Determinism and indeterminism in philosophy

Determination of behavior

A person influences not only his immediate environment, but also the macroenvironment (society as a whole). This leads to the formation of cultural, political, and social norms in a certain group. Full citizens are considered to be those who correspond to generally accepted stereotypes. Often, in the process of life, a person encounters phenomena that contradict his personal qualities: character traits and temperament.

The psychological concept is determined by the fact that any human behavior is explained exclusively by cultural and social factors. These criteria determine his emotions and behavior. The child learns about generally accepted norms from the family and from close circle (friends, teachers). THESE personal (innate) qualities are always supplemented by information from the outside.

Categories of determinism

The principle of determinism was first classified only in the last century, and one of the classification systems was proposed by the Argentine philosopher and physicist Mario Bunge.

He identified the following categories of determinism:

Statistical
Quantitative
Structural
Mechanical
Dialectical
Theological

And this scientist noted one more category - we are talking about determinism in the contact of several people. If we consider each of the above categories in more detail, we can also identify such concepts as connection, cause and effect, interaction and probability, connection of states and correlation, conditions and necessity, foresight and many more components.

Cause effect

Transition to probabilistic determinism

The need to abandon mechanical determinism in natural science became obvious after it became clear that dynamic laws are not universal and not the only ones. And also that the deeper laws of nature are not dynamic, but statistical laws discovered in the second half of the 19th century. Especially after the probabilistic nature of the laws of the microworld became clear - the laws of quantum mechanics are nonlinear in nature.

The creation of statistical physics led to a revolutionary restructuring in the views of science on the foundations of the material world.

Statistical patterns are objective in nature. In this sense, the determinism of statistical laws constitutes a deeper form of determination. Statistical laws and theories are a more advanced form of describing the laws of nature and society, because any process known today is more accurately described by statistical laws than by dynamic ones. The unambiguous connection of states in statistical theories indicates their commonality with dynamic theories. The only difference between them is the way the system state is recorded.

Origin of the term "determinism"

The question of the cause of this or that phenomenon has always worried people. Over time, the concept of determinism was filled with new questions, developed, and enriched. But no scientific name was given for the constant questions about cause-and-effect relationships.

The word “determinism” was first recorded during the Middle Ages. It denoted a type of logical explanation of a concept, which is the antonym of the word “generalization.” Already in the 16th and 17th centuries, this word received a new meaning - conditionality. In the 17th century, determinism was the name given to causality and regularity. At the same time, the foundation is laid for the formation of mechanistic determinism. Since this period, the concept has been used in all branches of science to explain the dynamics, patterns, and universality of certain categories and objects.

There is another point of view - the opposite of the theory of causality, which is called indeterminism. Indeterministic supporters did not agree with the causal, natural conditionality of various phenomena in the natural environment and human society. The basic concepts of this direction: causeless randomness of phenomena, human free will, arbitrariness. The concept of indeterminism in philosophy was found in antiquity and modernity. The founder and successor of thoughts about chance and causelessness are the indeterminists: D. Hume, B. Russell, H. Reichenbach, and others.

Geographical determinism (fatalism) and geographical indeterminism (nihilism)

In a broad sense, determinism

- a philosophical concept based on the Latin word determinare - to determine. It means a natural relationship, interdependence and causality of various phenomena. Along with other sciences, determinism is widely used in geography. Moreover, the ideas of determinism can be said to permeate the entire geographical science, for which the interdependence between the variety of different phenomena and processes is especially important.

However, when we talk about geographical determinism,

Usually they mean a special aspect of such interdependence - an exaggeration of the role of the geographical environment, the geographical factor (geographical location, relief, climate, hydrography, soils, vegetation) in the development of human society. With this approach, notes Yu. G. Lipets, the uniqueness of demographic, economic, social, ethnic, political processes, everyday habits and work skills, behavioral stereotypes and lifestyles were interpreted as derivatives of certain natural conditions and natural resources.

Historically geographical determinism (N. N. Baransky called it geographical fatalism)

originated at the dawn of the development of geography and then for almost two and a half thousand years was almost the dominant idea. In relation to the ancient world and the Middle Ages, this is not difficult to explain. But the vitality of geographical fatalism was clearly manifested in modern times, that is, in the 18th and 19th centuries.

In the 18th century in France, already during the Enlightenment, Charles Montesquieu wrote that “the power of climate is stronger than all powers.” In the 19th century in the same France, Elisée Reclus spoke about the dependence of society - even the forms of state power - on the determining influence of nature. In Germany in the 19th century. geographical fatalism was reflected in the works of prominent geographers Karl Ritter, Friedrich Ratzel (author of Anthropogeography), and Alfred Höttner. Largely under the influence of the French and German geographical schools, it became widespread in Russia. In the USA already in the 20th century. Geographic theorists Richard Hartshorne and Eleworth Huntington brought great tribute to geographic fatalism. The latter was characterized by such a strong exaggeration of the role of climate that Yu. G. Saushkin aptly called his concept climate determinism.

Over time, as scientific knowledge developed and deepened, the position of geographical fatalism began to weaken. Back at the end of the 19th century. in the French school of human geography (Vidal de la Blache, Emmanuel Martonne, Albert Demangeon) the so-called possibilism

(from the French possibilitg - opportunity), who denied extreme forms of fatalism and proceeded from the fact that the natural environment does create opportunities, prerequisites for the formation of cultural landscapes as a certain result of human activity, but their use depends primarily on the person himself. Possibilism is still widespread today.

And yet, another current of geographical fatalism, which is called environmental mentalism,

(from the English environment - environment, surroundings). It still makes the development and location of the economy highly dependent on natural conditions and resources.

It is characteristic that geographical fatalism these days is especially felt in school textbooks on the geography of the West, many of which take us back directly to the times of outright “climate determinism.” For example, in most US textbooks, the Soviet Union and Russia (at least until recently) were usually presented as a land of eternal cold - some kind of Greenland or Alaska. The harsh climate and the vagaries of nature explained many of our difficulties, shortcomings and miscalculations, for example, crop failure and lack of grain. And of course, the winner of the fascist troops near Moscow in 1941 was “General Winter.”

Underestimation and underestimation of the role of natural conditions and resources has occurred and continues to occur in geographical schools in Western countries. But, perhaps, they manifested themselves especially strongly in Russian geography, which for decades was based on the well-known postulate: “We cannot expect favors from nature; it is our task to take them from her.” Let us at least recall the popular science books about our country, where it was constantly repeated, say, that our forests are so vast that 20 Italys and 200 Belgiums can fit in their space, or that our black soils occupy an area four times larger than the area of France.

It is now well known what truly terrifying consequences such views led to. It is good that much has already been done and is being done to overcome geographical nihilism in the minds and actions of millions of people. However, we must not forget that under the conditions of the actual dominance of this concept, more than one generation of our fellow citizens has grown up, whose reorientation to new human values cannot be carried out in a very short time. It is all the more important to educate young people in a new “key”.

At one time, N. N. Baransky wrote: “Practically, geographical fatalism is harmful in that, by attaching absolute, decisive importance to natural conditions, it creates such a mentality that the fate of every people is once and for all predetermined by the natural conditions of its country.”[22] Here he also wrote about geographical nihilism, which is theoretically incorrect in that, denying any significance of natural conditions and tearing human society out of the material environment of its existence and development, it inevitably leads to idealism. We can say that fatalism and nihilism are two extremes that we should try to avoid.

Spinoza

This philosopher stands apart in posing this problem, although many researchers classify him as a determinist. But he is an original thinker. Following Descartes' method, Spinoza came to the conclusion that in the original substance, which he considered nature, and in God, freedom and necessity coincide. He really believed that everything in the world is connected by causality. But this does not apply to nature. She is the cause of herself. After all, it is an eternal substance. And therefore nature is the immanent cause of all things. One of them can be called a person. Spinoza is also very original in matters of ethics. Here he manifests both determinism and indeterminism. On the one hand, he denied the so-called “free will”. He believed that a person depends to a very large extent on his affects. On the other hand, he did not deny the existence of freedom at all. Only he interpreted it as follows. Any thing is only truly free when it fulfills its purpose. Therefore, this can be called a person who follows his nature. This means that freedom is a conscious necessity.

Geographical determinism is

In a broad sense, determinism is a philosophical concept based on the Latin word determinare - to determine.

It means a natural relationship, interdependence and causality of various phenomena. Along with other sciences, determinism is widely used in geography.

Moreover, the ideas of determinism can be said to permeate the entire geographical science, for which the interdependence between the variety of different phenomena and processes is especially important.

However, when they talk about geographical determinism, they usually mean a special aspect of such interdependence - an exaggeration of the role of the geographical environment, the geographical factor (geographical location, relief, climate, hydrography, soils, vegetation) in the development of human society .

With this approach, notes Yu. G. Lipets, the uniqueness of demographic, economic, social, ethnic, political processes, everyday habits and work skills, behavioral stereotypes and lifestyles were interpreted as derivatives of certain natural conditions and natural resources.

