Causal Determinism
Put simply, causal determinism expresses the belief that every effect has a cause, and therefore science, pursued diligently enough, will explain all natural phenomena and thus produce a TOE (Theory of Everything).
This idea goes hand in hand with materialism. Scientists and skeptics may implicitly favour causal determinism because it does not allow for any supernatural explanations of reality.
As Pierre-Simon Laplace noted around 1814, such a theory would also (in theory) grant a sufficiently powerful being the ability to determine any future state of the universe, thus making the future as readily accessible as the past (at least from that powerful being's frame of reference).
In a disturbing consequence of all effects having only material causes, morality would become a non sequitur, since people would effectively have no free will: i.e., regardless of the choices you make, your mind and its decisions actually remain the result of countless underlying chemical reactions interacting with the environment through your senses.
At a fundamental level in a causal deterministic universe, you do not really decide anything -- everything just consists of particles dancing their dance according to mere physical law.
See also: Determinism
Referenced By
List of philosophical topics | List of philosophical topics (A-C)
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