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determinists

Determinists are proponents of determinism, the view that every event is necessitated by antecedent events in accordance with universal laws. In this sense, human actions are caused by prior mental states, environmental conditions, and physical processes, leaving little room for alternate possibilities.

Key variants include causal or physical determinism, which claims the world operates as a closed system of

Hard determinism asserts that free will does not exist and moral responsibility is illusory. Compatibilism, or

Historical roots extend to ancient Stoics and later to Spinoza and Leibniz. In physics, classical Newtonian

cause
and
effect;
logical
determinism,
which
holds
that
the
truth
or
falsehood
of
statements
about
the
future
is
fixed;
and
theological
determinism,
which
grounds
events
in
divine
foreknowledge
or
predestination.
soft
determinism,
maintains
that
freedom
can
be
compatible
with
determinism
if
freedom
is
understood
as
acting
according
to
one’s
desires
and
reasons
without
external
constraint.
Some
determinists
also
discuss
predictive
governance
of
the
universe,
as
in
Laplace's
demon.
determinism
inspired
the
view
that
the
future
could
be
predicted
given
complete
knowledge
of
initial
conditions.
The
rise
of
quantum
mechanics
and
chaos
theory
has
raised
questions
about
determinism,
with
indeterminacy
at
the
fundamental
level
and
practical
unpredictability
at
complex
levels.
Nevertheless,
many
philosophers
and
scientists
continue
to
defend
some
form
of
determinism
or
to
examine
its
implications
for
responsibility,
law,
and
science.