Historically, geographical determinism (N.N. Baransky called it geographical fatalism) arose at the dawn of the development of geography and then for almost two and a half thousand years was almost the dominant idea. In relation to the ancient world and the Middle Ages, this is not difficult to explain.

But the vitality of geographical fatalism was clearly manifested in modern times, that is, in the 18th and 19th centuries.

In the 18th century in France, already during the Enlightenment, Charles Montesquieu wrote that “the power of climate is stronger than all powers.” In the 19th century in the same France, Elisée Reclus spoke about the dependence of society - up to the forms of state power - on the determining influence of nature .

In Germany in the 19th century. geographical fatalism was reflected in the works of prominent geographers Karl Ritter, Friedrich Ratzel (author of Anthropogeography), and Alfred Höttner.

Largely under the influence of the French and German geographical schools, it became widespread in Russia.

In the USA already in the 20th century. Eleworth Huntington brought great tribute to geographic fatalism . The latter was characterized by such a strong exaggeration of the role of climate that Yu. G. Saushkin aptly called his concept climate determinism.

Over time, as scientific knowledge developed and deepened, the position of geographic fatalism began to weaken. Back at the end of the 19th century. in the French school of human geography (Vidal de la Blache, Emmanuel Martonne, Albert Demangeon), the so-called possibilism (from the French possibilitg - opportunity) arose, which denied extreme forms of fatalism and proceeded from the fact that the natural environment really creates opportunities, prerequisites for the formation of cultural landscapes as a certain result of human activity, but their use depends primarily on the person himself.

Possibilism is still widespread today.

And yet, another current of geographic fatalism is even more widespread, which is called environmental mentalism (from the English environment - environment, surroundings). It still makes the development and location of the economy highly dependent on natural conditions and resources.

For example, in most US textbooks, the Soviet Union and Russia (at least until recently) were usually presented as a land of eternal cold - some kind of Greenland or Alaska. The harsh climate and the vagaries of nature explained many of our difficulties, shortcomings and miscalculations, for example, crop failure and lack of grain.

And of course, the winner of the fascist troops near Moscow in 1941 was “General Winter.”

Underestimation of the influence of the geographical environment on the life and activities of people in the scientific literature is usually called geographical indeterminism (according to N. N. Baransky, this is geographical nihilism). Underestimation and underestimation of the role of natural conditions and resources has occurred and continues to occur in geographical schools in Western countries.

But, perhaps, they manifested themselves especially strongly in Russian geography, which for decades was based on the well-known postulate: “We cannot expect favors from nature; it is our task to take them from her.”

Let us at least recall the popular science books about our country, where it was constantly repeated, say, that our forests are so vast that 20 Italys and 200 Belgiums can fit in their space, or that our black soils occupy an area four times larger than the area of France.

It is all the more important to educate young people in a new “key”.

Geographical environment

Already in the 16th century. The division of human history into the stages of savagery, barbarism and civilization begins to emerge, finally taking shape in the 18th century.

It is increasingly becoming clear that different peoples and different countries may have different social orders. And thinkers are faced with the question of the reasons for this socio-historical diversity.

One solution to this question is to explain the diversity of social orders under which people live by the difference in the natural conditions of their existence.

This is how geographic determinism arises. This term needs clarification.

The influence of the geographical factor on society and its development is undeniable. No one has ever denied it. And the recognition of this fact in itself cannot in any way be called geographical determinism.

We can talk about geographical determinism only when the natural environment is taken as the main, fundamental factor determining the nature of social life.

In the early concepts of geographical determinism, the natural environment did not act as the driving force of the historical process. It was considered mainly as a factor determining the nature of social orders in a particular society, as well as a factor influencing its development.

Humanity, despite all its current power and independence, is an integral part and continuation of a single nature.

Man and society are inextricably linked with it and are unable to exist and develop outside of nature, and first of all, without the natural environment that directly surrounds him.

The connection between man and the environment is especially pronounced in the sphere of material production.

Natural resources (primarily minerals) serve as the natural basis for material production and the life of society as a whole. Therefore, even “having left nature,” humanity is not able to exist without the products of labor obtained as a result of material production, the “humanization of nature.” Nature is the natural basis of human life and society as a whole. Man does not exist outside of nature and the use of objects created on its basis.

Man is most closely connected with such components of nature and the biosphere as the geographical and environmental environment.

The geographic environment is that part of nature (flora and fauna, water, soil, atmosphere of the Earth) that is involved in the sphere of human life, primarily in the production process. It has a significant impact on various aspects of human life, and above all on the development of material production. The diversity of nature's properties was a natural basis for the division of labor (hunting, farming, cattle breeding, mining, etc.).

Specific areas of human activity, in particular, the development of certain industries in various countries and continents, depend on the characteristics of the geographic environment.

The influence of nature in the form of a specific geographical environment on the historical development of a particular people is very different; it manifested itself, for example, as the presence or absence of favorable natural conditions for the production of agricultural products, as well as in other respects.

This difference was especially sensitive for humans in the early stages of the development of society, when the transformation of natural objects was only a small percentage compared to their use in finished form.

Unfavorable natural conditions significantly hampered social development.

It is no coincidence that ancient civilizations initially arose among the peoples of the southern countries. A favorable climate required less labor for the manufacture of housing and clothing, and for the production of food.

In the South, the best opportunity opened up for the development of the division of labor, the emergence of a surplus product, and the emergence of culture.

However, the better natural conditions of the southern countries provided these advantages mainly in the early stages of human development. Subsequently, the positive role of a favorable climate paradoxically turned into a negative one, because the incentive for production was largely absent.

That is why the active history of the peoples of the southern regions seems to be frozen in the Middle Ages.

If a person found all the means of subsistence he needed in nature in a ready-made form, then there would be no incentive to improve production, and, consequently, for his own development.

Thus, not only the presence of certain natural conditions for production, but also, conversely, their lack also had an accelerating effect on the development of society. This reveals the interaction of the components of the nature-biosphere-human system. Practice has shown that it is the presence of diverse natural conditions that is the most favorable factor in the development of man and society.

Unique determinism

This concept is not so much philosophical as it relates to physics and mechanics. Unambiguous determinism is the foundation of these areas of science. This concept denotes the influence of certain external factors and conditions on the initial state of the material system. This influence is rigid, unambiguous, it decides the further history of the existence of the material system. If something happens by chance, adherents of this trend argued, it is not a studied phenomenon - there is no chance as such.

One can successfully illustrate unambiguous determinism using the example of Newton’s 2nd law

Also, the representation of the field in electrodynamics (Maxwell) led to an important conclusion - the state of the field in the present time does not depend on the surrounding situation at a distance. The law of short-range action works here - the field is influenced by the conditions that have developed in its vicinity

The principle of unambiguous influence of causes is also visible in other theories of physics:

mass (weight of an object) depends on the speed of movement;
the passage of time and the curvature of space depend on the distribution of masses;
the power of the gravitational field clearly affects the course of various processes;
the movement of masses in space affects gravity.

In all these examples, the theory of unambiguous determination in philosophy works. But our world is multifaceted, not all processes strictly depend on each other. There are circumstances in which there is no clear relationship between processes and objects.

Basic deterministic connections and categories of determinism

Abstract on ontology

Basic deterministic connections and categories of determinism

The concept of causal relationships is central to determinism and acts as “a genetic connection between phenomena in which one phenomenon, called the cause, under certain conditions, necessarily generates and brings to life another phenomenon, called the effect.” The main feature of causal relationships is the generative nature of the cause in relation to the upcoming effect and the fact that cause-and-effect relationships are realized in a certain spatial and temporal continuity.

The transferred substance, energy or information changes when interacting with another object, which serves as a factor in the emergence of new phenomena and objects. Accordingly, at different levels of existence, the qualitative and quantitative specificity of information, the speed of its transmission and the nature of the perceiving object are of significant importance. This implies an understanding of the variety of types of causal relationships and, accordingly, forms of determination.

When any phenomenon occurs, a complex of causes operates, which are called conditions, although among them it is always possible to identify the main cause, which is sometimes called the “specifying cause.” However, even in the presence of the main cause and the whole complex of conditions, the effect may still not occur. This requires a kind of “trigger” of the causal chain called “reason.” Its conscious search or, conversely, elimination is the most important element of human existence, be it in politics with the search for reasons for war or for making peace, or in the sphere of social or everyday relations.

Finding the causes and conditions for the occurrence of certain phenomena and events is the main task of any science. Causal explanation as the most important element of rational human existence is opposed to the irrational search for signs, belief in omens and other superstitions, which, alas, are so rich in the existence of modern man.

The most important type of connections is also the functional (or correlation) connection of objects. There are no relations of substantial generation here, but there is a mutual correlation and mutual influence of objects. There may be a temporal correlation such as the rhythmic change of day and night, annual, twelve-year, sixty-year, six-hundred-year and other cycles. There may be a spatial correlation such as a symmetry relationship. Correlation dependencies within a system are very important, for example, communication between students within a student group; correlative motor activity of human hands; mutual correlation of different parts of the genome, etc.

