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Article: Determinism
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
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DETERMINISM
DETERMINISM.
Determinism is a doctrine about causes and effects, some version of which has been in contention at almost every period in Western philosophy. In logic, a thing is said to be "determined" or "determinate" (from Latin
determinatus
) in its properties if, for each generic property, it has a fully specified property of that sort. A cat cannot simply be feline; it must be Siamese, slender, long-legged, raucous, and so forth. Nor can it be simply colored; it must be black, or white, or ginger, or teal. Most philosophers have held that actual concrete individuals are completely determined.
An efficient cause is said to be determined in its effects by prior causes if ...