Psychological determinism is the view that psychological phenomena are determined by factors outside of a person's control.
Daniel Bader discusses two forms of psychological determinism:
* Orectic psychological determinism is the view that we always act upon our greatest drive. This is often called
psychological hedonism
Psychological hedonism, a branch of hedonism, is the philosophical theory that asserts all human actions are driven by the desire to seek pleasure and avoid pain. This theory is particularly linked to thinkers like Epicurus, Jeremy Bentham, and Jo ...
, and if the drive is specified for self-interest,
psychological egoism
Psychological egoism is the view that humans are always motivated by self-interest and selfishness, even in what seem to be acts of altruism. It claims that, when people choose to help others, they do so ultimately because of the personal benefit ...
.
* Rational psychological determinism claims that we always act according to our "strongest" or "best" reason.
See also
*
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 ...
*
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 ...
*
Moral nihilism
*
Moral skepticism
Moral skepticism (or moral scepticism in British English) is a class of meta-ethical theories all members of which entail that no one has any moral knowledge. Many moral skeptics also make the stronger, modal claim that moral knowledge is i ...
References
Motivational theories
Determinism
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