The phenomenon of fanaticism has roots as ancient as religion. Surprisingly, the history of fanaticism was initially connected precisely with the religious sphere of people’s lives until the 17th century. Now the concept of fanaticism has expanded significantly beyond religion. Modern psychologists agree that a fanatic is a person who is categorically committed to a specific ideological content, that is, obsessed with a certain idea.
Is fanaticism a vice or a virtue? History knows many cases of destructive fanaticism, but there are also examples of creative fanatics. Both individuals had a number of identical specific traits.
A fanatic contains colossal power, capable of causing destruction or doing good. How, given equal initial data on the personalities of fanatics, do their activities produce such diametrically different results? Let's try to figure it out in this article.
Fanatic - Who is this? Who are fanatics according to psychologists?
Fanatics are colorful, and humanity is more pleased to see gestures than to listen to arguments.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
- 1. Definition of fanaticism and its features
- 2.Examples of famous fanatics
- 3.Personality traits that contribute to the development of fanaticism
- 4. How a fanatic argues
- 5.Religious fanaticism
- 6.Conclusion
- Only introverts can see these hidden images, thanks to their unique powers of observation.
- Introvert - who is it? The whole truth about introverts
- "Rorschach stains" or a test for psychopaths
- Who do you see first? Your answer will show your personality!
- Psychology of color: How each color characterizes personality
Definition of fanaticism and its features
Let's imagine an ancient society in which religion is just being established as a mechanism for regulating social relations.
At that time, among the clergy in the Latin language, the concept fanaticus was born, which can be explained through such synonyms as “hypocrite”, “extravagant”, “inspired”. It gave the word “fanaticism” its modern form. Over time, fanatics began to be called people who demonstrate the same certain character traits as ancient religious fanatics, but who manifest themselves in other areas.
Depending on the area, psychologists distinguish the following types of fanaticism:
- religious;
- political-ideological;
- ethnic;
- National;
- racial;
- fanaticism in art;
- subcultural (for example, football fanaticism);
- scientific;
- fanaticism in the field of health.
That is, almost any sphere of social life can become fertile ground for the emergence of fanatical movements in it.
Note that every fanatic is a fan, but not every fan is a fanatic. The difference lies in the intensity of manifestations of devotion to an idea. The following system of classification of commitment to something is proposed depending on the strength of manifestations
from weak to strong:
- favor;
- devotion;
- obsession;
- insanity;
- fanaticism.
Fanaticism is an extreme form of belief and commitment.
Write in the comments what you would add or exclude from this list. There is no single approach to the definition of the term, methods of identifying the phenomenon and its assessment, therefore, for a better understanding, a list of specific characteristics of the extreme form of fanaticism was compiled:
- Having an idea and sticking to it.
- Passionate commitment to an idea. Illogical judgments and views, a mind clouded by emotions, inability to exercise moderation.
- Preventing the possibility of the existence of a different view of an idea, narrowness of thinking, defending one’s theory as the only true one, inability to compromise.
- The presence of a goal that is equated by a fanatic with the truth and the need for immediate movement towards it.
- The methods used to achieve a fanatical goal are unprincipled.
- A fanatic is a person who divides people into “friends” and “enemies”.
It would seem that all these are features of unhealthy behavior.
However, in the modern understanding, fanaticism is on the verge of normality and pathology. Fanaticism is not included in the modern classification of diseases in Russia, but it can be assumed that sometimes it manifests itself as a symptom of another disease, for example, schizophrenic disorder.
Examples of famous fanatics
Due to their characteristics, fanatical individuals often become known throughout the world.
The most striking example is Adolf Hitler, a racial bigot of the 20th century. Let's take a closer look at other examples. The fanatic was Heinrich Kramer, a medieval German activist of the Inquisition, author of the treatise “The Hammer of the Witches.” There are obvious fanatical traits in his personality. With his commitment to the Catholic Church and his desire to cleanse it of heresy, he justified brutal torture and murder. Although the methods of the witch trials were legal, it was impossible to logically prove the involvement of people in witchcraft. Therefore, Kramer decides to write a work on heretics, on the basis of which it will be possible to condemn as many people as possible. His sermons were more like the speech of a madman. He claimed that the end of the world was about to come at the hands of the devil, intimidated his flock at the slightest suspicion of heresy and did not look for a way to justify anyone.
