The Determinism Theory
Determinism is divide into various parts that includes logical determinism, physical determinism and religious determinism among others. Logical determinism argues a statement about the future event is happening is either true or false. This means that the future is already determined and we cannot change it. More simply logical determinism is the view that what is going to happen is unavoidable. Determinists believe that outcomes occur due to fate. This makes it difficult to assign the moral responsibility on persons.
This topic is interesting because there is difficulty reconciling determinism and freewill. One may think that where determinism exists there is no freewill and vice versa. This practically means that if determinism exists then there is no moral responsibility or freewill .However there is room for the coexistence of both freewill and determinism where both are applied partially.
The possibility that tomorrow’s happenings are true or false today is unrealistic. There are actions that may one may carry out today that may have a bearing in future. Logical determinism argues that what is supposed to happen tomorrow is bound to happen and this is either true or false today
Most actions that people carry out have an expected outcome .The expected outcome regarding these actions occurs more often than not. This shows that there is an aspect of free will in carrying out today’s actions which will result to the expected outcome.
It is necessary that people own up to their mistakes and not just pin them on fate. People should be responsible for their own actions and behaviour. The moral aspect of life then would be eliminated if there was no freewill. Free will is a situation whereby one has two choices to make and is not coerced into doing so. For people to practise morality there has to be the freedom of choice. If I am living in a predetermined world then there is room for nothing. This means there is nothing I can do today to change the future which of course is not true.
However I do agree on a few aspects of determinism such as epistemic determinism which argues that foreknowledge is incompatible with free will. This simply explains that it is hard to relate events that depend entirely on freewill to foreknowledge. This is because the fact that one knows what is to happen in the future eliminates the chance that the event is unlikely to occur. Determinism suggests that human free will is an illusion and does not have any bearing on the future because the future was already predetermined.
I also agree that some things are already predetermined such as the genetic makeup of a person. An individual can do nothing within his capability to change his genetic makeup. One does not have the capacity to choose his genetic makeup. If a person is suffering from a genetic related disease such as mongolism then there is nothing that can be done about it. However the knowledge about our genetic makeup may enable us choose a few things that may enable us live a better life. This may include avoiding risky behaviour that may exacerbate the prevailing condition.
Determinism has also been expressed in religion through the Calvinistic doctrine whereby it is believed that whoever is destined for hell he/she will definitely go there. .There is a counter doctrine to this which explains that God is a co-creator with humans and that humans choose their destiny. Theology determinism has further been explained through the omnipresence of God and His foreknowledge. However religious free will is expressed through belief. One can choose to believe or not to, hence expressing his freedom of choice.
Causal determinism claims that the past facts together with laws of nature entail all the future facts. This is relevant to the aspect of free will whereby one has to choose to carry out an event depending on the past events and the history of events that had occurred previously. The difficulty between freewill and determinism is essentially a problem of reconciling free actions and determinism.
