for which in 1838 he wrote its manifesto Die Menschheit wie sie ist und wie sein sollte. Having emigrated to the United States, he founded a commune there, which eventually collapsed.

His main work was Garantien der Harmonie und Freiheit (1842), which Marx called the German workers' unexampled and brilliant debut in literature. Weitling's aim was to organise a communist society, which would ensure harmony between the abilities and desires of every individual and society as a whole. He described in detail the structure of such a society, foreseeing the difficulties of the transition period, for which he considered the best form of government would be dictatorship. The sciences would play a leading part in the future society and these would all be guided by philosophy.

Weitling divided the sciences into three types: (1) philosophical medicine, embracing all manifestations of man's physical and spiritual life; (2) philosophical physics; (3) philosophical mechanics. Weitling made no secret of his dislike of abstract philosophy and particularly Hegel's philosophy. He considered that communist society would be established through revolution and the formation of a revolutionary government. He also recognised the possibility of a peaceful transfer of power. While criticising religion, he used the Gospel to propagate the ideas of communism. He was imprisoned from 1843 to 1844 for writing and publishing his Das Evangelium des armen Sünders.

Welfare State

A social myth widespread in modern capitalist society and intensively disseminated by the theoreticians of reformism. In substance, it avers that having become "people's capitalism", the capitalism of the mid-20th century has created the welfare state, a supra-class power capable of overcoming anarchy of production and economic crises, doing away with unemployment and ensuring the welfare of all working people.

Ideologists and politicians of Social-Democracy point to the somewhat improved position of working people in the developed capitalist countries after the 2nd World War and to the social reforms enacted by bourgeois and reformist governments under pressure from the international working-class movement, and claim that the welfare state is socialism or, in any case, a "threshold to socialism". The facts repudiate the welfare state myth. Unemployment and poverty hound hundreds of thousands and even millions of people in such highly developed countries as the United States. Social security measures are, as a rule, enacted there at the expense of the working people themselves. Democratic reforms are half-hearted and are often reduced to nought by the dominant political regime.

In substance, the so-called welfare state is a system of state-monopoly measures designed to strengthen capitalism and weaken the determination of the working class to work for socialism.

Westerners

Proponents of a trend of Russian social thought in the 1840s. They called for the elimination of feudal backwardness and Russia's development along the "Western", i.e., bourgeois road. In the mid-1840s the Moscow group of Westerners included A. Herzen, T. Granovsky, N. Ogaryov, V. Botkin, K. Kavelin, N. Ketcher, and Y. Korsh. V. Belinsky was closely associated with it. I. Turgenev, P. Annenkov, and I. Panayev also subscribed to the views of the Westerners.

The Westerners condemned the autocratic feudal system, and advocated the Europeanisation of Russia which had an objectively bourgeois content, but there were also differences among the Westerners. At first the polemic (on aesthetical, philosophical and then socio-political questions) was overshadowed by joint action: the disputes did not go beyond the groups of Westerners. But towards the end of the 1840s two main trends crystallised: Belinsky, Herzen and Ogaryov came forward as materialists, revolutionary democrats and socialists; Kavelin, Botkin, Korsh, and others defended religion and idealism and reflected the line of bourgeois-landowner liberalism in political questions.

Some present-day falsifiers of the history of Russian social thought (H. Kohn, S. R. Tompkins, A. Schelting, and others), purposely distorting the content of the term Westerners, use it to misrepresent the history of Russia. They claim that the Cadets (Constitutional-Democrats) and Mensheviks continued the traditions of Belinsky and Herzen and call them Westerners, while declaring the Bolsheviks to be the ideological heirs of the Slavophiles.

Wetter, Gustav (1911–1991)

Austrian Catholic philosopher, Neo-Thomist, Jesuit, one-time professor at the Papal Oriental Institute in Rome. His works distort the history and theory of dialectical materialism and various contemporary theories in the natural sciences. Arguing against the Marxist division of philosophy into materialist and idealist, Wetter tries to maintain a "neutral" line which he calls "Neo-Thomist realism" (see Neo-Thomism), and which is in fact a theological form of objective idealism.

Whitehead, Alfred North (1861–1947)

Logician, mathematician, and philosopher, professor of London and Harvard universities. Jointly with Bertrand Russell, Whitehead wrote a fundamental book on mathematical logic, Principia Mathematica (3 vols., 1910-13). Attempts to overcome the crisis in physics by recognising the changeability of nature, led Whitehead to understand nature as a "process". Defining nature as "experience", Whitehead arrived at neo-realism which combines elements of materialism and idealism. Later on Whitehead went over to objective idealism.

According to Whitehead, the world process is the "experience of God" in which universals, passing from the ideal world ("primordial nature of God") to the physical ("consequent nature of God"), qualitatively determine "events". In sociology, Whitehead combined recognition of ideas as the directing force of history with raising to an absolute the role of outstanding personalities ("men of science") who ultimately govern the world. His main work Process and Reality (1929).

