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determinism

Philosophical belief that all events are determined completely by previously existing causes

Instance of: worldview
1
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Subclass of: philosophical theory

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Determinism is the metaphysical view that all events within the universe can occur only in one possible way. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes overlapping motives and considerations. Like eternalism, determinism focuses on particular events rather than the future as a concept. Determinism is often contrasted with free will, although some philosophers argue that the two are compatible. The antonym of determinism is indeterminism, the view that events are not deterministically caused.

Overview

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44 statements · 20% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Opposite of: indeterminism
Different from: fatalism
determinism

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39 identifiers linking determinism across the web's reference databases

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statements

20%

externally sourced

Source last edited October 21, 2026. AIDb refreshes this page daily.

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AIDb. (2026). determinism (Q131133). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/determinism-Q131133