Determinism holds that every thing and event is a natural and integral part of the interconnected universe. From the perspective of determinism, every event in nature is the result of (determined by) prior/coexisting events. Every event is a confluence of influences. While determinism regards humans as "one with" the unfolding matrix of the natural universe, supernaturalism and fatalism regard humans as existing outside of this system.
What is it that some people imagine they lose should their actions turn out to be a deterministic unfolding of conditions, not a "freely willed" choice? There is a sense that some sort of possibility is given up, that one’s power over the world is relinquished. Since things couldn’t have turned out otherwise, why make any effort to bring about a desired outcome? If we don’t have free will, why bother to act at all? This fatalistic response to not having free will is often suggested as a reason why we must have it, or at least must pretend to have it.
"How might we be changed by dwelling intensely on the view that ultimate responsibility is impossible?"
- Galen Strawson, "Luck Swallows Everything," Times Literary Supplement, June 26, 1998
by Ignacio Prado, Tufts University, June 2006
By highlighting our complete connection to the cosmos and our current circumstances, worldview naturalism grounds an effective approach to personal, social and existential concerns; it therefore constitutes a positive alternative to faith-based religions and other non-naturalistic philosophies. In particular, naturalism challenges dualistic notions of free will which suppose we transcend the cause and effect laws described by science.
Naturalism is the understanding that there is a single, natural world as shown by science, and that we are completely included in it. Naturalism holds that everything we are and do is connected to the rest of the world and derived from conditions that precede us and surround us.
Submitted by Jen Brown on
Look into adding in the Responsive Design (name?) module
