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Determinism

Determinism. A way of understanding human behaviour. Definitions. Determinism is the philosophical idea that every event or state of affairs, including every human decision and action, is the inevitable and necessary consequence of antecedent states of affairs

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Determinism

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  1. Determinism A way of understanding human behaviour

  2. Definitions Determinism is the philosophical idea that every event or state of affairs, including every human decision and action, is the inevitable and necessary consequence of antecedent states of affairs Source: http://www.informationphilosopher.com/freedom/determinism.html Determinism: in philosophy, the theory that all events, including moral choices, are completely determined by previously existing causes. It is usually understood to preclude free will because it entails that humans cannot act otherwise than they do. The theory holds that the universe is utterly rational because complete knowledge of any given situation assures that unerring knowledge of its future is also possible Source: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/159526/determinism

  3. Theory Simplified… • Events and actions are caused by preceding events and actions • Eg. Let go of a ball: • (cause = gravity effect = fall) • Eg. Fever: (cause = bacterium effect = fever)

  4. Test it! • Bacterium—treat with antibiotics • Eliminate the cause • The effect is: fever goes away

  5. However, • In some problems, cause and effect are clear cut… • …but not in all • Eg. Smoking causes lung cancer • Tobacco industry claims science can’t show a causative relationship between smoking and lung cancer – can only show correlation

  6. Biological Determinism • Consider: genes criminal behaviour • If behaviour is determined by genes (cause and effect) then you can’t blame criminals for their behaviour (oversimplification) • Response to this thought = because we are rational we can still decide how to behave and determine what is right and wrong, despite genes

  7. Eugenics Definition: the study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population, especially by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics)  or encouragingreproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positiveeugenics) Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/eugenics * Example of biological determinism gone wrong

  8. Relation to Eichmann • Nazi society proud of high standard of science and technology • Between 1934 and the beginning of WWII, those deemed mentally deficient were murdered (not just in Germany but in the US too) • General thought: • genes (Jews) social problems • 6,000,000 Jewish people were murdered in the Holocaust (Nazis called The Final Solution) • Eugenics, racial hygiene and ethnic cleansing are synonymous

  9. Aitken • “determinism is inadequate for an understanding of humanity” • We have freedom to make moral choices • Determinism “absolves” us

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