determinism

[dih-tur-muh-niz-uh m] /dɪˈtɜr məˌnɪz əm/
noun
1.
the doctrine that all facts and events exemplify natural laws.
2.
the doctrine that all events, including human choices and decisions, have sufficient causes.
Origin
1840-50; determine + -ism
Related forms
determinist, noun, adjective
deterministic, adjective
deterministically, adverb
nondeterminist, noun, adjective
nondeterministic, adjective
semideterministic, adjective
Can be confused
determinism, fatalism, necessitarianism.
Examples from the web for determinism
  • The first involves the fear that genetic determinism cheapens human volition.
  • If there are indeed many identical copies of you, the traditional notion of determinism evaporates.
  • There is a kind of technological determinism to this.
  • The question of free will versus determinism has profound legal and moral implications.
  • Boot's book is no argument for technological determinism.
  • Yet it wasn't all technological determinism by any means.
  • determinism has been characterized as meaning that every event has a prior cause.
  • All these explain their fervent, single-minded, determinism.
  • It was not difficult to do, given the movement's pedantic determinism and disregard for environmental influences.
  • Free will vs determinism is a philosophical debate.
British Dictionary definitions for determinism

determinism

/dɪˈtɜːmɪˌnɪzəm/
noun
1.
Also called necessitarianism. the philosophical doctrine that all events including human actions and choices are fully determined by preceding events and states of affairs, and so that freedom of choice is illusory Compare free will (sense 1b)
2.
the scientific doctrine that all occurrences in nature take place in accordance with natural laws
3.
the principle in classical mechanics that the values of dynamic variables of a system and of the forces acting on the system at a given time, completely determine the values of the variables at any later time
Derived Forms
determinist, noun, adjective
deterministic, adjective
Word Origin and History for determinism
n.

1846, in theology (lack of free will); 1876 in general sense of "doctrine that everything happens by a necessary causation," from French déterminisme, from German Determinismus, perhaps a back-formation from Praedeterminismus (see determine).

determinism in Medicine

determinism de·ter·min·ism (dĭ-tûr'mə-nĭz'əm)
n.
The philosophical doctrine that every event, act, and decision is the inevitable consequence of antecedents, such as genetic and environmental influences, that are independent of the human will.

determinism in Culture

determinism definition


In ethics, the view that human actions are entirely controlled by previous conditions, operating under laws of nature. Determinism is often understood as ruling out free will.