Determinism is based on the idea that every event has a cause, and if we knew enough about the world we could predict future events.
The idea of determinism is closely related to the concepts of causality, fate and destiny. Determinists believe that there are laws in nature that determine the outcomes of events, and that these laws are not influenced by human decisions or actions. They also believe that these laws can be discovered through scientific investigation.
Determinists reject any belief in free will or free choice, believing instead that human actions are determined entirely by previous events (including genetics) and current environment.
Determined events are events whose outcomes are already fixed according to some natural law or divine plan before they occur; this view is known as predestination (from Latin praedestinatio), a term used especially by Calvinists and Catholics to describe their respective doctrines of salvation.
Determinism is often contrasted with free will. In this context, the lack of free will under determinism is sometimes called fatalism. The term “fatalism” does not necessarily imply determinism; for example, a fatalist could believe that everything is fated to happen but still choose to do nothing about it.
It does not actually explain why things happen, but rather why they must happen.
Determinism has been an important concept throughout history and has been applied to many fields including psychology and biology as well as physics. The most famous determinists were philosophers Rene Descartes (1596-1650) and John Locke (1632-1704).
