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Fatalism: What happens could not have occurred otherwise

Fatalism: What happens could not have occurred otherwise. Aristotle (384-322 BCE). Propositions about future events (including human actions) are either true or false right now; so the future is unchangeable (Aristotle)

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Fatalism: What happens could not have occurred otherwise

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  1. Fatalism: What happens could not have occurred otherwise Aristotle (384-322 BCE) • Propositions about future events (including human actions) are either true or false right now; so the future is unchangeable (Aristotle) • God knows what we will do in the future; so we cannot change the future (Augustine) St. Augustine (354-430)

  2. Determinism: All events (including human actions) have specific causes • Baron d’Holbach: the brain is material; so its actions (e.g., thought, will) are controlled by physical laws, heredity, and environment (1723-89) • Pierre-Simon Laplace: with a complete knowledge now of every particle in the universe, we could predict all future events (1749-1827)

  3. Contemporary Explanations of Behavior S. Freud (1856-1939) B.F. Skinner (1904-90) Our behavior is caused by: • unconscious desires or fears and repressed memories (Freud) • environment, social conditioning (Skinner) • heredity, genes Objections: these accounts seem to make freedom an illusion. But (1) how are we able to change? And (2) why not explain behavior with reasons, not causes?

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