determinism
Everything is preordained
Determinism is the philosophical position that all events, including human choices, are the inevitable result of prior causes.
If you knew every fact about the universe at one moment, you could in principle predict everything that follows.
The view challenges notions of free will: If determinism is true, could I really have chosen otherwise?
Determinism appears in various forms—physical, theological, psychological—each locating the determining forces differently.
Science of matter and energy
- neuroscienceStudy of nervous systems
- geneticsScience of hereditary transmission
- causationProduction of effects
- natural lawsUnchanging rules of nature
mechanism · materialism · physicalism · reductionism · quantum mechanics · classical mechanics · Newtonian · predictability
What produces an effect
- effectResult of a cause
- chainLinked segments forming length
- consequenceResult of an action
- mechanismMeans by which something operates
antecedent · trigger · precondition · sequence · factor · influence · stimulus · reaction
Predetermined course of events
- predestinationDivinely predetermined fate
- providenceDivine protective care
- kismetPreordained future outcome
- fortuneWealth or destiny
doom · lot · fates · karma · foreordination · preordained · inescapability · inevitability
Autonomous choice capacity
- fatalismDoctrine of inevitable outcomes
- libertarianismMinimal-government political philosophy
- metaphysicsPhilosophy of existence's nature
- moral responsibilityEthical answerability for actions
agency · autonomy · volition · deliberation · choice · constraint
Capacity to be anticipated
- forecastPrediction of future conditions
- prognosisPredicted disease course
- foresightAbility to anticipate futures
- calculabilityCapacity for measurement
initial conditions · trajectory · modeling · simulation · extrapolation · certainty · precision · knowability
physics
Science of matter and energy
- neuroscienceStudy of nervous systems
- geneticsScience of hereditary transmission
- causationProduction of effects
natural laws · mechanism · materialism · physicalism · reductionism · quantum mechanics · classical mechanics · Newtonian · predictability · initial conditions
cause
What produces an effect
- effectResult of a cause
- chainLinked segments forming length
- consequenceResult of an action
mechanism · antecedent · trigger · precondition · sequence · factor · influence · stimulus · reaction · correlation
destiny
Predetermined course of events
- predestinationDivinely predetermined fate
- providenceDivine protective care
- kismetPreordained future outcome
fortune · doom · lot · fates · karma · foreordination · preordained · inescapability · inevitability · unchangeable
free will
Autonomous choice capacity
- fatalismDoctrine of inevitable outcomes
- libertarianismMinimal-government political philosophy
- metaphysicsPhilosophy of existence's nature
moral responsibility · agency · autonomy · volition · deliberation · choice · constraint
predictability
Capacity to be anticipated
- forecastPrediction of future conditions
- prognosisPredicted disease course
- foresightAbility to anticipate futures
calculability · initial conditions · trajectory · modeling · simulation · extrapolation · certainty · precision · knowability · clockwork universe
- beliefsbelief, beliefs, creed, creeds, faith
- fatedestiny, fate, kismet, Moira, fated
- ismscapitalism, socialism, communism, anarchism, racism
- inevitabilitiesdeath, mortality, taxes, fate, destiny
- game designmechanics, level design, game balance, balancing, playtesting
- Ideasidealism, materialism, empiricism, rationalism, liberalism
determinismindeterminism
Doctrine allowing genuine randomness
randomness · chance · indeterminacy · contingency · unpredictability
determinismfree will
Autonomous choice capacity
libertarianism · autonomy · agency · voluntarism · self-determination
- determining factorWhat settles an outcome
- genetic determinismHeredity alone shapes traits
- hard determinismAll events causally predetermined
- deterministic chaosUnpredictability from precise rules
determining, deterministic, determinists, determinist, deterministically, indeterminism, determinisms