predeterminism

Predeterminism is the view that all events, including human actions, are fixed in advance by prior states or by an overarching cause such as the laws of nature or a governing deity. It emphasizes that the entire course of the universe is determined from a beginning point, rather than arising from chance or local contingencies alone.

The concept sits alongside determinism but highlights a sense of fixed preordination that extends to the entire timeline. It is often discussed in relation to free will: incompatibilists argue that if the future is predetermined, genuine freedom is undermined, while compatibilists contend that freedom can be understood as acting in accordance with one’s determined motivations. Some writers distinguish predeterminism from fatalism, suggesting that predetermination proceeds from prior causes, whereas fatalism holds that outcomes are inevitable regardless of those causes.

The term appears in both theological and secular contexts. In theology, predestination or predetermination is a doctrine about foreordination by a deity, frequently connected to questions of salvation, damnation, or divine justice. In secular philosophy, predeterminism is tied to causal sufficiency and the claim that the future is fixed by the laws of nature or by initial conditions of the cosmos, potentially including divine foreknowledge.

Critics challenge predeterminism on grounds of moral responsibility, contingency, and empirical plausibility. Some point to quantum indeterminacy or everyday unpredictability as evidence that not all events are strictly preordained. Others question whether predeterminism merely rephrases determinism in a way that does not illuminate agency or accountability.

See also: determinism, fatalism, predestination, free will.