Wiener, Norbert (1894–1964)

American mathematician, Doctor of Philosophy, founder of cybernetics. His early works are mainly concerned with mathematics. He was also interested in theoretical physics and achieved important results in mathematical analysis and probability theory. The study of the functioning of electronic control and computing machines and his research (in collaboration with the Mexican physiologist Dr. A. Rosenblueth) into the physiology of the nervous system led Wiener to formulate the ideas and principles of cybernetics (Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, 1948). His general philosophical views are eclectic; he himself regards them as belonging to existentialism.

Will

A person's conscious determination to carry out a given action or actions. Idealism regards will as a property independent of external influences and circumstances and not connected with objective necessity, and men's actions and behaviour as manifestations of the idealistically comprehended "free" will. In fact, it is the objective world that is the source of man's purposive acts of will.

Seen through the prism of the subject's internal conditions (needs, interests, desires, knowledge, etc.), the objective world enables him to set himself various aims, take decisions and act in one manner or another. The will that chooses merely on the basis of subjective desires (see Voluntarism, Existentialism) is not free; that will is free which chooses correctly, in accordance with objective necessity. As Engels put it, "Freedom of the will ... means nothing but the capacity to make decisions with knowledge of the subject." (Anti-Dühring, p. 158.)

The volitional character of an action shows itself most clearly when a person has to overcome certain external or internal obstacles to achieve his aim. The first stage of a volitional action lies in the posing and apprehension of the aim; this is followed by the decision to act and the choice of the most expedient means of acting. An action can be described as an act of will only if it is the execution of a decision. Will-power is not a gift of nature. Skill and ability in choosing an aim, taking correct decisions and carrying them out, completing what has been begun, are the fruit of knowledge, experience, education, and self-education.

Winckelmann, Johann Joachim (1717–1768)

German advocate of enlightenment, historian and theorist of art. His main work, Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums (1764), was the first attempt at scientific research into the history of art. The development of art, according to Winckelmann, is determined both by natural factors (climate) and by social factors (influence of the "state system and administration and the pattern of thought which they call into being"). The "noble simplicity and sublime majesty" of ancient Greek art, born of freedom, formed his aesthetic ideal, which he called upon others to follow. His aesthetic views had a great influence on the subsequent development of aesthetics and art.

Windelband, Wilhelm (1848–1915)

German idealist philosopher, founder of the so-called Baden school of Neo-Kantianism. Historian of philosophy, logic, ethics, and the theory of values. Treating the history of philosophy from the standpoint of Kantianism, he attempted to justify the difference of method between the natural and socio-historical sciences. According to Windelband, the natural sciences are "nomothetic", i.e., they seek to establish general laws, while the historical sciences are "ideographic", i.e., deal with the particular, the individual.

Based on a mistaken counterposition of the general to the particular, this distinction was aimed against the Marxist teaching on the objective laws of historical development. Main works: Geschichte der alten Philosophie (1888), Geschichte der neueren Philosophie (two vols., 1878-80), Präludien (1884), and Geschichte und Naturwissenschaft (1894).

Winstanley, Gerrard (1609–1676)

English 17th century utopian, ideologist of the extreme Left trend in the English bourgeois revolution; one of the first to champion the interests of the expropriated masses; a ruined small tradesman and member of dissident sects. In 1648, Winstanley adopted the positions of rationalism. He held that the theory of natural law was a negation of private property and treated in a materialist way questions of ethics and morality.

His main work, The Law of Freedom in a Platform, or True Magistracy Restored (1651) is permeated with the ideas of egalitarian communism which Winstanley wanted to be applied by peaceful means. He advocated the socialisation of land and all natural resources as the main foundation of collective property of the people. In his opinion, the ideal system should be based on the small peasant and artisan economy. The household is the main cell of society. The purpose of production is to ensure abundance of material wealth.

Winstanley's ideal system combined features of the mode of production existing in England at that time with the communist principle of distribution through direct exchange of products. The political ideal was a consistently democratic republic. Winstanley's utopian ideas were intertwined with reflections of the class struggle of his time.

Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1889–1951)

Austrian philosopher and logician, one of the founders of analytical philosophy. In his Tractatus logico-philosophicus (1921) he proposed the idea of a "logically perfect", or "ideal", language, the prototype of which he saw in the language of mathematical logic. This idea is an unjustified attempt to conceive all knowledge of the world as a sum of elementary assertions connected by the logical operations of conjunction and disjunction, etc.

Wittgenstein substantiates the logico-epistemological conception ontologically, in the form of the doctrine of logical atomism. Everything that does not come within the pattern of the "ideal" language—traditional philosophy, ethics, etc.—is declared void of scientific meaning; philosophy is considered possible only as "criticism of language". Refusing to accept the idea of an objective reality existing independently of "language", of consciousness, Wittgenstein arrives at solipsism.

The ideas of the Tractatus were taken up by logical positivism. Some of Wittgenstein's ideas on logic (use of the tabular, or matrix, method of defining the meaning of truth, probability, etc.) influenced the development of modern logic. His views, as summed up in Philosophical Investigations (published posthumously in 1953) have influenced linguistic philosophy.

