Determinism facts for kids

In philosophy, determinism is the thesis that there are conditions that make future events happen the way they happen. Today, the term is mostly used in natural philosophy: there are natural laws and causality that govern certain aspects of nature. Some of those laws are not probabilistic, they apply all the time. The opposite position to this idea is called indeterminism. If there are really conditions that cause future events to be uniquely determined in advance, this will cause problems supporting the idea that there is free will. Other ideas that need the thesis of determinism are called fatalism and predestination.

Famous people who supported the idea

• Alfred Jules Ayer (1910–1989)
• Georg Büchner (1813–1837)
• Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
• Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
• Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)
• Paul Thiry d'Holbach (1723–1789)
• David Hume (1711–1776)
• William James (1842–1910)
• Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827)
• John Locke (1632–1704)
• Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)
• Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709–1751)
• John Stuart Mill (1806–1873)
• Max Planck (1858–1947)
• Baruch de Spinoza (1632–1677)

Related pages

• Deterministic algorithm
• Deterministic chaos

Images for kids

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  Nature and nurture interact in humans. A scientist looking at a sculpture after some time does not ask whether we are seeing the effects of the starting materials or of environmental influences.

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  A technological determinist might suggest that technology like the mobile phone is the greatest factor shaping human civilization.

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  In Conway's Game of Life, the interaction of just four simple rules creates patterns that seem somehow "alive".

See also

In Spanish: Determinismo para niños