An example of mass fanaticism is an event in France in the mid-16th century, called St. Bartholomew's Night. Then about 30 thousand Protestants were killed on religious grounds; Catholics were the aggressors. The event was not planned as a mass event, but the situation got out of control. The reason for this is the passionate hatred of one group of the population towards another. They only needed a reason to allow themselves inhuman behavior, justified by a good goal - proof of the superiority of their religion. This indicates the ease of spreading fanatical ideas, their “contagiousness.”
One example of useful bigotry is the behavior of Greta Thunberg. There is no need to talk about fanaticism in full here, but the girl still has some features of fanatical behavior. For example, Asperger's syndrome, which Thunberg suffers from, allows her to intensely focus on issues that are important to her, cutting off all related interests. Devotion to her ideas allowed her to become one of the leading popularizers of ecology.
Steve Jobs was a true fanatic of his business. He was preoccupied with creating the perfect product, his genius bordering on recklessness. For improper fulfillment of obligations by employees, Jobs could, without mincing words, explain who the fool was. For whom there really was no reality beyond the sphere of his professional hobbies.
As you can see, fanatics are different. Even the words “religious fanatic” and “fanatic of his cause” have different emotional connotations. A fanatic of his craft - a master, a professional who puts his work first. A religious fanatic is an inadequate follower of faith, a fanatic.
Are you a nihilist, or do you simply not care about everyone and everything?
Notes
- Soviet military encyclopedia, 1980.
- Dictionary of foreign words. 18th ed., erased. - M: Russian language, 1989. - P. 531. ISBN 5-200-00408-8 (erroneous)
- ↑ 1234
Fanaticism // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907. - Santayana, George. Life of Reason: Reason in Common Sense. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons)
- Thorne, Scott; Bruner, Gordon C. (2006). "An exploratory investigation of the characteristics of consumer fanaticism." Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal 9
(1): 51–72. DOI:10.1108/13522750610640558. ISSN 1352-2752. - ↑ 1 2
Berdyaev N. A. About fanaticism, orthodoxy and truth / “Man”, No. 9, 1997. - Berdyaev N. A. About the Fate of Russia: Self-Knowledge / Rostov-on-Don; Phoenix, 1997. P. 263.
- G. P. Chistyakov - philologist, historian, theologian. He was a priest of the Church of St. Cosmas and Damian in Moscow and rector of the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary at the Children's Republican Clinical Hospital, a member of the Board of the Russian Bible Society and the International Association for the Study of the Church Fathers, rector of the Public Orthodox University, founded by Archpriest A. Men, head of the department of cultural history at MIPT . He has given lectures at MIPT on the history of Christianity and theological thought since 1985.
- Chistyakov G. Where does this anger come from?
- ↑ 12
Religious extremism - Modern terrorism: myths and reality
- Mexican terrorists hijacked a plane
- A group of Christian terrorists who were preparing to start a war with the government is on trial in the United States.
- Optical sights for the Pentagon are “coded” by the New Testament
- US Marines fire rifles with Bible codes
Personality traits that contribute to the development of fanaticism
There are several prerequisites for the formation of a fanatical personality.
Having them does not mean at all that a person will necessarily become a fanatic. This is facilitated by a whole range of reasons, both internal (character, type of nervous system, ideology) and external (socio-cultural and historical aspect). So, the risk zone includes people who have the following character traits:
- Affectivity
. That is, emotional impulsiveness, the habit of making decisions rashly. - The need to find ideological support in life, self-doubt
. The lack of internal personal convictions and sufficient knowledge does not allow the fanatic to think critically and convinces him of the correctness of any, even the most mythical ideas. - Addiction proneness
. - Belonging to one of the character accentuations according to K. Leonhard
: demonstrative, dysthymic, excitable and stuck.
