Deterministlikes

Deterministlikes is a neologism used in online philosophy and science communication to describe individuals who exhibit a strong preference for deterministic explanations of events. The term blends determinism with the social-media notion of likes, signaling endorsement of deterministic reasoning in discussion rather than a neutral description of belief.

Origin and usage: The coinage appears in online debates and blogs during the 2010s, with no formal standard definition. It is used both descriptively and pejoratively, depending on context, to refer to people who consistently favor causal, law-based explanations over probabilistic or agency-centered accounts.

Definition and scope: A deterministlike stance emphasizes that outcomes are determined by prior states and natural laws. Proponents tend to prefer mechanistic or reductionist explanations, often drawing on physics or neuroscience. They may embrace compatibilist or hard determinist positions and typically treat free will as a non-ontological or revised concept rather than a metaphysical freedom.

Contexts and implications: In discussions of free will, deterministlikes argue that moral responsibility can be understood within social, legal, or utilitarian frameworks even if determinism holds. In science communication, they stress predictive models, controllable variables, and causal explanations, sometimes downplaying probabilistic uncertainty or intentionality as explanatory gaps.

Criticism: Critics view the term as vague or politically loaded, potentially oversimplifying debates about probability, uncertainty, or moral accountability. Some argue that it mischaracterizes compatibilists or scholars who legitimately incorporate probabilistic reasoning or ambiguity into deterministic frameworks.

See also: determinism; free will; compatibilism; causal closure; philosophy of science.