The most obvious and at the same time precise embodiment of the functional dependence is in mathematics, such as the mathematical dependence y =/(x). Here the general logical-mathematical principle of unfolding a set of single values of a series and at the same time correlation between these values is specified. Here is what one of the neo-Kantian theorists, E. Cassirer, wrote about functional relations in scientific knowledge: “The logic of the mathematical concept of function is put forward against the logic of the generic concept, which stands ... under the sign and dominance of the concept of substance. But the area of application of this form of logic can be sought not only in the field of mathematics.

Rather, it can be argued that the problem is immediately transferred to the field of knowledge of nature, because the concept of function contains a universal scheme and pattern according to which the modern concept of nature was created in its progressive historical development.” Indeed, a lot of laws in various sciences establish important functional relationships, for example, between a drop in atmospheric pressure and the proximity of bad weather; increase in body temperature and illness; an increase in the number of divorces and the general social ill-being of society. Functional connections are of great importance in the design and creation of technical devices, as well as monitoring their activities. The interaction between the brain and psyche, the physical “body” of the symbol and its ideal meaning is functional, not causal. The functional explanation is not opposed to the causal (substantial) explanation, as was thought

E. Cassirer, and organically complements the latter within the framework of a dialectical, nonlinear approach to the processes of determination in general

This broad and constantly developing deterministic approach to the analysis of any phenomena of reality constitutes an important part of the special dialectical culture of thinking and philosophical reflection in general that we have already noted. Further dialectical concretization of the principle of determinism and its organic fusion with the principle of development is carried out through a system of paired categories that have a long tradition of philosophical understanding and reflect the contradictory aspects and tendencies of existence that are in unity.

Categories of determinism We will begin our analysis with the category “law”. On the one hand, everything that is lawful is always opposed to everything that is chaotic and unsystematic, and in extreme cases, lawless, when order is deliberately destroyed by the falsely and viciously oriented free will of man. Accordingly, law in the broadest and most abstract sense is understood as a significant, stable and repeating connection of phenomena and processes in the world.

Laws can be very different and differ from each other in degree of generality (from the most general philosophical to specific empirical), in spheres of action (laws of inorganic and organic nature, social and psychological laws), in the quality of determination relations (statistical or dynamic) etc. True, in the strict sense of the word, nothing is exactly repeated in the world, and even more so in the sphere of living organisms, social and spiritual life of man. This, however, does not at all give us grounds, like Kant, to strictly separate natural necessity and human free behavior. The laws of natural existence, as modern science shows, are probabilistic in nature and can undergo evolutionary changes, and human spiritual existence has its own order and its own internal stable logic.

Moreover, as we noted above, today there is every reason to believe that natural, social and spiritual laws represent facets of the manifestation of unified dialectical patterns of development, of which we are increasingly convinced by modern scientific results from various fields of knowledge. Another thing is that the laws of spiritual life, firstly, manifest global patterns most simply, visibly and completely, for everything higher makes simple and obvious what is hidden and complex at the lower levels of existence; secondly, these laws relate to each unique human destiny and have a living personal dimension, and therefore, they are not so much legal (external, located outside the circle of existence), but rather primordial - internal and intimate - in nature, rooted in the very depths of the human being .

In this regard, one cannot but admit that Kant is certain that there is a sphere of internal primordial determination associated with autonomous moral choice and freedom of human self-determination in life. This is the sphere of value life and value determination. In this sense, the category “law” has, as it were, two binary poles: a lower one, where the law opposes everything disordered and lawless, and a higher pole, where external determination opposes the primordial, internal one associated with free value choice and goal setting.

The philosophical categories of necessity and chance characterize the degree of rigidity and lack of alternatives of deterministic relations in the world. On the one hand, causal, functional, systemic forms of conditioning are based on the need for the occurrence of certain consequences, events, correlation effects, etc. On the other hand, there is always a factor of chance in the world. In the history of philosophy, this led to directly opposite concepts: either philosophical systems were created in which the role of necessity (Tipalaplasian determinism) was absolutized, and chance was considered as an expression of the concrete historical unknown of objects. Or, on the contrary, the role of chance and spontaneity in the appearance of things and events in the world was absolutized, which led to the denial of determinism in the world and, as a consequence, to the denial of its knowability.

From a dialectical position, chance and necessity are interconnected and represent two sides of the same development process. Development is not unilinear; it takes place in the real world, and it can be influenced by both internal reasons and external circumstances. In this regard, one could say that the presence of randomness in the world is necessary. Without this there is no freedom and free original choice. Without chance, existence acquires a fatalistic and static, and ultimately self-contradictory character.

Thus, Hegel already noted that these categories cannot be thought of without each other, they presuppose each other. Any development process, acting as necessary, i.e. obeying laws, is actually carried out through a mass of random deviations. Thus, necessity means that an event conditioned by laws will definitely occur, it “cannot be bypassed,” and chance is “something that may or may not happen, may be this or that... Overcoming this chance is generally... a task knowledge".

Randomness determines the time and form of manifestation of events, reflects the factor of ambiguity and multifactorial development, which acts as a whole range of possibilities and options for the implementation of some universal and necessary laws.

As for the existential dialectic of necessity and chance, following some necessary moral principles implies the ability to creatively apply them in each specific situation, i.e. make adjustments for the random nature of circumstances and the nature of the people with whom life brings you. Such behavior precisely indicates that a person has worthy principles, and that he himself is wise and endowed with dialectical reason.

The categories of possibility and reality affect another important aspect of the dialectics of world existence. Reality is everything that surrounds us, what already exists, or as Hegel noted, it is “the actual existence of an object.” We can say that this is actual being. Possibility is potential existence, i.e. something that has not yet been realized, has not come true. This is a certain development trend that may or may not be realized. Possibility and reality are interconnected.

On the one hand, reality contains a wide variety of possibilities for the development of a particular process, its potential future. On the other hand, reality itself is the result of the realization of one of the possibilities. Quantitative assessment of the possibility of random events occurring is associated with the category of probability as a unique measure of possibility, when we can expect the occurrence of a particular event and the forms of its manifestation with a certain degree of probability. The category of possibility is always associated with target determination, representing a set of goals that determine the trajectories of change in the present. The more distant the future, the wider the range of opportunities that open up, and the closer the future, the narrower the range of these opportunities.

Discussion of unrealized opportunities is pointless, because what happened cannot be changed. It has some rational meaning only in terms of not repeating past mistakes. At the same time, a systematic and sober analysis of the prospects for realizing future opportunities is the most important condition for the development of the present in the direction that is necessary and desirable for us.

In its anthropological dimension, this dialectical pair of categories is also very important. For example, a person’s age is by no means only his biological characteristic. It is known that there may be elderly people, but they give the impression of amazing spiritual youth and freshness. And vice versa, there are young people who resemble spiritual old men, devoid of all energy and daring.

One of the reasons for this is that spiritually healthy people always have a range of attractive possibilities, the realization of which they strive to achieve. Tomorrow is always better for him than yesterday. For a person with a dull gaze, life turns into a continuous dull present. It is closed to the life-giving winds of the future and, accordingly, to self-renewal.

A person who is open to new possibilities and does not resign himself to the surrounding reality thereby demonstrates one of the fundamental features of freedom. We now move on to the analysis of this most complex concept. In fact; the entire discussion of the problems of determinism constantly brought us to this most important metaphysical category, so significant for human existence.

Literature

1. Alekseev P.V., Panin L.V. Philosophy. M., 1997.

2. Bunge M. Causality. The place of the principle of causality in modern science. M., 1962.

3. Hegel G.V.F. Phenomenology of spirit // Op. TTV. M., 1959.

4. Hegel G.V.F. Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences. T 1: Science of logic. M., 1974.

5. Dialectics of negation. M., 1983.

6. Knyazeva E.N., Kurdyumov SP. Synergetics as a new worldview // Questions of Philosophy. 1992. No. 12

7. Kumpf F., Orudzhev E.M. Dialectical logic. M, 1979.

8. Marx K., Engels F. Soch. T. 20.

9. Hegel's philosophy and modernity. M., 1973.

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What is the difference between determinate and indeterminate tomatoes?

Indeterminate tomatoes are easy to distinguish from determinate tomatoes even before the flowers and fruits appear.

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Seedlings

When shoots appear after 3-4 days, the cotyledon knee straightens and by its length you can indirectly determine the type of future bush. In indeterminate varieties it is longer (3-5 cm) than in determinate varieties (1-3 cm). However, with a lack of light, the seedling can become very elongated and then it is quite difficult to determine what kind of bush it will be. The photo shows an indeterminate tomato seedling, the subcotyledon is quite long.

Seedling

When the seedlings reach the age of appearance of the first flower cluster, you can easily determine the type of future bush. Indeterminate tomatoes form the first cluster after 8-9 true leaves and above, determinate - after 6-7 true leaves and below. An example of an indeterminate variety is visible in the photo, there are already 9 true leaves, but not a single flower cluster.

