Fatalism: What happens could not have occurred otherwise

1
Fatalism What happens could not have occurred
otherwise
Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
St. Augustine (354-430)

• 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)

2
Determinism All events (including human actions)
have specific causes

• Baron dHolbach 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?