A belief that a determinate set
of conditions can only produce
one possible outcome given
fixed laws of nature
Everything that happens
has a cause- universal
causation
Given a total set of
conditions under which a
cause occurs only one
effect is possbible - causal
necessity
Economic
determinism - Marx
people are a product of their economic
circumstances. Humans have needs
e.g. food. They 'produce the means of
their subsistence' - and in their work
they take on a 'mode of life'
E.g. a miner would be working in
harsh conditions and meet few people,
whereas shop keeper would have to
be sociable. Hence work determines
social relations
Division of labour will occur as people specialise
in different modes of work- causes different modes
of cooperation e.g. boss to worker. Differing work
practices, lifestyles and relationships lead to
development of different ideas, consciousness and
language. Eventually different moralities, politics,
attitudes to religion and philosophy
So who we are, who we
relate to and how we think are
determined by our working life
because of division of labour people's
social relationships and conscious
thought very and we become members
of a class, with collective class
consciousness
decisions of free leaders are the
inevitable result of economic
circumstances e.g. Iraq war need for
oil and stable industry
But - surely mindset of leaders have
developed through discussion and debate
with a life of their own - ideas shape how
the leaders see the world
E.g. personality of bush, influenced
by religious beliefs was deciding
factor in world events
does not take into account capacity to
make decisions - once aware of
economic conditioning i can choose to
compensate
Fatalism
our futures will happen whatever we do, so if i
acted differently the outcome would be the same.
god decided in advance
denies causal connection (unlike
predestination and determinism)
The appointment in
Samara
Aristotle's sea battle
Criticisms
life is pointless, not
really living it
implication of determinism
Predestination
God omniscient - god
knows what you are
going to do - you could
not have done
otherwise. If could do
otherwise contradiction
to gods omniscience
Calvinism - the elite go to heaven
and can live by protestant ethic,
picked before
People would say you are
free but god knows what
you are going to do. NO.
Can't be free if i could not have
done otherswise. In knowing
what i am going to do god has
decreed what my life will be.
predestination possible only
from theistic standpoint
Physicalism
the mind is the brain. Therefore
chemical reactions in the brain
constitute mental events like pain
(c fibres firing)
Comparison with physical
world - powerful effects
of lightening - just
electrical discharges in
the atmosphere
Patricia churchland and tumour- man in
2003 whose sudden depraved sexual
desires traced to brain tumour- removed and
went back to normal. Came back and
weirdness came back
Criticisms
1) Mental states not identical to brain
states - cannot tell exactly what
someone is feeling from brain scans,
pain not identical to c fibre stimulation
Doctor may not think you are in
pain because of injections but
cannot ignore the cries of pain
2) Subjectivity of mental states e.g. love
chemical exists and i could be made to
feel love -questionable whether all
different types of love could be accounted
for in alteration of chemicals
How can subjectivity be
translated into the
language of chemicals?
3) Intentionality
Human action as a
result of environment
and hereditary factors
Darrow - Leopold and Loeb - argued
result of background and upbringing
Psychological
Pavlov - people make decisions
according to predetermined
conditioned patterns e.g. classical
conditioning
Skinner - operant conditioning
Spinoza
men think selves free because are
conscious of their actions but ignorant of
their causes. aware of process of
deliberation according to different desires
- but strongest always wins which is
caused by prior events
Russel 'we may act as we
please but we may not
please as we please'
Freewill and illusion
Only when we are free to develop our
innate abilities are we free, god, through
the law of nature determine what we do,
people are not free. Determined by our
nature