Mature plants

When a plant has been planted for a long time, has grown well and has several clusters of fruits, it is difficult to determine the number of leaves before the first ovary, since the seedlings could have been buried and part of the stem remained underground.

Indeterminate varieties plant flowers through 3 leaves. Determinate tomatoes always have less than 3 true leaves between the trusses.

On a plant of determinate varieties you can always find a shoot whose growth ends at the ovary; in indeterminate varieties this will not happen. The only mistaking an indeterminate tomato for a determinate one can be when, during the formation of the plant, the shoot is pinched immediately behind the flower raceme and it seems that the shoot has finished growing on it. Therefore, you need to be careful and count the leaves between the ovaries as a check.

In the photo you can see how indeterminate varieties grow.

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There are tomatoes for greenhouses that form tall plants, but belong to determinate varieties of tomatoes, forming clusters in less than 3 leaves. These are the majority of modern greenhouse hybrids. There are also standard indeterminate tomatoes that have a low-growing bush, for example, the well-known late-ripening variety Volgogradsky 5/95.

A diagram of the different types of bush is shown in the diagram.

The standard type of bush is in no way associated with branching, the formation of clusters and has corrugated leaves and a thickened central stem, which keeps the plant erect even with a large number of fruits and does not require garter. An example of a standard determinate tomato variety, the photo of which is located below, shows how compact this bush is.

Indeterminism

The ideas of denying necessity as the main driving force of the world and nature have also always been inherent in philosophy. First of all, this was the concept of goal-setting - that is, the fact that all processes occur from “divine arbitrariness.” It is interesting that theological ideas about a “higher plan” already led to determinism. But it was not only theology that was the province of denying the universality of causality. In philosophy, indeterminism became one of the foundations of the theories of Hume and Kant. The great German thinker believed that cause and effect are a priori forms of our thinking, therefore they are subjective in nature. In other words, we draw conclusions from our practice, but we have no idea how they correspond to reality. With the birth of statistics, indeterminism became popular in science.

To summarize, we can say that the opposition between these two approaches in modern philosophy is not as sharp as before. And in the concepts of many modern schools and trends one can find elements of both determinism and its opponent.

The principle of determinism in philosophy. Indeterminism

The problem of method in philosophy Read more: Rationalism and empiricism: specificity and role in the formation of the direction of philosophical and methodological thought

17. The principle of determinism in philosophy. Indeterminism.

Determinism (from the Latin determino - I determine), the philosophical doctrine of the objective, natural relationship and interdependence of the phenomena of the material and spiritual world. The central core of d. is the position of the existence of causality, that is, such a connection between phenomena in which one phenomenon (cause), under certain conditions, necessarily gives rise to, produces another phenomenon (effect).

Modern dynamicism presupposes the presence of various objectively existing forms of interconnection between phenomena, many of which are expressed in the form of relationships that do not have a directly causal nature, that is, that do not directly contain moments of generation or production of one by another. This includes spatial and temporal correlations, certain associations, functional dependencies, symmetry relationships, etc. Particularly important in modern science are probabilistic relationships formulated in the language of statistical distributions and statistical laws (see Probability theory). However, all forms of real relationships between phenomena are ultimately formed on the basis of universally valid causality, outside of which not a single phenomenon of reality exists, including such events (called random), in the aggregate of which statistical laws are revealed. In relation to various fields of knowledge, the general principles of data are specified (they often talk about physical data, organic data, social data, etc.).

The fundamental drawback of the previous, pre-Marxist theory was that it was limited to one directly operating causality, which was also interpreted purely mechanistically; it denied the objective nature of chance, took probability beyond the limits of probability, and statistical connections were fundamentally opposed to the material determination of phenomena. Associated with metaphysical materialism, the former theory could not be consistently implemented in a number of important branches of natural science, especially biology, and turned out to be powerless in explaining social life and the phenomena of consciousness. The effective implementation of D.'s ideas here became possible only thanks to dialectical and historical materialism. The core of the Marxist concept of social justice is the recognition of the natural nature of social life. This, however, does not mean that the course of history is predetermined and carried out with fatal necessity. The laws of society, while determining the main line of historical development, at the same time do not predetermine the variety of activities of each individual. In social life, various opportunities are constantly emerging, the implementation of which largely depends on the conscious activity of people. D., therefore, not only does not deny freedom, but, on the contrary, presupposes a person’s ability to choose the motives and goals of activity.

D. is opposed by indeterminism, which refuses to recognize causality in general or at least its universality. Another form of denial of D. is idealistic teleology, which proclaims that the course of all processes is predetermined by the action of an immaterial “goal-setting principle.” The stimulus for the revival of indeterministic views in the 1st quarter of the 20th century. was the fact of the increasing role of statistical laws in physics, the presence of which was declared to refute causality. However, the dialectical-materialist interpretation of the relationship between chance and necessity, the categories of causality and law, the development of quantum mechanics, which revealed new types of objective causal connection of phenomena in the microworld, showed the inconsistency of attempts to use the presence of probabilistic processes in the foundation of the microworld to deny D.

The evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin, which gave a materialistic explanation of the relative expediency in living nature, and the development of cybernetics, which created the doctrine of self-regulating and self-governing systems, dealt a crushing blow to idealistic teleology, fatalism, the doctrine of predestination and confirmed the correctness of all the fundamental premises of modern dialectical-materialist D.

The principle of D. serves as a guiding principle in all areas of scientific knowledge, an effective tool for comprehending the truth.

Causality, a genetic connection between individual states of species and forms of matter in the processes of its movement and development. The emergence of any objects and systems and changes in their characteristics (properties) over time have their defining basis in previous states of matter. These reasons are called causes, and the changes they cause are called effects (sometimes called actions).

18. The concept of development and progress.

Modern civilization, taken on a planetary, global basis, has different characteristics. Most often it is called the TECHNOGENIC REAR OF INDUSTRIAL CIVILIZATION.

This definition of the milestone reached by humanity at the end of the 20th century lies in line with the socio-philosophical rationalist interpretation of history. It, of course, differs from the characteristics used in various confessional forms of religion and esoteric, occult thought. This idea (mainly developed by Western philosophy) is also unlike the formational approach given by classical Marxism. Without denying the heuristic potential of his ideas, it should still be said that they were not enough to understand the world situation at the end of our century.

Therefore, as an essential characteristic of the era, it is legitimate to use the concepts we have named - TECHNOGENIC WORLD, INDUSTRIAL CIVILIZATION. Of course, the model of historical movement, interpreted as a traditional-industrial-post-industrial-informational-ecological society, does not highlight all facets of human history. This model can and should be expanded. However, it works well to clarify the essence and characteristic features of science and technology as the most important components of social life of our days.

By the way, the named qualitative state of the modern world is fully applicable only to a part of the countries, covering no more than one fifth of the world's population. But when assessing history, one must not be like shipmasters, who determine the speed of the squadron by the speed of the last ship. In historiosophy, it is better to judge the state of global society by the heights that leaders have reached.

If in past centuries the problems of science were of interest only to a narrow layer of intellectuals involved in it, and the attitude towards technology was purely applied, then our time has brought both of these phenomena to the center of public attention, attracting the eyes of millions of people to them. Understanding their significance for history and each person has become an urgent task of philosophical thought. Now “philosophy of technology” and “philosophy of science” have emerged as relatively independent areas of theoretical research, no less significant than traditional ontology and epistemology.

Let us point out the fact that if SCIENCE is an ancient object of philosophical thought, then TECHNOLOGY became the subject of professional philosophical analysis relatively recently. The philosophy of technology arose only in the 19th century. in Germany, France, at the beginning of the 20th century. in Russia (works by Engelmeyer). The middle of our century was marked by increased attention of philosophers to this problem (Martin Heidegger, Karp Jaspers, Thomas Veblen, Alvin Toffler, etc.).

In the history of philosophical thought, the very concept of “technology” has been interpreted in different ways. Even in ancient Greece (we have already found this out) the term “techne” was used, which meant skill, art, understood as the ability to form something, create something from natural material. In the Marxist tradition, technology is presented as a system of artificial organs of social man, an integral part of the productive forces of society, their material element. According to Heidegger, this is our fundamental principle, the root human principle, the way of self-realization of humanity.

The number of definitions could be multiplied. There are a lot of them. However, let us highlight the main thing in them: they all vary that FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES OF TECHNOLOGY, which could be called the PRINCIPLE OF TRANSFORMATION. In other words, technology is something with the help of which a person transforms nature, himself, and society.

The cultural vocation, the main social function of technology is to construct and reconstruct objective reality. With a more specific vision, technology is presented in terms of tools, objects, or technology. How a person influences objects, changing them, is technology.. And HOW exactly he influences is also technology, but it reveals itself as TECHNOLOGY.

