Determinism is the philosophical proposition that tells us that each event, decision and action is causally determined by an uninterrupted chain of previous occurrences. This does not necessarily mean that humans do not have influence over the future and its events, but that the level at which humans have influence over their future depends on the present and also on the past. Taken to its logical extreme, determinism would argue that the initial Big Bang triggered every action, and possibly a mental thought, through a system of cause and effect. It can be applied to all events that happen in reality or simply to a part of the universe and is considered as a universal thought.


Related topics

Stoicism, hedonism, monism, Neoplatonism

What is determinism?

It is the doctrine or theory that assures that the events that happen in life are or are determined for some reason, which implies that reality is understood as a direct consequence of a cause.

Philosophical Determinism


Philosophical determinism tells us that all events are determined by previous causes. It tells us that the universe is rational because absolute knowledge of a situation could reveal its future.

Its bases correspond to the idea that everything can be explained and that everything that is has compelling reasons to be the way it is and not in any other way. Therefore, the individual cannot have any kind of power to choose over his life, as the events that precede it have fully established it.

For them, the future is defined a priori by the present and chance is not part of the cause and effect, furthermore the human being loses responsibility for his actions, because the events are already predetermined.


Philosophical determinism is classified in two different branches:

Other types of determinism

There are different types of determinism, among them we can mention the following:


Some of the main representatives of determinism are:


Some works that have been written and that are related to determinism are the following:

Examples of determinism

Some examples of determinism are the following:

Written by Gabriela Briceño V.

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