Free Will

[Excited Penguin]

Determinism = Everything is predetermined.

That is -not- determinism.  In fact, it's fatalism.

Fatalism = You can't change the future.

That -is- fatalism

If you had referred to a dictionary, you wouldn't be babbling on about this....so try another route.  The distinction isn;t even subtle.  For things to be deterministic conditions must be met.  For things to be fatalistic, fate must simply apply.  Things are not "pre-determined" in determinism unless conditions are met - and those conditions can't -be- met until the very -moment- of the event.  In fatalism there are no conditions to be met, no moments of reference, only fate.

Determinism - the doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes external to the will. Some philosophers have taken determinism to imply that individual human beings have no free will and cannot be held morally responsible for their actions.


Fatalism = the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable.

You can't circumvent the fact that fatalism accurately describes the way the world functions. A happens. B follows. C follows. D follows. Wait, E is random? So what? E follows. And you've got nothing to do with it. You can't control it. It's either random or it follows from D. Fatalism is true and it's not what you think it is. Events are indeed predetermined and inevitable. Predetermined because we live in a cause-effect universe, and inevitable because you can't break causation.