There are several concepts of the HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNOLOGY. In particular, the ideas about PERIODIZATION OF TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT expressed by the American philosopher and sociologist Lewis Mumford are attractive and relevant. He identified three technical eras:

1) “eotechnical” (1000-1750) is based on the technology of “water and wood”;

2) “paleotechnical (from the 2nd half of the 18th century to the middle of the 20th century) is based on the complex of “coal and iron”;

3) “non-technical” (currently ongoing) uses a complex of “electricity and alloys”. As we can see, periodization is based on the main type of energy and that “substance” that occupies a central place in the creation of technical devices.

One of the greatest physicists of the 20th century. Max Born, trying to show the main milestones in the development of technology, in the book “My Life and Views” expressed an interesting idea that one of the decisive factors in history is the type of energy that humanity has at its disposal at the moment. In this light, the entire history of mankind falls into two - only two - great periods: the first - from Adam to the present day, the second - with the advent of atomic energy, from now on and for all future times.

The transition from the first period to the second is marked by the end of the consumption of solar energy and the beginning of the use of its purely earthly sources.

Many authors document the “self-propulsion” of equipment from hand-held tools to fully automated, computerized systems. Examples of periodization of technical history can be continued. It is important to emphasize one thing: THERE IS NO PERSON AND SOCIETY OUTSIDE THE “TECHNOSPHERE”, TECHNOLOGY IS HISTORICAL, does not stand still, is updated. Technical innovations serve as a catalyst, an impulse for fundamental changes in the entire system of social life.

Man's attitude to the world of technology is ambiguous. Thus, the ideas of distrust and hostility towards technology have survived to this day - TECHNOPHOBIA. In ancient China, the sage elders did not use a wheel for drawing water; they preferred to carry water from the river in buckets. They motivated their actions by the fact that technical devices take away freedom of action from a person. Technology, they reasoned, makes life easier and more comfortable, but the price for this is exorbitant - the human “I” is enslaved.

History has known both the Luddites, the destroyers of machine tools who appeared in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and modern neo-Luddites who blame the soulless machinery of our days, which, according to them, turns a person into a silent part of the social mechanism, entirely dependent on production and household equipment.

Thinkers of different ideological directions have repeatedly expressed and continue to express concerns about the possible exit of technology from the control of people. Back in the 30s of our century, Oswald Spengler, in his book “Man and Technology,” argued that man, the ruler of the world, himself became a slave of machines. Technology involves us all, despite our desire, in its run, subordinating it to its own rhythm.' And in this mad race, a person who considers himself a ruler will be driven to death. “Riot of the machines” is a common theme in modern popular culture.

Once upon a time, at the beginning of the last century, the English writer Mary Shelley, in her novel “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus” (1818), created the image of an artificial “demon” who tried to do good, but, embittered by loneliness, killed his creator. In a word, he rebelled against the people who created him. Since then, this neo-mythological image has not left the pages of print, films and television screens. He has become a household name for fueling technophobia in all its forms.

Mechanization and motorization penetrate our lives, sometimes turning a person into a kind of hybrid of a biological and technical device. It is worthwhile, for example, to assess the impact on people of modern transport systems. According to the well-known Guinness Book of Records, in 1991, 46.5 million cars were produced in the world, incl. almost 35 million passenger models. It is expected that by the end of this century, up to 300 million privately owned cars will be plying the planet’s roads, i.e. one for every fifth person.

In many countries, a car is an indicator of the level of prestige, a cherished goal, a symbol of success. The automobile industry and transport system, absorbing oil resources, non-ferrous and ferrous metals, today largely shape domestic and international politics, financial relations, everyday life and morals.

The invasion of technology into all spheres of human existence - from the global to the purely intimate - sometimes gives rise to an unbridled apology for technology, a unique ideology and psychology of technicism. Troubadours of such ideas enthusiastically transfer to humanity and personality the characteristics inherent in machines and mechanisms. An old thesis of French materialists of the 18th century. “man-machine” is clothed in fashionable electronic-cybernetic, computerized terminology. The idea is widely promoted that man and humanity, like mechanisms, have a systemic property, can be measured by technical parameters and presented in technological indicators.

TECHNOLOGY IS DEMONIC, THE WORLD IS A “MEGAMACHINE” - THESE ARE THE ORIGINAL THESIS OF TECHNICISM as a way of thinking, agreement with self-subordination to technology. What a one-sided “technical” consideration of human problems leads to can be judged by the relativistic concept of “CYBORGIZATION”. According to this theory, in the future a person must give up his body. Modern people will be replaced by “cyborgs” (cybernetic organisms), which, by combining the living and the technical, will give some kind of new fusion.

Such intoxication with technical prospects, in our opinion, is dangerous and inhumane. Of course, the inclusion of artificial organs (various prostheses, pacemakers, etc.) into the human body is a reasonable and necessary thing. But we must remember the point beyond which a particular individual ceases to be himself. Without a body there is no person. Its organization cannot be radically supplanted by any technical devices.

Technical and technological fetishism is by no means uncommon these days. The technical intelligentsia is heavily infected with it, and it penetrates into the sphere of the economic and political elite. Technicism, associated with the absolutization of technology, asserts its autonomy and self-sufficiency. He believes that it is possible to resolve any social conflicts bypassing man as an active subject of history, neglecting the nature of existing social relations.

We should be alien to technological mythology, the desire to “machineize” everything and everyone. Man and humanity are not a machine, not a technical system. It is not humanity that is technical, but technology that is human. It embodies what humanity has extracted from nature, what asserts its own power and intelligence in the world.

Of course, the establishment of the technosphere on the planet, the emergence of “cultivated” nature, bearing the stamp of the mind and will of people, cannot but give rise to new acute problems. The rapid development of the technosphere is ahead of the evolutionarily established adaptive capabilities of humans. Difficulties in connecting the psychophysiological potentials of a person with the requirements of modern equipment and technology have been recorded everywhere, both theoretically and practically. We must not forget this.

The development of technology, as noted in world philosophy (J. Ellul), sometimes gives rise to a situation of absurdity. For example, the rapid spread of communication technical networks (telephone, radiotelephone, computer networks) is outpacing the possibility of their meaningful and responsible filling. Powerful technical means spread banalities and become clogged with petty, empty, meaningless information. Many technical innovations (inventions, design developments) are sometimes ahead of their time and turn out to be economically unprofitable. The massive number of technical devices, their introduction into production and everyday life are ahead of the intellectual (and especially moral) level of mass consciousness. There is a need to include limiters in technical systems that provide what the British call “full proof” (fool proof). The overcrowding of the entire flow of life with technology multiplies disasters, accidents, and tragic incidents.

And yet technological progress, for all its brutality, is unstoppable. And if we can talk about visible, real progress (ascent from simple to complex, from lower to higher) in anything, then this is primarily in the field of technological development.

The problem of method in philosophy Read more: Rationalism and empiricism: specificity and role in the formation of the direction of philosophical and methodological thought

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Dialectical materialism as determinism

Most nineteenth-century philosophers believed that the structure of society and its specificity were determined by the ideas it shared. Ideas and reason, from their point of view, ruled the world. At the same time, Marx, as well as his supporters and followers, decided to approach the problem from a different angle. They declared the main factor determining social development to be material. That is, the fact that people, in the process of working together, produce the means of living, represents the foundation of society. They determine all other types of human activity, as well as their social, psychological, and spiritual activity. Moreover, any morality, religion, etc. are just a reflection of material life, and if they have some kind of independence, it is only relative. The theory of determinism in this presentation focused on the role of the economic factor and its dominance. However, in the modern world these concepts are no longer defining.

Mechanical determinism

Mechanical determinism is, in fact, a subsection of the general concept of determinism, only in relation to mechanical phenomena in nature. Otherwise, mechanical determinism is called Laplacean determinism in honor of its author. As an example that most clearly illustrates the principle of mechanical determinism, we can consider the movement of a body. Mechanical determinism states that, knowing the initial position of a body and its initial speed, one can always find the position of the body at any other moment in time. Thus, mechanical determinism confirms the existence of an equation of motion for a body.

Foundations of modern determinism

Already in the 20th century, a new model of ideas about the universe began to form. In the mid-twentieth century, a new idea about synergetics appeared, and the physical and mathematical foundations of self-organization phenomena were developed. Modern determinism is a combination of individual ideas of all ideas about causality, starting from the ancient period. The new approach derives three categories of time dependence of cause and effect:

the cause appears first, then the effect, strict sequence - this is the classical model;
there is a gap between cause and effect, but they are closely connected by the conditions of short-range action, the final speed;
cause and effect appear simultaneously: when the process of cause is just beginning, its effect immediately arises, then the cause is “extinguished” by its effect.

Explanation of the concept of "determinism"

“Determination” is a Latin word that is translated as “to determine,” “to limit,” “to separate.” Based on this explanation, the scientific direction is based on the separation of properties and characteristics of an object. This allows you to understand what influence it has on ongoing processes, how other objects are associated with it and determine its existence.

The concept of “determinism” in a philosophical view is the doctrine of causality and laws. This concept is a building block of the scientific method. Taking into account the main categories, scientific research is aimed at analyzing, determining the conditions and causes, relationships and laws of various changes that occur in society, the natural environment, and human thinking. In philosophy, determinism unites the concept of nature, which is deciphered in causality, chance or necessity.