Wolff, Christian von (1679–1754)

German idealist philosopher, who systematised and popularised the philosophy of Leibniz. Professor at the University of Halle. Having stripped Leibniz's teaching of its dialectics, Wolff developed a metaphysical teleology, according to which the general connection and harmony of the Universe are explained as being in accordance with aims set by God. Wolff also systematised and revived scholasticism.

He founded his system on the method of rationalist deduction, which reduced all the truths of philosophy to the laws of formal logic. His key to all philosophical problems was the law of contradiction. His work had an important effect in spreading knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, etc. Politically, he was on the side of enlightened absolutism. His main work was Vernünftige Gedanken von den Kräften des menschlichen Verstandes (1712).

World Outlook

The system of views, concepts, and notions about the surrounding world. In the broad sense, world outlook comprises the sum total of all views of man on the surrounding world: philosophical, socio-political, ethical, aesthetical, scientific, etc. The core of every world outlook (in the narrower sense of the term) is made up of philosophical views. The pivotal problem of world outlook is the fundamental problem of philosophy. Depending on its solution philosophy is divided into two main types of world outlook: materialist and idealist.

World outlook is the reflection of social being, and depends upon the level of human knowledge, acquired in a given historical period, and also upon the social system. In a class society, world outlook bears a class character, and the world outlook of the ruling class is dominant there. World outlook is of great practical importance, because it determines human attitude toward the surrounding reality and serves as a guide to action.

The scientific world outlook reveals the objective laws of nature and society and expresses the interests of the progressive forces; it also promotes general progress. The reactionary, unscientific world outlook serves the decaying classes and arrests social development; it defends the interests of the exploiting classes and diverts the workers from the fight for their emancipation.

A consistently scientific world outlook is the communist, Marxist-Leninist world outlook, i.e., Marxism-Leninism, of which dialectical and historical materialism is the basis and an integral part. It expresses the interests of the proletariat, of all labouring masses, which coincide with the objective laws of social development. Born as a world outlook of the working class, Marxism-Leninism becomes the world outlook of the whole people.

The scientific truth of the Marxist-Leninist world outlook is confirmed by the whole history of human practice, the data of science and the victories of the working people of the USSR and other countries which have accomplished socialist revolutions and are building socialism and communism. The liberation from bourgeois ideology and the assimilation of the communist, Marxist-Leninist world outlook promote higher consciousness and greater activity of the working class in the building of communist society, in the fight for peace and happiness for all mankind.

World Socialist System

The social, economic, and political community of the free, sovereign nations advancing along the paths of socialism and communism. The socialist countries have the same type of economic foundation: social ownership of the means of production and socialist production relations, identical political foundation, and a state system of the same type—the people's power headed by the working class; Marxism-Leninism is their single ideological basis.

They have common interests in the defence of their revolutionary gains and national independence from the encroachments of the imperialist camp, and a single lofty aim—communism. On the strength of this, the World Socialist System has established within its framework an essentially new type of international relations which has no precedent in history. The characteristic peculiarities of the relations among the peoples of the socialist countries are the following: fraternal political, economic and cultural unity; genuine equality; absence of subjugation and exploitation of one country by another; mutual comradely support and reciprocal aid.

The sum total of economic relations among the socialist countries forms the world system of socialist economy. Each socialist country plans and develops her own national economy. However, the economic development of each of the states belonging to the world socialist system does not proceed in isolation. It goes hand-in-hand with the constantly growing exchange of activities between all socialist countries, with comradely co-ordination of their economic plans. Each socialist country strives not only for the development of her own economy but also for the economic advance of the whole World Socialist System. In its turn, the might of the World Socialist System promotes the steady growth of each country's economy, ensures the economic independence and sovereignty of each of the socialist states.

At present the World Socialist System has entered upon a new phase of its development. The USSR is building communist society in all spheres. Other socialist countries are successfully laying the foundation of socialism, and some have already entered upon the period of building a developed socialist society. At this stage the development of the World Socialist System is characterised by a deeper division of labour between various countries, closer co-operation, and greater economic mutual assistance. The World Socialist System exerts a tremendous revolutionary influence on the further growth of the national liberation movement, on the development of the class struggle in all the capitalist countries.

Wundt, Wilhelm Max (1832–1920)

German psychologist, physiologist and idealist philosopher; professor of philosophy at Leipzig University; founder of experimental psychology. Wundt based his psychological studies on the theory of psycho-physical parallelism. Wundt's philosophical conceptions are an eclectic combination of Spinoza, Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, and others.

Wundt divided the process of cognition into three stages: first, immediate perception; second, rational cognition of definite sciences representing different points of view on the same object of investigation; third (cognition by reason), philosophical synthesis of knowledge, which is the subject of "metaphysics". According to Wundt, metaphysics transcended the dualism of natural science and psychology and achieved the fusion of materialism and idealism. Wundt defined being, the subject of metaphysics, as a volitional system of spiritual values. Lenin advanced strong arguments against Wundt in his book, Materialism and Empirio-Criticism.