Logical determinism is the view that a proposition about the future is either necessarily true, or its negation is necessarily true. The argument for this is as follows. By
excluded middle, the future tense proposition (‘There will be a sea-battle tomorrow’) is either true now, or its negation is true. But what makes it (or its negation) true is the present existence of a
state of affairs – a
truthmaker. If so, then the future is determined in the sense that the way things are now – namely the state of affairs that makes ‘There will be a sea-battle tomorrow’ or its negation true – determines the way that things will be. Furthermore, if the past is necessary, in the sense that a state of affairs that existed yesterday cannot be altered, then the state of affairs that made the proposition ‘There will be a sea-battle tomorrow’ true cannot be changed, and so the proposition or its negation is necessarily true, and it is either necessarily the case that there will be a sea-battle tomorrow, or necessarily ''not'' the case.
The term ‘logical determinism’ (''Logischer Determinismus'') was introduced by
Moritz Schlick
Friedrich Albert Moritz Schlick (; ; 14 April 1882 – 22 June 1936) was a German philosopher, physicist, and the founding father of logical positivism and the Vienna Circle. He was murdered by a former student, Johann Nelböck, in 1936.
Early ...
.
Logical determinism seems to present a problem for the conception of
free will
Free will is generally understood as the capacity or ability of people to (a) choice, choose between different possible courses of Action (philosophy), action, (b) exercise control over their actions in a way that is necessary for moral respon ...
which requires that different courses of action are possible, for the sea-battle argument suggests that only one course is possible, because necessary. In trying to resolve the problem, the 13th century philosopher
Duns Scotus
John Duns Scotus ( ; , "Duns the Scot"; – 8 November 1308) was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher and theologian. He is considered one of the four most important Christian philosopher-t ...
argued in an early work that a future proposition can be understood in two ways: either as signifying something in reality that makes something be true in the future, or simply as signifying that something will be the case. The second sense is weaker in that it does not commit us to any ''present'' state of affairs that makes the future proposition true, only a ''future'' state of affairs.
[Buckner and Zupko, p. 318]
See also
*
Master Argument
*
Determinism
Determinism is the Metaphysics, metaphysical view that all events within the universe (or multiverse) can occur only in one possible way. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes ov ...
*
Free will
Free will is generally understood as the capacity or ability of people to (a) choice, choose between different possible courses of Action (philosophy), action, (b) exercise control over their actions in a way that is necessary for moral respon ...
*
Problem of future contingents
Future contingent propositions (or simply, future contingents) are statements about states of affairs in the future that are '' contingent:'' neither necessarily true nor necessarily false.
The problem of future contingents seems to have been fi ...
References
*Schlick, M. ‘Die Kausalität in der gegenwärtigen Physik’, ''Naturwissenschaften'' 19 (1931),145-162; Eng. tr. (by P. Heath, 1979), in ''Philosophical Papers'' (Volume II). H. L. Mulder and B. F. van de Velde-Schlick (eds.), Dordrecht: D. Reidel. 176-209
* Woleński, J. 'An Analysis of Logical Determinism', 1996.
Notes
{{reflist
Free will
Logic
Determinism
Metaphysical theories