In addition, the world surrounding the future fanatic seems hostile to him, and the fanatic himself believes in personal responsibility to the world for changing it for the better.
Temperament - what is it in psychology?
Anger management
Can you identify a fanatic by his appearance? Yes and no. After all, fanatics can be passionate (and this is where they show themselves quite clearly) and cold, in whose behavior you can only notice some detachment.
It is difficult for ardent fanatics to keep “all their own” to themselves for a long time. They are prone to fits of anger, are often in an excited state, and look very tense when they still have to control themselves.
A fanatic is by no means a primitive creature; he can be quite friendly, especially when he wants to introduce you to his super idea. The only question is how much patience he will have if you turn out to be a “tough nut to crack.” Most likely, having realized that it will not be possible to “recruit” you, a fanatic of this kind will lose interest in you, so much so that he will no longer even maintain the appearance of a good relationship. Thus, a housemate or work colleague may stop greeting you after you politely but firmly reject his offer to take part in a meeting of some select society of like-minded people. However, attempts to convince you may continue. After all, there is a category of people for whom life is unthinkable without ardent faith in some idea. They are convinced that all other ideas and beliefs simply cannot be compared with their own.
Article on the topic
Children's aggression. Children today have no understanding of the value of life
Here's another real-life example. The boy Petya lived in a family literally under a portrait of Lenin, published the newspaper “Young Atheist” and believed that communism would be built any day now. But when he grew up and became Pyotr Petrovich, all these ideals of his became somehow unfashionable, as if they had faded with time. But the boy was not taught to live without faith and obsession with an idea, and, alas, he did not know how to generate his own thoughts. And today this citizen meticulously observes Orthodox fasts, fervently makes the sign of the cross at all active and inactive churches, tortures everyone near and far with observance of rituals, and tortures the “damned Gentiles” who are not amenable to agitation with insults and curses.
Like a fanatic argues
One of the main manifestations of fanatical behavior is the need to instill one’s ideology on others.
At the same time, persuasion is not built on the principle of dialogue or argument. In a dispute, it is important to critically evaluate judgments and to be able to convey and perceive someone else’s point of view. A dispute with a fanatic follows the principle of a one-goal game: he can convey his thoughts to his interlocutor, but his interlocutor cannot. A fanatic does not have logical arguments in his arsenal; he will prove his dogmas through other dogmas and refer to sources that cannot be verified. They often do not avoid the use of intimidation, force and personalization. A fanatic will not miss an opportunity to denigrate a point of view that contradicts his faith.
Profession and character of a person: feedback
Religious fanaticism
The most brutal form of fanaticism in human history is religious fanaticism.
Due to the impossibility of logical explanation of the entire religious sphere, cruel precedents arose in it more often than in others. These cases were attributed by fanatical activists to their commitment to God and their belief that this is what God wanted. A religious fanatic is not able to blame himself for excesses, because he is sure that he is acting for the benefit of a higher goal. The inability to prove the opposite led to such historical events as the Crusades, the Holy Inquisition, the anti-religious policy of the USSR, and modern Islamic wars. And this is just religious fanaticism, but there is also the Holocaust, the Ku Klux Klan, football fanatics and many others.
According to Berdyaev, fanatical faith is lack of faith. The faith of a fanatic has a negative orientation, it is weaker than that of any person tolerant of faith.
Fanaticism - what is it, how to get rid of fanaticism? – Let’s say no to diseases with iMes.website
- Fanaticism - what is it?
- Signs of fanaticism
- Fanaticism towards a person
- Sports fanaticism
- Religious fanaticism
- How do you become fanatics?
- How to get rid of fanaticism?
- Common Forms of Persuasion
- Causes of the disease
- Ways to combat religious fanaticism
- Attitude towards fanaticism of the Orthodox Church
- Jealousy is beyond reason
- Psychological nature of fanaticism
- Why is fanaticism dangerous?
- National fanaticism
- Is fanaticism curable?
- Religious fanaticism today
- How does it manifest itself?
- Origins of religious fanaticism
