Causal Determinism

Causal Determinism

1. Pierre Simon de Laplace

   • A being would be able to 'produce a single formula' which would be able to know all of the movements within the Universe, if it knew enough
     • "Clockwork Universe"
       • Everything is governed by Causal Laws

2. An Argument that Rejects Free Will in Favour of Fausal Determinism

   • 1. Humans are made only of matter (i.e the chemicals that make up our bodies and brain)
     • 2. Matter behaves in a way that is determined by causal laws (which is what scientists say)
       • 3. The matter that makes up our bodies behaves in a way that is determined by causal laws
         • Conclusion 1: The behaviour of human bodies is therefore determined by causal law
           • 4. If the behaviour of anything is determined by causal laws, then it does not have free will. It cannot choose to behave in a different wat
             • Main conclusion: Humans do not have free will
   • Problems
     • Are all things made of matter? Perhaps our minds are not made of matter
       • Souls and imaginations are not made of matter necessarily, logically therefore they are free
     • Are all material things governed by causal laws?
       • Quantum physics suggests that causal laws only really operate at the macroscopic level.
         • Half life of radioactive nuclei
           • This in no way gives us free will, as it just shows that breakdown is random
             • Does randomness result in free will though?
     • Do causes really exist, or are they just products of our minds?
       • Kant
         • If causes do not really exist 'out there' in nature then it is hard to say that every material thing is governed by causal laws
       • Hume
         • Never have seen a cause, causes are not tangible
           • Causes only exist in the mind, it imposes 'causes' upon reality to make sense
             • Causes= feature of the mind

3. Causal laws

   • The laws of cause and effect