Difference between revisions of "Determinism"
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=== Free Will === | === Free Will === | ||
Determinism itself makes no claims to the existence or non-existence of free will. However, many philosophers accept determinism as true, and then show that determinism either implies that we have free will or that we do not have free will. The argument for why determinism implies we do not have free will, I think, is intuitive. If the entire future of the universe is predetermined, that means nothing we can do can change that future state. In essence, nothing we do not have the power to change anything in the future because the future was already predetermined. Thus, we cannot exercise free will because we are not free – all of our actions, including our future ones, have already been predetermined. | Determinism itself makes no claims to the existence or non-existence of free will. However, many philosophers accept determinism as true, and then show that determinism either implies that we have free will or that we do not have free will. | ||
The argument for why determinism implies we do not have free will, I think, is intuitive. Philosophers who argue that determinism implies no free will are called ''hard determinists''. If the entire future of the universe is predetermined, that means nothing we can do can change that future state. In essence, nothing we do not have the power to change anything in the future because the future was already predetermined. Thus, we cannot exercise free will because we are not free – all of our actions, including our future ones, have already been predetermined. | |||
=== Moral Responsibility === | === Moral Responsibility === | ||
Revision as of 17:38, 3 January 2022
Overview
Determinism
Determinism, simply put, is the idea that all events have been predetermined since the beginning of the universe, which implies that the human will does not have control over its actions. More formally, if we fully understand both the laws of nature and the total state of the universe at some time , determinism implies we would be able to know the state of the universe at some other time with complete certainty.
This idea might seem intuitive. Although we currently do not understand all of the laws of physics, conceivably, we might reach a point where we do understand the complete laws of physics. With that information, we could theoretically predict all of the interactions between the atoms that build the universe, and we could figure out exactly what state these atoms would be in at any time in the future.
Free Will
Determinism itself makes no claims to the existence or non-existence of free will. However, many philosophers accept determinism as true, and then show that determinism either implies that we have free will or that we do not have free will.
The argument for why determinism implies we do not have free will, I think, is intuitive. Philosophers who argue that determinism implies no free will are called hard determinists. If the entire future of the universe is predetermined, that means nothing we can do can change that future state. In essence, nothing we do not have the power to change anything in the future because the future was already predetermined. Thus, we cannot exercise free will because we are not free – all of our actions, including our future ones, have already been predetermined.