Determinism is the belief that a determinate set of conditions can only produce one possible outcome given fixed laws of nature. Thus every event in the world is the result of a previous event or a event in the present. So in a sense everything is already pre-determined or pre-existent, therefore nothing new can exist.
If this idea is correct, then all events in the future are unalterable, so are all events in the past. This implies that Human freedom is just an illusion.
Determinism is a view about causality. In its most common form, it holds, first, that every event (everything that happens or occurs) has a cause (universal causation). Second, it holds that given the total set of conditions under which the cause occurs, only one effect is possible (causal necessity).
Universal Causation
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RandomBefore Oedipus, a mythical Greek king of Thebes, was burn the Oracle of Delphi told King Laius of Thebes that he'd have a child who's destined to kill him and sleep with Laius's wife, Jocasta, the boy's mother. When the baby is born, the king leaves...
