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- Determinism entails that, in a situation in which a person makes a certain decision or performs a certain action, it is impossible that he or she could have made any other decision or performed any other action. In other words, it is never true that people could have decided or acted otherwise than they actually did.
www.britannica.com/topic/determinismDeterminism | Definition, Philosophers, & Facts | Britannica
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Sep 6, 2024 · Determinism, in philosophy and science, the thesis that all events in the universe, including human decisions and actions, are causally inevitable. Determinism is usually understood to preclude free will because it entails that humans cannot decide or act otherwise than they do.
- Biological Determinism
biological determinism, the idea that most human...
- Compatibilism
compatibilism, Thesis that free will, in the sense required...
- Indeterminism
Other articles where indeterminism is discussed:...
- Biological Determinism
- I. Definition
- II. Types of Determinism
- III. Determinism Versus Free Will
- IV. Controversies About Determinism
- V. Quotes About Determinism
- VI. Determinism in Pop Culture
- VII. The History of Determinism
Do you believe you have free will? Yet at the same time, if you believe in science then all events have causes, following natural laws; in which case, how can you have free will? Are not your body and brain physical systems, fully determined by natural law? Determinism is the philosophy that all events, whether involving inanimate matter or conscio...
Our discussion so far has concerned causal determinism (or physical determinism) which is normally associated with two positions: 1. nomological determinism– the claim that all events are caused by previous events according to rigid laws, such that all events are, in a sense, inevitable. 2. neccesitarianism – that there are no real possibilities; t...
You might think these are opposites; however, philosophers recognize four possible points of view regarding the two—both true, both false, and one or the other. Compatibilism, the theory that they can both be true at the same time, is popular, since most people want to believe in both. Then again, the theory that they are both false is also popular...
Does quantum mechanics necessarily mean that the universe is non-deterministic?
The laws of quantum mechanics (QM), the most thoroughly proven theory of all time, deny that specific events are predictable or determined at the quantum scale (smaller than an atom). According to QM, only the probabilities of events are determined, while specific events are random. Whether an atom will decay at a certain time, or where on a photographic plate a photon will hit, can never be predicted, no matter how much you know about previous events, except statistically. You can say approx...
Quote #1:
In this quotation, Max Planck, one of quantum theory’s founders, ironically asserts that absolute determinism must be at the foundation of every scientific theory. Albert Einstein and many others have shared this view and refused to accept quantum indeterminism. They refuse because the possibility of scientific truth seems to depend on predictability; if certain causes don’t always lead to certain effects, how can anything be proven? Nevertheless, efforts to remove indeterminacy from quantum...
Quote #2:
In this incredibly pithy statement, Schopenhauer distinguishes between a way in which we are free and a way in which we are not. Whether determinism is true or not, we do as we will, in the everyday sense, all the time. Yet, unless our understanding of nature is very wrong, we cannot choose our psychology; what we “will” is what we were born and raised and shaped to will, by our genes and our experiences.
Example #1:The Matrix
Ever a rich source of philosophy, the Matrix films touched on determinism in many ways, none more so than through the character of the Oracle, a piece of living software that appears to the hero as a wise motherly figure who can see the future. The Matrixtake on determinism is exactly that implied by the philosophy of artificial intelligence – that all events and choices are pre-determined as if created by software in a machine. And this is one of the most recent speculations about the nature...
Example #2:Minority Report
Minority Reportwas one of the many blockbuster films based on the works of Philip K. Dick, the most philosophically significant science-fiction author of the twentieth century. This film deals directly and dramatically with the conflict between free will and determinism; future murders can be reliably predicted and therefore stopped—by arresting the murderers before they kill. But if they can do that, then it means that the murders were not pre-determined, so how can we justify incarcerating...
Perhaps the earliest beliefs about determinism can be seen in the ancient practice of divination (‘fortune telling’) which assumes that the future is foreseeable—however, supernaturally so. It is difficult to think of a culture which has not engaged in some form of divination, such as reading animal entrails, tea leaves, tarot cards, or palms. One ...
Jan 23, 2003 · Causal Determinism. First published Thu Jan 23, 2003; substantive revision Thu Sep 21, 2023. Causal determinism is, roughly speaking, the idea that every event is necessitated by antecedent events and conditions together with the laws of nature. The idea is ancient, but first became subject to clarification and mathematical analysis in the ...
Oct 30, 2020 · Ancient Theories of Freedom and Determinism. First published Fri Oct 30, 2020. From at least Aristotle onwards, ancient philosophers engaged in systematic reflection on human agency.
Oct 10, 2023 · Psychologists who take the free will view suggest that determinism removes freedom and dignity and devalues human behavior. By creating general laws of behavior, deterministic psychology underestimates the uniqueness of human beings and their freedom to choose their own destiny.
Determinism is the philosophical view that all events in the universe, including human decisions and actions, are causally inevitable. [1] Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes overlapping motives and considerations.
Jan 7, 2002 · Instead, we focus on arguments that human beings lack free will, against the background assumption that freedom and causal determinism are incompatible. The most radical a priori argument is that free will is not merely contingently absent but is impossible.
