PHILOSOPHICAL DETERMINISM: CHARACTERISTICS AND REPRESENTATIVES - PHILOSOPHY - 2025

The philosophical determinism states that all events, including moral decisions are determined by prior causes. This theory holds that the universe is completely rational because full knowledge of a given situation would reveal its future.

The foundations of philosophical determinism correspond to the idea that, in principle, everything can be explained and that everything that is has sufficient reasons to be as it is and not otherwise. Consequently, the individual would not have power of choice over her life, since the events that precede it have completely conditioned it.

Gottfried Leibniz, representative of philosophical determinism

This argument is one of the greatest moral and ethical conflicts for philosophy and science. If at any given moment an intellectual being could distinguish the totality of the forces that develop in nature, it could in the same way understand the future and the past of any entity in all its scales.

The key element in this concept is the detachment of man's moral responsibilities, because if determinism is true, men's actions would not really be their actions but a simple consequence in the chain of events in the universe.

History and development

Determinism has been present in both Western and Eastern traditions. It is evidenced in ancient Greece from the 6th century BC. C., through the pre-Socratic philosophers such as Heraclitus and Leucippus, who were its greatest exponents.

Then, in the 3rd century BC. C., the Stoics were developing the theory of universal determinism, the result of philosophical debates that brought together elements of ethics in Aristotle and Stoic psychology.

Western determinism is generally associated with the Newtonian laws of physics, which argue that once the totality of the conditions of the universe are established, the succession of the universe would follow a predictable pattern. Classical mechanics and the theory of relativity are based on deterministic equations of motion.

There is certain controversy in relation to this current. In 1925 Werner Heisenberg announced the principle of uncertainty or quantum mechanics, exposing the impossibility that two identical physical quantities can be determined or known with precision.

This increased the gap between science and philosophy. Even so, it should be noted that quantum physics is not a theory contrary to determinism and that, from a logical point of view, it is the result of its own methods.

In the Eastern traditions analogous concepts are handled, especially in the philosophical schools of India where the continuous effects of the law of Karma on the existence of sentient beings are studied.

Philosophical Taoism and the I Ching also contain doctrines and theories equivalent to determinism.

Main features

Philosophical determinism comes in many variations, and each of these has its own peculiar characteristics. However, it is possible to detail some of the most characteristic elements of this philosophical current:

- Every event that is generated in the physical plane is conditioned by previous events.

- According to this current, the future is defined a priori by the present.

- Chance is not considered within the so-called chain of cause and effect.

- Some scholars associate determinism with each of the individuals, while others associate it rather with the structures and systems in which these individuals develop.

- The human being loses responsibility for their actions, because the events are already predetermined.

- Despite the limitation of the cause-effect chain, some determinists consider the existence of free will.

Branches of study of philosophical determinism

Determinism is subdivided into different variants that depend on the science from which it is studied. In turn, these are categorized into three main branches: their forms in cognition, their forms in nature and, finally, in particular cases.

Forms in human cognition and behavior

Causal determinism

Where all events are necessarily related to events and conditions that precede them.

Everything that happens, including the actions of men and their moral choices, are the consequence of a past event in conjunction with the natural laws of the universe.

Theological determinism

He maintains that everything that happens is pre-written or pre-destined by a deity because of his omniscience.

Logical determinism

It is the notion that the future is equally defined as the past.

Fatalistic determinism

It is an idea close to theology and implies that all events are destined to happen. This notion is free from causes or laws and works through the force of a deity.

Psychological determinism

There are two forms of psychological determinism. The first holds that man must always act in his own interest and for the benefit of himself; this branch is also called psychological hedonism.

The second defends that man acts according to his best or strongest reason, either for himself or for an external agent.

Shapes in the natural world

Biological determinism

It is the idea that human instincts and behaviors are completely defined by the nature of our genetics.

Cultural determinism

It states that culture determines the actions that individuals take.

Geographic determinism

He maintains that physical environmental factors, above social factors, determine man's behavior.

Forms in particular cases

Technological determinism

Technology is suggested as the basis of human development, determining its physical and moral structures.

Economic determinism

It asserts that the economy has a greater influence than political structures, determining relationships and human development

Linguistic determinism

It maintains that language and dialectics condition and delimit the things we think, say and know.

Free will

One of the most controversial ideas from determinism is the one that maintains that a man's destiny is already pre-established and that, therefore, he lacks moral responsibilities when acting.

In response to this argument, three ways of interpreting determinism in relation to free will have emerged; these are:

- Compatibility

It is the only way that grants the possibility that free will and determinism exist together.

- Strong incompatibility

It maintains that neither determinism nor free will exist.

- Liberals

They recognize determinism, but exclude it from any influence against free will.

Representatives of philosophical determinism

1- Gottfried Leibniz

German philosopher, mathematician and politician. He wrote The Principle of Sufficient Reason, a work considered the root of philosophical determinism.

2- Pierre-Simon

Also known as the Marquis de Laplace, he was a French astronomer, physicist, and mathematician who worked on the continuation of classical Newtonian mechanics. Furthermore, in the 19th century he introduced determinism into science through the scientific method.

3- Friedrich Ratze

German geographer, exponent of geographical determinism of the 19th century. His works Anthropogeography and Political Geography helped to shape this branch of determinism.

4- Paul Edwards

Austrian-American moral philosopher. With his work Hard and soft determinism (1958) he influenced the conception of determinism in science.

5- Sam Harris

American philosopher and one of the most influential living thinkers. Among many of his writings, Free will (2012) stands out, where he addresses issues of determinism and free will.

Examples of determinism

- The Spanish language and the vocabulary that a person has learned determines the things they think and say.

- The culture of an Asian person determines what they eat, do and think.

- The behavior of a person -sleep, eat, work, interact- depends on their genes.

- The events that happen are predestined by a deity.

References

1. Chance Loewer B (2004) Determinism and Chance Retrieved from philsci-archive.pitt.edu
2. Encyclopedia Britanica. Determinism. Recovered from britannica.com
3. JR Lucas, (1970) Logical Determinism or Fatalism: University of Oxford. Recovered from oxfordscholarship.com
4. Harris, S. (2012) Free Will. Recovered from media.binu.com
5. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Causal Determination. Recovered from plato.stanford.edu