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Definition:
Determinism is the philosophic doctrine that everything which happens does so because
it was directly caused to happen by something else. Thus, everything which happens
has to happen and can neither be prevented nor caused randomly.
Usually, it has been believed that the deterministic nature of the universe has been discovered and proven by science, which generally relies upon determinism when formulating theories and predictions. Determinism is also commonly opposed to free will. Determinism is related to fatalism, except that fatalism asserts that human free will won't accomplish anything.
Determinism is sometimes separated into "hard" and "soft" determinism. According to hard determinism, the deterministic perspective is true and not compatible with human freedom, moral or otherwise. Thus, humans cannot be held morally responsible for their actions.
According to soft determinism, the deterministic perspective may be true but there are nevertheless conditions of moral freedom such that humans can, at least at times, be held morally responsible for their actions.
For more information, see Free Will vs. Determinism.
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Related Resources:
What is Philosophy?
What is philosophy? Is there any point in studying philosophy, or is it a useless subject? What are the different branches of philosophy - what's the difference between aestheitcs and ethics? What's the difference between metaphysics and epistemology?
