Hard determinism (or metaphysical determinism) is a view on free will which holds that nomological determinism is true, and that it is incompatible with free will, and, therefore, that free will does not exist. It is contrasted with soft determinism, which is a compatibilist form of determinism, holding that free will may exist even despite determinism. It is also contrasted with metaphysical libertarianism, the other major form of incompatibilism which holds that free will exists and determinism is false.
Read more about Hard Determinism: Overview, Implications For Ethics, Psychological Effects of Belief in Hard Determinism
Famous quotes containing the words hard and/or determinism:
“The Indian remarked as before, “Must have hard wood to cook moose-meat,” as if that were a maxim, and proceeded to get it. My companion cooked some in California fashion, winding a long string of the meat round a stick and slowly turning it in his hand before the fire. It was very good. But the Indian, not approving of the mode, or because he was not allowed to cook it his own way, would not taste it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Old-fashioned determinism was what we may call hard determinism. It did not shrink from such words as fatality, bondage of the will, necessitation, and the like. Nowadays, we have a soft determinism which abhors harsh words, and, repudiating fatality, necessity, and even predetermination, says that its real name is freedom; for freedom is only necessity understood, and bondage to the highest is identical with true freedom.”
—William James (1842–1910)