Systemic Determinism

Reader's Guide

It distinguishes causal determinism (every event results from preceding events) from nomological determinism (predictability based on natural laws). It defines predeterminism as the idea that all events are determined in advance, sometimes biologically or genetically, and notes its frequent use in contexts of heredity. The text explains fatalism as a form where fate has arbitrary power and does not necessarily follow causal laws, distinguishing it from standard determinism. Adequate determinism is described as the view that quantum indeterminacy can be ignored for macroscopic events because random events average out. Stephen Hawking's perspective on determined probabilities in quantum mechanics is also included, stating nature determines the probability of various futures rather than certainties.

Did You Know?

• Laplace's demon is a thought experiment positing that an omniscient observer knowing all particle positions and velocities could predict the future entirely.
• Augustine of Hippo is asserted by some to have introduced theological determinism into Christianity in 412 CE, whereas prior Christian authors supported free will against Stoic and Gnostic determinism.
• Leucippus claimed there are no uncaused events and that everything occurs for a reason and by necessity.
• Friedrich Nietzsche explained that human beings are determined by their bodies and are subject to its passions, impulses, and instincts.