Philosophy Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [determinism]

The doctrine that every event has a cause. The main philosophical interest of determinism has been in assessing its implications for free will.

The doctrine that every event's causation can be understood wholly in terms of the consequences of past events or the deterministic will of an all powerful being.

One common version states that for every event, there is an antecedent state, related in such a way that it would break a law of nature for the antecedent state to exist yet the event not to happen.

This is a purely metaphysical claim, and carries no implications for whether we can in principle predict the event - e.g., chaos (i.e., it is not an epistemic claim).

The main philosophical interest of determinism has been in assessing its implications for free will. Thus, it is also often an integral question in philosophy of mind (especially in terms of the relationship of mind and body) and philosophy of religion.

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How should you respond to criminal behavior if you believe in hard determinism?

There are several ideas on hard determinism, but the core seems to be that in an interconnected existence, there can be no "actions" (free will), but only "reactions" (determinism). An action of free will would have to be a separate entity outside…
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How do defenders of libertarian freewill reconcile it with constraints imposed by the laws of physics?

Libertarian freewill is the position that we have some measure of metaphysical freewill. Per this position, a free agent at a given point in time is able to freely select a course of action among several possible courses of action, i.e. given the…
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Does True Randomness actually exist?

I tend to think of randomness as a lack of complete information when it comes to knowing something. If we look at the history of probability theory it centers on a lack of knowing the exact outcome of certain games/gambling bets. This I have no…
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What is the point of creating for an omniscient being?

I read a book about determinism and free will that argued an all knowing / all powerful God and free will are incompatible, because if God knows our future then our actions are determined, hence no free will possible. My question, however, is this.…
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Does a rock falling down a hill perform computation?

Imagine a rock in the shape of a chessboard with pieces in a certain configuration. Throw the rock down a particular hill. The hill is shaped in such a way that, given the correct throw, the chessboard-rock will be chipped and flinted in a…
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Why do people still believe in free will?

If we assume that macro-scale matter like we have in brains only acts in ways that are caused, then would not all actions in human behavior be a result of prior physical events beginning with development from conception? Alternatively, if you look…
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Why do modern materialists tend to favor determinism?

There seems to be no logical link between matter and determinism (or ideal and indeterminism for that matter). And libertarian free will was first articulated by a materialist, Epicurus, and is defended at length in Lucretius's famous poem. The…
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Is there a causal influence of the mental on the physical?

Regardless of whether the mental is ultimately physical or not... doesn't the impact of human knowledge (science, mathematics, etc) on the world (ie: technology, agriculture, basically everything), give us proof that the mental affects the…
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What happens when a conscious, intelligent being interprets a deterministic model?

Sorry, I’m new here, and I’ve truly no experience with philosophy. However, I’ve had this problem that I’ve been thinking about for awhile concerning a deterministic model for the universe. Consider a hypothetical, experimental world where the…
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Difference between ‘determinism’ and ‘fatalism’

What is the difference between determinism and fatalism?
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How can a person truly love another if hard determinism is true?

I have a wife and two kids. According to hard determinism, I was determined since time began moving forward to marry my wife and have my children. Every moment we share together was also predetermined, and my affection for them is a chemical…
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How does Quantum Mechanics affect the modern account of free will and determinism?

In the edition of Feb/Mar 2016 of the Philosophy Now Magazine says: Under Feel Free to Differ it says: [...] Determinism itself comes in different flavours. Hard determinism of the most absolute sort is the theory that the entire history of the …
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What is a mathematical description of free will?

This is following in the line of this question asking what the difference between free-will and randomness/indeterminism is: What is the difference between free-will and randomness and or non-determinism? Now, I can describe both determinism and…
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Any argument against determinism?

I'm a very logical person. I like mathematics, software engineering, physics... everything in that area. Also I'm an anti-theist. My understanding of the universe: If you would take every atom (as in the smallest particle) in our universe plus…
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Strawson on Free Will: What are the most persuasive challenges to his position?

There are arguments against free will and moral responsibility which rely on strict causal determinism and/or determinism modified by quantum randomness. Criticisms of these views raise doubt as to our ability to adequately measure the incredibly…
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