Title: determinism | Definition, Philosophers, & Facts | Britannica
Headings: 
Determinism
philosophy
Know about the element of uncertainty of nature in Niels Bohr's interpretation of quantum theory and its success despite Albert Einstein's objections
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Content: If a mind, at any given moment, could know all of the forces operating in nature and the respective positions of all its components, it would thereby know with certainty the future and the past of every entity, large or small. The Persian poet Omar Khayyam expressed a similar deterministic view of the world in the concluding half of one of his quatrains: “ And the first Morning of Creation wrote / What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.” Read More on This Topic
problem of moral responsibility: Determinism
Determinism is the view that, given the state of the universe (the complete physical properties of all its parts) at a...
Know about the element of uncertainty of nature in Niels Bohr's interpretation of quantum theory and its success despite Albert Einstein's objections
Learn about the element of indeterminacy in Niels Bohr's interpretation of quantum mechanics. © Open University ( A Britannica Publishing Partner) See all videos for this article
Indeterminism, on the other hand, is the view that at least some events in the universe have no deterministic cause but occur randomly, or by chance. Exponents of determinism strive to defend their theory as compatible with moral responsibility by saying, for example, that evil results of certain actions can be foreseen, and this in itself imposes moral responsibility and creates a deterrent external cause that can influence actions. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn, Managing Editor, Reference Content. Learn More in these related Britannica articles: problem of moral responsibility: