and since these things could be true even if his action was determined it seems that there could be room for free will even within a universe completely subject to causal laws." Foot doubted that the ordinary language meaning of saying our actions are "determined" by motives has the same meaning as strict physical determinism, which assumes a causal law that determines every event in the future of the universe. She notes that our normal use of "determined" does not imply universal determinism. "For instance, an action said to be determined by the desires of the man who does it is not necessarily an action for which there is supposed to be a sufficient condition. In saying that it is determined by his desires we may mean merely that he is doing something that he wants to do, or that he is doing it for the sake of something else that he wants. There is nothing in this to suggest determinism in Russell's sense." Foot cited Bertrand Russell's view of causal determinism: "The law of universal causation . . . may be enunciated as follows:...given the state of the whole universe,...every previous and subsequent event can theoretically be determined." References External links R. E. Hobart on Information Philosopher Philippa Foot on Information Philosopher Determinism Causality Free will Philosophical problems Metaphysical theories