determinism vs freewill

• what is determinism?

  the belief that behaviours are determined by factors outside of our control
• what is free will?

  the belief that our behaviour is as a result of our own choice
• how does determinism see human behaviour?

  as a product of forces beyond the control of the individual - people have no control over their actions
• what do determinists argue?

  that internal and external forces control a person's behaviour, meaning that behaviour should be predictable 
• what are the four types of determinism?

  environmental, biological, hard, soft
• what is hard determinism?

  where all human behaviour is a consequence of biological factors or other factors beyond our personal control - focusing on cause and effect
• what are the two key assumptions within hard determinism?

  no action or behaviour is free, it must occur - if something happens that we have no control over the behaviour has to occur

  every human action has a cause - reason why one action is performed rather than another
• biological determinism


  overlaps with hard determinism

  behaviour that is determined by factors inside ourselves

  could be inherited behaviour, inherited through genes
• what is soft determinism?

  where your behaviour is a direct result of your environment but only a certain extent as you have some control over your behaviour and therefore some freewill 
• what does soft determinism say about free will?

  there is an element of free will in all behaviour yet it is controlled by outside forces - behaviour maybe highly constrained by the situation or moderately constrained by the situation
• environmental determinism


  overlaps with soft determinism

  determined by factors that are outside of ourselves

  can still have some control over these factors - can remove ourselves from a particular environment such as friends or different situations
• what is free will?

  the ability to make a choice between certain behaviours
• Free will implied behaviour is random and does not have a cause therefore cannot be predicted