Determinism: varieties

Michael Lacewing
enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk

© Michael Lacewing
 Determinism defined
• Syllabus: ‘the belief that a determinate set
of conditions can only produce one possible
outcome given fixed laws of nature’
• Universal causation: every event – everything
that happens or occurs – has a cause
– Even if we don’t know the cause, we don’t allow
that something ‘just happened’
• Causal necessity: given the total set of
conditions under which the cause occurs,
only one effect is possible
 Causal necessity
• Regularity: the same cause will operate in
the same way on different occasions (laws of
nature)
• If the usual effect fails to follow, there must
be something different about the situation
• We need to consider anything that could
have an effect. The situation in which effect
must follow cause is the entire state of the
universe at that moment.
 Physical determinism
• Everything that happens in the physical
universe is causally determined by the state
of the universe + laws of nature.
– E.g. every decision is determined by the
previous state of my brain
• If we could know the position of every
particle in the universe + the laws of nature,
every future physical event could be
predicted in principle.
– E.g. every movement of your body
 Prediction and freedom

• Being able to predict what

someone will do isn’t
enough to show that they
aren’t free.
– Preferences
– Character traits
• It depends on whether the
basis for prediction rules
out the possibility that a
different action can’t
happen.
 Hard determinism and
libertarianism
• Agree: If physical determinism is true,
we do not have free will.
• Hard determinism: Physical
determinism is true. Therefore, we do
not have free will.
• Libertarianism: We have free will.
Therefore, physical determinism is
false.
 Chance and determinism
• Chaos theory: a tiny change in cause can
have a big effect
– This is not only compatible with determinism, it
depends on it!
• Quantum mechanics
– Theory about sub-atomic particles
– Some believe there is genuine randomness at this
level, or that quantum states are not determinate
– E.g. Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle: you cannot
accurately measure the velocity and position of an
electron simultaneously - is this because it doesn’t
have a precise velocity/position until measured?
 Chance and determinism
• Other physicists reject indeterminacy as ‘out
there’; Schrodinger’s equation shows that
sub-atomic states change with perfect
regularity
• Some say that the randomness and
indeterminacy reflects limitations on our
knowledge
• In any case, quantum indeterminacy does
not affect the supra-atomic level