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.
273
questions
1
vote
1
answer
177
views
Benjamin Libet Free Will Experiment
I'm unable to understand this GIF of Benjamin Libet's free will experiment.
Please look at the bottom left of the diagram and you'll see the numbers 1 followed by 2 and then by 3.
What I think is ...
- 4,361
7
votes
6
answers
1k
views
Are there different types of randomness?
The philosophy of probability is a subject on which many books and papers have been written, so the subject is obviously of interest to philosophers. There are many ways in which the subject of ...
- 333
0
votes
2
answers
163
views
Is life possible in a deterministic system?
A recent closed question asked 'What is life in a deterministic system?'.
The question seems to assume that life can exist in a deterministic system, but one answer and commenter in particular ...
- 4,435
0
votes
6
answers
223
views
What is Life in a Deterministic Universe? [closed]
In a deterministic universe, where every event is a result of preceding causes, the distinctions we make between living and non-living entities might be an illusion. Our perceptions—colors, sounds, ...
3
votes
5
answers
225
views
Is Everything in Time Subject to Cause and Effect?
Is the universe wholly deterministic, with every event in time being a result of a specific cause, or might some events occur independently of prior causes? I’m seeking to understand if cause and ...
4
votes
4
answers
890
views
Mechanistic view of the universe
I was chatgpting and found Encouragement of the Mechanistic View The mechanistic view in physics is driven by several key principles:
Determinism: The idea that the future behavior of a system can be ...
- 1,567
4
votes
7
answers
411
views
The Evolution of Free Will: Is Kevin Mitchell's argument robust?
In his lecture at the Royal Institution, Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin, asserts that humans have free will; that a human can be the 'locus of causal power'....
- 4,435
4
votes
1
answer
48
views
Defending Pereboom's deliberation-compatibilism from Widerker's objections, conceptualizing "agents" as Turing machines
I am trying to overcome David Widerker's objection to Derk Pereboom's account of rational deliberation. I include both Pereboom's account and Widerker's objection as a reminder/introduction at the end ...
- 141
1
vote
3
answers
232
views
How is determinism reconciled with errors?
If laws and initial conditions are enough to determine everything, how is this reconciled with the idea that quantities have limited precision (real numbers) and hence there will always be errors?
...
user74135
2
votes
1
answer
65
views
The Ancient Greeks: "running away from fate brings you directly into it". Can it be explained in secular terms? [closed]
Jews were not in agreement on the "predestiny":
There is some disagreement among scholars regarding the views on
predestination of first-century AD Judaism, out of which Christianity
came. ...
2
votes
1
answer
122
views
Can we take responsibility without having moral responsibility for some things?
Taking responsibility is distinguished from being morally responsible
in that, if one takes responsibility for a particular outcome it does
not follow that one is morally responsible for that outcome. ...
- 1,671
8
votes
9
answers
3k
views
Who Bears the Burden of Proof Regarding Free Will: Advocates or Skeptics
Debates on free will often raise the question of evidence: who will have the best evidence? However, before discussing evidence, I would like to know who bears this responsibility in philosophical and ...
- 172
2
votes
3
answers
86
views
Is this a good analogy for superdeterminism?
I am having a hard time wrapping my head around Superdeterminism. I know that it says that it violates statistical independence of measurement settings and particle behavior. But what exactly does ...
4
votes
5
answers
383
views
Can you be a determinist while thinking laws are just descriptions?
Suppose that you think laws are descriptive and not prescriptive. In other words, you think that laws merely describe what happens and not that events in the world directly follow or are prescribed by ...
0
votes
1
answer
107
views
If reality is definite, does it imply determinism?
Suppose that the universe is definite and that every single thing in the universe comes down to atoms moving around in particular ways with defined properties at every single moment.
Now, does it ...