Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Determinism, philosophy: the idea that events and mental states occur due to strict laws and are therefore determined in advance. For a prediction one only has to know the environmental conditions. The fact that we do not know if determinism is true is sometimes explained by our incomplete knowledge of the environment. See also indeterminism, strict laws, prediction, probability, probabilism._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Alan Sokal on Determinism - Dictionary of Arguments
I 162 Determinism/Bricmont/Sokal: here one has to distinguish between determinism and predictability. >Predictions, >Theories. Determinism: depends on how nature behaves and is independent of us. >Despendency, >Independence, >observer relative. Predictability: depends partly on nature and partly on us. For example, the movement of the clock is unpredictable for us because we do not know the initial state. However, it would be wrong to claim that the movement of the watch is therefore no longer deterministic. >Initial conditions. E.g. Pendulum: without external force its movement is deterministic and not chaotic. If you exercise a periodic force, its movement can become chaotic and therefore much harder to predict - but is it no longer deterministic? >Chaos._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Sokal I Alan Sokal Jean Bricmont Fashionabel Nonsense. Postmodern Intellectuals Abuse of Science, New York 1998 German Edition: Eleganter Unsinn. Wie die Denker der Postmoderne die Wissenschaften missbrauchen München 1999 Sokal II Alan Sokal Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals’ Abuse of Science New York 1999 |
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> Counter arguments against Sokal
> Counter arguments in relation to Determinism
Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2024-04-19