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What is Determinism? | Gentleman Thinker

Philosophy Tube | December 20, 2025



Today we explore the philosophy of cause and effect, determinism and free will, with Pierre-Simon Laplace!
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Comments

This post currently has 40 comments.

  2. @credterfe

    December 20, 2025 at 4:52 pm

    Determinism means history could not have been otherwise, because the beginning (the initial condition ) of the world determines the end. If however some decisions were made with 50/50 probability, then both outcomes were equally possible and alternative histories could exist like the branches of a tree. We could imagine what it would be like in our mind but they are virtual to us not real. Whether determinism is absolute or not we are in one version of history the real history . The future even if it is determined could be more rosy than most people could imagine and efforts with optimism should be made for a better more just world.

  6. @stephenlawrence4821

    December 20, 2025 at 4:52 pm

    Laplace didn't sum up causal determinism. He added to it that the future is predictable in principle.
    This needs to be treated separately because causal determinism might be true whilst the future might not be predictable in principle. So the correct terms are:

    1) Causal determinism

    2) Predictive determinism

    If these ideas are not seperated it leads to common errors made by even very good scientists.

  10. @therealzilch

    December 20, 2025 at 4:52 pm

    My position, fwiw, is that the Universe is derterministic, but since we don't and can't have perfect knowledge of everything going on, we have free will as far as we're concerned. It's only gods who have no free wil. Good thing for them that they don't exist.

  11. @aaron2709

    December 20, 2025 at 4:52 pm

    Cause and effect is flawed because it suggests there is 'certainty'. Quantum physics has taught us this is not the correct way to think about the universe. There is no certainty, only probability. Some things are more probable than others, never certain. This fact does not support the idea of free will but it cripples determinism.

  12. @Siberius-

    December 20, 2025 at 4:52 pm

    Yep. You got that one all correct.
    Laplace's quote only works if acausality doesn't exist, is the caveat.
    Laplace is probably correct.. but it's still an assumption about the universe.

  17. @deistrevolution1531

    December 20, 2025 at 4:52 pm

    +Philosophy Tube You should do a video about Deism? It is a theological/philosophical position that combines the rejection of revelation and authority as a source of religious knowledge with the conclusion that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to determine the existence of a single creator of the universe.

  20. @tillbrainman6049

    December 20, 2025 at 4:52 pm

    such a great topic. i wanted more. free will is a weak term poorly signifying the phenomena. we are only free to make the choices available to us or, our will is free within the limited choices available.

  24. @ericvilas

    December 20, 2025 at 4:52 pm

    Of course, now we know that the universe behaves probabilistically in many cases, but still, whether it's deterministic or probabilistic, free will is still challenged, because randomness has nothing to do with free will.

    …Enter compatibilism, of course.

    (I could talk about free will all day – that's one of the things I love about Homestuck)

  25. @mrmarten9385

    December 20, 2025 at 4:52 pm

    Is randomness the opposite of determinism? Quantum mechanics seems to negate determinism, because of its randomness. I'm not absolutely sure that quantum mechanics describe the universe as it is, but it looks like it is.
    The universe to me doesn't seem compatible with determinism (even if it can be described by mathematics), maybe
    I'm missing something here. I would be interested to hear your thoughts about it.

  26. @bencrispe2497

    December 20, 2025 at 4:52 pm

    What exactly is free will free from? Everything? If it's free from everything, does that mean it's also free from the consequences of an action brought on by free will?

  33. @carterchambers4126

    December 20, 2025 at 4:52 pm

    I'm going to try to explain some physics that relates here. It has been found that different observers disagree okay the sequence of events, the distance between them, and the time between them. This would suggest that reality is predetermined. Spacetime is thought to refer to both space and events and time. Therefore it seems very rational to support determinism.

  35. @sindrehsoereide

    December 20, 2025 at 4:52 pm

    While determinism seem to notbe able to coexist with most definitions of free will, it is entirely possible that a universe which is not deterministic and without free will. Random is not the same as free. In other words: all possible universes that have determinism does not have free will but not all possible universes without free will are deterministic.

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