Geographic determinism concept

The degree of influence of nature and human dependence on it is so great that awareness of this served as the basis for the emergence of a whole direction in science - Geographical determinism.

Its supporters believed that the development of human society is decisively determined by the influence of various geographical (natural) factors on it. Many thinkers paid tribute to this teaching: Plato, Aristotle, G.T. Buckle, L.N. Mechnikov, K. Ritter and others.

They believed that the development of peoples is determined primarily by landscape, soil, climate, and food.

Of course, there is a lot of exaggeration in such straightforwardness, but in these characteristics there are also many apt observations about the influence of nature on the behavior and psyche of individuals and entire ethnic groups.

Carefully analyzing the history of the development of various countries and the ethnic characteristics of their peoples, one cannot help but note their significant dependence on certain natural and climatic conditions. Reasonable consideration of the influence of the geographical factor on the ethnic characteristics and development of peoples is unlikely to be superfluous.

Determinism and indeterminism

Determinism in philosophy is an assertion of the validity and normality of all events, since due to previous events everything happens exactly as it should.

This position is close to science, which claims that if all the factors and causes preceding an event are known, then its occurrence can be accurately predicted; and vice versa, when something happens, it is inevitable. Everything is always determined and certain, and it is possible to establish the laws according to which this or that event develops using the methodology of science.

Now about examples of indeterminism. First, the principle of free will, which places responsibility for conscious behavior on the bearer of this behavior. Indeterminism in philosophy is rather a position of responsibility for one’s existence, which has found expression in religious movements. For example, Christianity preaches the principle of individual responsibility, and all subsequent phenomena (goods or punishments in the next world) stem from a person’s choices.

17.1. classical determinism and fatalism

Classical determinism, also called mechanistic or Laplacean determinism, is a concept that views the world around us as a giant mechanical system, each subsequent state of which is precisely and uniquely determined by its previous states.
Moreover, the laws according to which the system moves are the universal laws of terrestrial and celestial mechanics by I. Newton. They are called universal because all bodies existing in nature are subject to them, for example, any two bodies are attracted to each other with a force directly proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. If the masses of bodies and the distance between them are known, then it is possible to accurately and unambiguously calculate the gravitational force between them. Since mechanics was considered the ideal of accurate and reliable knowledge in the 18th century, it was this science that became the paradigm of scientific research in general and the concept of mechanistic determinism in particular. Classical determinism, based on Newton's laws of mechanics, recognized the existence in nature of only universal laws, the predictions of which are strictly unambiguous. Such determinism is therefore called strict or hard determinism, since it denies the presence of chance in the world. In fact, if everything in the world turns out to be a predetermined combination of necessary causes and consequences, then there is no room left for chance. Therefore, the random events and phenomena themselves turn out to be so because science has not yet discovered their cause; as soon as this reason is discovered, events that seemed random will automatically become necessary. Consequently, chance turns out to be the result of our ignorance, while necessity reigns in the objective world.

The most clear and imaginative formulation of the essence of classical determinism was given by the outstanding French scientist P.S. Laplace (1749-1827), after whom such determinism is often called Laplace determinism. “A mind that knew for any given moment all the forces that animate nature, if in addition it were vast enough to subject all data to analysis, would embrace in one formula the movements of the greatest bodies of the Universe on a par with the movement of the lightest atoms; there would be nothing left that would be unreliable for him, and the future, as well as the past, would appear before his eyes.”

Such a strictly determined nature of events occurring in the world, excluding any accidents in nature, inevitably leads to a fatalistic view of the world, which is based on predetermination. Just as physical bodies can move only along strictly destined trajectories, so a person’s fate is predetermined, from which he is not able to evade.

Initially, the idea of fate as an incomprehensible predestination above the actions, actions and entire life activity of people was imposed on them by the conditions of primitive existence in a primitive society, complete dependence on the phenomena and forces of nature, as well as subordination to the requirements, rituals and traditions of the tribal community. With the transition to civilization, fate began to be associated among the early Greeks with the impersonal, blind force of justice, equally merciless to both people and gods. The ancient Romans viewed fate as an immutable predetermination, as fate (from the Latin fatum fate), from which it is impossible to free oneself, as well as from the power of rulers. Subsequently, this idea was formed into a unique worldview, according to which any actions and actions of people are predetermined from the beginning, which excludes both chance and free choice.

Early forms of fatalism, as well as fatalism preserved in everyday life, see fate and predestination as a blind irrational force that controls people's behavior. In this sense, the ancient argument is characteristic, which the Greeks called the argument of futility regarding the actions taken by people. A person who is destined to recover, to recover, regardless of whether a doctor is called to him or not. The one to whom fate is unkind will still not be cured, even if the most skilled doctor is called to him. This illustration of the ancient argument is based on the recognition of the predetermination or inevitability of human fate. A good literary description of fatalism at the everyday level is the chapter “Fatalist” from the novel “A Hero of Our Time” by M.Yu. Lermontov.

The officer, who bet that he would shoot himself, won it and remained alive due to the misfire of the pistol, but died that same night from an absurd accident, becoming the victim of a drunken Cossack. The author expresses his assessment of this event from the standpoint of everyday fatalism in the words of the old campaigner Maxim Maksimovich: “Yes, it’s a pity for the poor fellow... However, apparently, it was written in his family.”

Theological fatalism links the predetermined fate of people with the divine will; it is most strongly expressed in Islam, where fate is prescribed for everyone from birth. The Christian religion, although it recognizes free will, nevertheless declares that not a single hair will fall from a person’s head without the will of God and proceeds from the fact that the history of mankind itself is governed by divine providence. Thus, religious fatalism actually deprives a person of free will and turns him into a blind instrument of fate.

“Scientific fatalism”, which received its expression in the concept of mechanical determinism, in fact, provides some theoretical basis for all other forms of fatalism. According to this concept, all events in the world are predetermined by the events that precede them and are connected by a necessary relationship of causes and actions (effects). There is no need to talk about any kind of free will here, because will turns out to be simply an illusion. True, the source of predestination in the world turns out to be not an irrational incomprehensible force or divine will, but the objective world itself, organized according to supposedly rationally invented schemes of mechanical determinism. It would be wrong to accuse supporters of such determinism of defending religion and abandoning the scientific study of nature. The recognized author of this concept, P. Laplace, when asked by Emperor Napoleon why he did not say anything about God in his theory about the origin of the solar system, proudly replied that he did not need such a hypothesis. However, despite this, the spread of the concepts and laws of mechanics or any other science beyond their actual scope of application inevitably leads to ideological errors. In the philosophy of history they found expression in a fatalistic view of the world, as well as in support of a purely progressivist idea of the general historical process. If in the first case fatalism does not find any rational justification, then in the second case it is based on a falsely understood idea of human history as the continuous progress of society.

This is a concept in philosophy and psychology

human inner world;
environment;
some primary reality (God, nature or space).

With the advent of probability-theoretic research methods, the concept of causality was recognized as imperfect. The primary ones turned out to be statistical patterns that express the “average” states of a set of quantities. They became the fundamental basis of models of the probabilistic world.

Indeterminism is completely opposed to deterministic views - this is a philosophical direction whose followers completely deny the causality of phenomena and their connection.

In psychology

It is a model consisting of three factors that influence the events that occur:

surrounding reality;
personal qualities of a person;
behavior.

The environment influences the manifestations of a person’s character and his behavior, just as behavior itself depends on the surrounding reality.

Fatalism and determinism in simple words

Fatum translated into Russian is rock, fate. (from Latin fatalis - determined by fate). The idea of fatalism, or the existence of fate, a certain predetermination of our lives, can be explained in at least two ways. The first is blind faith in fate. In the sense that each of us has a destiny and no matter how we spin around like a snake, only what needs to happen will happen to us. This suits few people, because most people are convinced that they themselves decide what to do in this or that case. Freedom of expression can, with a stretch, be left to idealists who believe that consciousness and mind are primary, and the material world is already a derivative of our existence. But the denial of fatalism, determinism, as a cause-and-effect relationship between things and phenomena, by materialists is completely incomprehensible. The second way of understanding. precisely lies in the ideas of materialism. In fact, if we take materialistic views on the structure of the world as a basis, then the latter should consist of some first bricks, which physicists have been searching for a long time and unsuccessfully with the help of various colliders. From the point of view of materialism, everything that happens and will happen to us is absolutely predetermined. That is, all processes inside and outside of us simply must obey fatal inevitability. Since there are certain fundamental and unshakable particles of the world, then the position of all things in the world at a particular moment in time depends only on the positions they occupy in space. Or can you imagine this in some other way? Actually, this is reflected in Nietzsche’s idea of eternal return.

After a huge amount of time, the particles are again obliged to take the same position. which they occupy now, and you will again sit and read the same lines. Maybe this idea excites some people, but for me it’s stupidity. In one of the articles I will explain why. You can remember the domino principle. After all, no matter how long and twisted the chain of dominoes standing at the end may be, as soon as you push the first one, the fate of the next ones is fatally predetermined. The whole world can be imagined in the form of similar intricacies interacting with each other.

