Determinism Definition and 125 Threads

Greetings, I'm an undergrad physics student currently taking a course in QM. There is, however, something that's been bothering me that's not exactly technical or mathematical in nature, but more of a matter of interpretation. As far as I've gone into QM, everything is dominated by...

Hello everyone :) As I was thinking about the logical outcomes of hard determinism, I found a weird one which states hard determinism is not necessarily true If hard determinism is true, Every single event at present will be due to the past events and all those past events due to the...

The truth of the matter is that most people who are into science see the universe as nothing but a blob of evolving energy and matter. They have an innate feeling that nothing conscious or alive controls how the universe works, and also that it has always been like this. In other words the...

Is quantum mechanics deterministic? It argues that probabilistic events occur, does it not? However, if these events occur, couldn't one say that the result of a probabilistic event was not caused? If it was caused, it would be determined and not probabilistic, would it not? Given this...

Our naïve intuition about responsibility is that we cannot be held responsible if we do not have free will. Under this naïve intuitive account, if I could not have done otherwise than what I did, then I cannot be held responsible for what I did. Such an account is clearly incompatible with...

My knowledge of physics is plebian so please bare with me. I have been thinking about the philosophical theory of determinism lately, and I am trying to discover the scientific thoughts behind the matter. In fact, I found that Einstein was worried by Quantum Physics and the presence of...

In the physical universe sequential time exists and is directional in that locally cause always precedes effect and that the past always precedes the present which always precedes the future. We experience time sequentially in that the future moment becomes the present moment which becomes the...

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/determinism de•ter•min•ism (d -tûr m -n z m) n. The philosophical doctrine that every state of affairs, including every human event, act, and decision is the inevitable consequence of antecedent states of affairs...

There are a few threads about determinism here and a few about interpretations of quantum mechanics, so I thought I'd start one that combines them. Determinism is nicely defined by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as: Ref: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/determinism-causal/"...

1. At what point does determinism become untenable? (Why) is it incompatible with quantum mechanics? 2. Can we solve the wave-particle duality by postulating particles that move in waves? These are my main questions for now. The object is to see whether determinism can be taken to the...

Somebody call the p-o-l-i-c-e, I just killed determinism. Free will is derivable via physics, by a slight modification of Planck time ! Here is the outline of the derivation. 1) Max Planck was almost right, but not quite. Time is not finitely divisible in an absolute sense. Rather...

*It is often held that punishment under pure (hard?) determinism is irrational as the criminal had "no free choice" NoT to commit a crime, and cannot thus be held responsible. Of course, I will have to cite my sources for this statement (no doubt about it!), but moving on... But, why must...

Are Maxwell's equations deterministic in the sense that e.g. if given free space with H and E defined for any point at time t0, then Maxwell's equations are sufficient to determine H and E for any t>t0?

First of all, a disclaimer. I am making NO vouch for the validity of this paper. I just found it an amusing read and thought it's a twist from what normally happens. Typically, we tend to think that classical mechanics, even classical statistics, is completely deterministic, and that only when...

Firstly - if this topic has already been debated on this forum then I apologise, and would be grateful if someone could refer me to the relevant thread(s). If not... Epistemic Determinism : The incompatibility between infallible foreknowledge and human free will (sometimes presented as...

There are those who argue for free will, those for determinism, and others for a mixture. I argue that there is no free will or determinism. Is such a ground of mine possible?

Came across an article of interest claiming SR implies the future is predetermined. The salient argument is summarized below: We start with the notion that we cannot attribute reality to the future since it is yet to be determined. Nor can we claim that what we see is real in the present...

Does the whole free will uncertainty bother anyone? I like talking about it and I would like to have free will but have any of you ever been bothered by the possibility of not having free will? This has never bothered me and I don't think it ever will. For what reason, I don't know... Maybe...

I'm interested in exploring the nature and methods of defining random and determined events. Please forget, at least for now, their applications to free will. For example, is there some reason for defining one in terms of the other, as in: An event is random if [conditions]. An event is...

A hundred questions about reality and truth, but let I start with just three. Explaining my point Mysical I would like to define the term mysical. Mysical phenomena are the physical phenomena that many would call non-physical, or the non-physical phenomena that many would call physical...

I'm not a physicist, but I like these things. Have question though. After a long talk with a friend,I'm having a hard time understanding why the universe isn't deterministic. So i spent the last 3 hours reading on hawking seminars and other stuff and i think got a question who'se answer will...

Are these two things intertwined in that they would decribe a lot of things, if not everything? Are there many examples of things that would fit in another catergory?

I know it's all been said before and argued infinitem. Is everything in a state of determinism? IN that is every concievable action from planets to particle to thought to expression some how determined? I hold the philosphy that everything is determined by everything. A sort of absolute...

can i know what is the problem with free will and determinism because i saw a lot of people in PF aguing/discussing about it. and what is the problem with 'mind and brain'? can someone please explain it to me. thank you

It has been argued that determinism is essential for psychology... the 'free' (or self-generated) kind of behaviour does not exist. So.. is our behaviour determined or is it free? How can we chose one over the other? On what basis can you chose one over the other? Are there implications of this...