Determinism

While fatalism is more connected precisely with the concept of fate given to each person from above, without delving too much into the details, determinism is already a whole doctrine, divided by many different determinisms. We will not loosen the earth with our nose, but will touch only on general principles. In simple terms, we are talking about the fact that all processes and phenomena in the world are interconnected by cause-and-effect relationships. Moreover, each consequence becomes the cause for the next consequence. Same domino principle.

Indeterminism

Indeterminism is opposed to determinism, based on unconvincing arguments. Some people use the concept of human free will, which, frankly, is not clear where it came from. Others defend indeterminism, adopting quantum mechanics, in which they have been unsuccessfully trying to somehow make ends meet for a hundred years. But, in all cases, accepting indeterminism, one must unconditionally admit that some things happen for no reason, by chance. Guys, obviously confuse randomness with unpredictability. But these are completely different things. Unpredictability is subjective. It occurs only for someone who does not have enough information to correctly calculate the result. But this is an accident. following the logic of adherents of indeterminism, it simply must be absolute. According to determinism, a stone thrown up a trillion times will fall back the same number of times. Indeterminism, presumably, allows that a thrown stone has a chance of hanging in the air. Just don’t come up with situations where a stone can be thrown at escape velocity and it won’t come back, etc. We are talking about a regular toss. I simply briefly outlined the difference between two opposing concepts, which are often confused with God's will and human free will. But more on that in another publication.

The essence of determinism, the concept of determinism

Mechanistic determinism

Possible wording

In his work “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy,” Isaac Newton gives the following formulation[11] of his law:

The change in momentum is proportional to the applied driving force and occurs in the direction of the straight line along which this force acts.

Modern wording:

In inertial reference systems, the acceleration acquired by a material point is directly proportional to the force causing it, coincides with it in direction and is inversely proportional to the mass of the material point.

This law is usually written as the formula a → = F → m, {\displaystyle {\vec {a}}={\frac {\vec {F}}{m}},} where a → {\ displaystyle {\vec {a}}}
is the acceleration of the body,
F → {\displaystyle {\vec {F}}}
is the force applied to the body, and m {\displaystyle \m} is the mass of the body. Or in another form: ma → = F → {\displaystyle m{\vec {a}}={\vec {F}}}

Statement of Newton's second law using the concept of momentum:

In inertial reference systems, the derivative of the momentum of a material point with respect to time is equal to the force acting on it [12]:

dp → dt = F → , {\displaystyle {\frac {d{\vec {p}}}{dt}}={\vec {F}},} where p → = mv → {\displaystyle {\vec { p}}=m{\vec {v}}} is the momentum (amount of motion) of the point, v → {\displaystyle {\vec {v}}} is its speed, and t {\displaystyle t} is time.

Scope of the law

Newton's second law in classical mechanics is formulated in relation to the motion of a material point. It is assumed that the mass of a material point is constant over time[13][14][15]. The equations corresponding to this law are called the equations of motion of a material point

or the basic equations of the dynamics of a material point.

Sometimes, within the framework of classical mechanics, attempts were made to extend the scope of application of the equation dp → / dt = F → {\displaystyle d{\vec {p}}/dt={\vec {F}}} to the case of bodies of variable mass. However, along with such a broad interpretation of the equation, it was necessary to significantly modify the previously accepted definitions and change the meaning of such fundamental concepts as a material point, momentum and force

[16][17].

In the case when several forces act on a material point, each of them imparts an acceleration to the point, determined by Newton’s second law as if there were no other forces (the principle of superposition of forces). Therefore, the resulting acceleration of a material point can be determined by Newton’s second law by substituting the resultant force into it [18].

Newton's second law equation F → = ma → {\displaystyle {\vec {F}}=m{\vec {a}}} assumes scalar additivity of masses[19].

In addition to the material point, the equation of Newton's second law is also applicable to describe the mechanical motion of the center of mass of a mechanical system. The center of mass moves like a material point that has a mass equal to the mass of the entire system and is under the influence of all external forces applied to the points of the system (the theorem on the movement of the center of mass of the system).

Newton's second law is satisfied only in inertial reference frames[20][21]. However, by adding inertial forces to the forces acting from other bodies, we can use the equation of Newton’s second law to describe motion in non-inertial frames of reference [22]. In this case, for a non-inertial reference frame, the equation of motion is written in the same form as for an inertial frame: the mass of the body, multiplied by its acceleration relative to the non-inertial reference frame, is equal in magnitude and direction to the resultant of all forces, including the inertial forces applied to the body [23][24].

The logical role of Newton's second law

In Newton's presentation of classical mechanics, Newton's laws are not “derived” from anywhere; they have the status of axioms based on a set of experimental facts. Like the axioms of mathematics, the axioms of Newtonian dynamics can be formulated in slightly different ways.

In one approach, Newton's second law is positioned as an experimentally verifiable statement about the proportionality of acceleration to the force causing it and, at the same time, the determination of the inertial mass of a body through the ratio of the magnitudes of force and acceleration [25] [26]. Then the main idea of the second law is to declare the linearity of the “force-acceleration” relationship, that is, that these quantities (and not, say, force and speed) and in exactly this way (and not quadratically, etc.) are related to each other.

With another approach, it is possible to introduce inertial mass independently of Newton’s second law, through the mass of a certain body taken as a standard. Then the second law contains two independently experimentally verifiable statements: about the proportionality of acceleration to force and the inverse proportionality to mass [27].

In many practical and educational problems, Newton's second law allows us to calculate force. But this law is not a definition of force[28] (a statement like “by definition, force is the product of mass and acceleration” is inappropriate), otherwise it would turn into a tautology.

In the absence of influence on the body from other bodies ( F → = 0 {\displaystyle {\vec {F}}=0} ), it follows from Newton’s second law that the acceleration of the body is zero. From this it may seem that Newton's first law is included in the second as its special case. However, this is not so, since it is the first law that postulates the existence of inertial reference systems, which is an independent meaningful statement. Accordingly, Newton's first law is formulated independently of the second[29].

Newton's second law establishes a connection between dynamic and kinematic quantities [30]. In addition, the equation of the law F → = ma → {\displaystyle {\vec {F}}=m{\vec {a}}} can be considered as an equation of the connection between physical quantities when determining units of force in systems, CGS and others[31 ]. A unit of force is defined as a force that imparts an acceleration to a material point with a mass equal to a unit of mass, taken as the basic one, equal to a unit of acceleration, previously defined as a derived unit [32]. (With an independent choice of units of mass, force and acceleration, the expression of the second law must be written in the form ma → = k F → {\displaystyle m{\vec {a}}=k{\vec {F}}} , where k {\displaystyle k} - proportionality coefficient, determined by the choice of units of measurement [33][34][35][36]).

The force F → {\displaystyle {\vec {F}}} in Newton's second law depends only on the coordinates r → {\displaystyle {\vec {r}}} and the speed v → {\displaystyle {\vec {v}}} material point: p → ˙ = F → ( r → , v → ) {\displaystyle {\dot {\vec {p}}}={\vec {F}}({\vec {r}},{\vec {v}})} . The main task of physical mechanics comes down to finding the function F → ( r → , v → ) {\displaystyle {\vec {F}}({\vec {r}},{\vec {v}})} [37].

The formula of Newton's second law a → = F → / m {\displaystyle {\vec {a}}={\vec {F}}/m} expresses the principle of causality of classical mechanics. The coordinates and velocities of a material point at time t + Δ t {\displaystyle t+\Delta t} (where Δ t → 0 {\displaystyle \Delta t\to 0} ) are continuously and uniquely determined through their values at time t {\ displaystyle t} and a given force F → {\displaystyle {\vec {F))} acting on the material point. Expanding in a Taylor series and restricting ourselves to small first order ones in t {\displaystyle t} , we obtain[38]: r → ( t + Δ t ) = r → ( t ) + v → Δ t {\displaystyle {\vec {r} }(t+\Delta t)={\vec {r}}(t)+{\vec {v}}\Delta t} , v → ( t + Δ t ) = v → ( t ) + a → Δ t {\displaystyle {\vec {v}}(t+\Delta t)={\vec {v}}(t)+{\vec {a}}\Delta t} . The form in which causality is realized in mechanics is called mechanistic or Laplacian

determinism[39].

The equation of Newton's second law F → = ma → {\displaystyle {\vec {F}}=m{\vec {a}}} is invariant under Galilean transformations. This statement is called Galileo's principle of relativity[40].

In classical mechanics, the law of conservation of energy, the law of conservation of momentum and the law of conservation of angular momentum are consequences of Newton's second law, the homogeneity of time, the homogeneity and isotropy of space, as well as certain assumptions regarding the nature of the acting forces[41].

In the case where the force F → {\displaystyle {\vec {F}}} is constant, integrating the equation of Newton's second law dv → dt = F → m {\displaystyle {\frac {d{\vec {v}}}{dt }}={\frac {\vec {F}}{m}}} leads to the equality v 2 → − v 1 → = F → m ( t 2 − t 1 ) {\displaystyle {\vec {v_{2} }}-{\vec {v_{1}}}={\frac {\vec {F}}{m}}(t_{2}-t_{1})} . This relationship shows that under the action of a given force F → {\displaystyle {\vec {F}}} a certain change in speed Δ v → = v 2 → − v 1 → {\displaystyle \Delta {\vec {v}}={ \vec {v_{2}}}-{\vec {v_{1}}}} for a body with a larger mass occurs over a longer period of time. Therefore, they say that all bodies have inertia, and the mass m {\displaystyle m} is called a measure of the inertia of the body[42].

Writing the law in different coordinate systems

Main source: [18]

The vector representation of Newton's second law ma → = F → {\displaystyle m{\vec {a}}={\vec {F}}} is correct for any inertial coordinate system relative to which the quantities included in this law are determined (force, mass, acceleration)[43]. However, the decomposition into components (projections) will be different for Cartesian, cylindrical and spherical systems. The decomposition into normal and tangential components is also of interest.

Cartesian rectangular coordinate system

mx ¨ = F x {\displaystyle m{\ddot {x}}=F_{x}} , my ¨ = F y {\displaystyle m{\ddot {y}}=F_{y}} , mz ¨ = F z {\displaystyle m{\ddot {z}}=F_{z}} , where F → = F xi → + F yj → + F zk → {\displaystyle {\vec {F}}=F_{x}{ \vec {i}}+F_{y}{\vec {j}}+F_{z}{\vec {k}}} , and the unit vectors of the Cartesian system i → {\displaystyle {\vec {i}}} , j → {\displaystyle {\vec {j}}} , k → {\displaystyle {\vec {k}}} are directed along the coordinate axes (in the direction of increasing a specific coordinate),

Cylindrical coordinate system

m ( ρ ¨ − ρ φ ˙ 2 ) = F ρ {\displaystyle m({\ddot {\rho }}-\rho {\dot {\varphi }}^{2})=F_{\rho }} , m ( ρ φ ¨ + 2 ρ ˙ φ ˙ ) = F φ {\displaystyle m(\rho {\ddot {\varphi }}+2{\dot {\rho }}{\dot {\varphi }})= F_{\varphi }} , mz ¨ = F z {\displaystyle m{\ddot {z}}=F_{z}} , where F → = F ρ e → ρ + F φ e → φ + F ze → z {\displaystyle {\vec {F}}=F_{\rho }{\vec {e}}_{\rho }+F_{\varphi }{\vec {e}}_{\varphi }+F_{z }{\vec {e}}_{z}} , and the unit vectors e → ρ {\displaystyle {\vec {e}}_{\rho }} , e → φ {\displaystyle {\vec {e}}_ {\varphi }} , e → z {\displaystyle {\vec {e}}_{z}} of a cylindrical system are taken at the point of application of the force and are directed, respectively, from the z {\displaystyle z} axis at 900 to it, along a circle in the xy {\displaystyle xy} plane centered on the axis, and along z {\displaystyle z} (in the direction of increasing a specific coordinate),

Spherical coordinate system

m ( r ¨ − r φ ˙ 2 sin 2 ⁡ θ − r θ ˙ 2 ) = F r {\displaystyle m({\ddot {r}}-r{\dot {\varphi }}^{2}\sin ^{2}\theta -r{\dot {\theta }}^{2})=F_{r}} , m ( [ r φ ¨ + 2 r ˙ φ ˙ ] sin ⁡ θ + 2 r φ ˙ θ ˙ cos ⁡ θ ) = F φ {\displaystyle m([r{\ddot {\varphi }}+2{\dot {r}}{\dot {\varphi }}]\sin \theta +2r{\dot {\varphi }}{\dot {\theta }}\cos \theta )=F_{\varphi }} , m ( 2 r ˙ θ ˙ + r θ ¨ − r φ ˙ 2 sin ⁡ θ cos ⁡ θ ) = F θ {\displaystyle m(2{\dot {r}}{\dot {\theta }}+r{\ddot {\theta }}-r{\dot {\varphi }}^{2}\sin \ theta \cos \theta )=F_{\theta }} , where F → = F re → r + F φ e → φ + F θ e → θ {\displaystyle {\vec {F}}=F_{r}{ \vec {e}}_{r}+F_{\varphi }{\vec {e}}_{\varphi }+F_{\theta }{\vec {e}}_{\theta }} , and the unit vectors e → r {\displaystyle {\vec {e}}_{r}} , e → φ {\displaystyle {\vec {e}}_{\varphi }} , e → θ {\displaystyle {\vec {e }}_{\theta }} of the spherical system are taken at the point of application of the force and are directed, respectively, from the center O {\displaystyle O}, along the “parallels” and along the “meridians” (in the direction of increasing a specific coordinate).

Decomposition in an osculating plane

In a contacting plane, the acceleration a → = an → + at → {\displaystyle {\vec {a}}={\vec {a_{n}}}+{\vec {a_{t}}}} of a material point of mass m { \displaystyle m} and the force acting on it F → = F n → + F t → {\displaystyle {\vec {F}}={\vec {F_{n}}}+{\vec {F_{t}} }} can be decomposed into normal (perpendicular to the tangent to the trajectory in the osculating plane) F n → = man → {\displaystyle {\vec {F_{n}}}=m{\vec {a_{n}}}} and tangential ( parallel to the tangent to the trajectory in the osculating plane) F t → = mat → {\displaystyle {\vec {F_{t}}}=m{\vec {a_{t}}}} components.

The absolute value of the normal force is equal to F n = man = mv 2 / R {\displaystyle F_{n}=ma_{n}=mv^{2}/R} , where R {\displaystyle R} is the radius of curvature of the trajectory of the material point, v {\displaystyle v} is the absolute value of its speed. The normal force is directed towards the center of curvature of the trajectory of the material point. In the case of a circular trajectory of radius R {\displaystyle R}, the absolute value of the normal force is F n = m ω 2 R {\displaystyle F_{n}=m\omega ^{2}R}, where ω {\displaystyle \omega } is the angular speed of rotation of a point. Normal force is also called centripetal force.

The tangential component of the force is equal to F t = mat = md 2 sdt 2 {\displaystyle F_{t}=ma_{t}=m{\frac {d^{2}s}{dt^{2}}}} , where s = s ( t ) {\displaystyle s=s(t)} — arc coordinate along the trajectory of the point[44]. If d 2 sdt 2 > 0 {\displaystyle {\frac {d^{2}s}{dt^{2}}}>0} , then the force F t → {\displaystyle {\vec {F_{t}} }} coincides in direction with the velocity vector v → {\displaystyle {\vec {v}}} and it is called the driving force

.
If d 2 sdt 2 < 0 {\displaystyle {\frac {d^{2}s}{dt^{2}}}<0} , then the force F t → {\displaystyle {\vec {F_{t}} }} is opposite in direction to the velocity vector v → {\displaystyle {\vec {v}}} and is called the braking force
.

Definition of the word “Indeterminism” according to TSB:

Indeterminism (from the Latin in - a prefix meaning denial, and Determinism) is a philosophical doctrine and methodological position that denies either the objectivity of the causal relationship (ontological I.) or the cognitive value of a causal explanation in science (methodological I.). In the history of philosophy, starting from ancient Greek philosophy (Socrates) up to the present time, philosophy and determinism appear as opposing concepts on the problems of the conditionality of the human will, his choice, and the problem of human responsibility for his actions. I. interprets will as an autonomous force, argues that the principles of causality are not applicable to explaining human choice and behavior, and accuses supporters of determinism of fatalism. Marxism proceeds from the fact that “determinism not only does not imply fatalism, but, on the contrary, it provides the basis for rational action” (Lenin V.I., Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 1, p. 440), “... does not in the least destroy either the mind, or the conscience..., or the assessment... of the actions” of a person (ibid., p. 159) (see Art. Free Will). Various forms of philosophy have become widespread in modern bourgeois philosophy. Thus, the Baden school of neo-Kantianism limited the principle of determinism only to the field of natural sciences and denied its applicability to the “spiritual sciences” (W. Windelband, G. Rickert). Neopositivism, Pragmatism and Personalism try to limit determinism to the logical sphere only. The problem of quantum physics and determinism has become especially relevant in connection with the development of modern quantum physics. It was found that the principles of classical determinism are not suitable for characterizing the processes of the microworld. In this regard, attempts were made to interpret the basic laws of quantum theory in the spirit of I. and agnosticism. At the same time, one of the historical forms of determinism, namely mechanistic determinism, was identified with determinism in general. Difficulties in understanding the problems of causality in modern physics have resulted in the strengthening of tendencies towards causality in modern bourgeois philosophy. Thus, B. Russell, H. Reichenbach, F. Frank argue that determinism had no scientific value at all; the axiom of causality, in their opinion, is not even part of classical physics, because the statement of causality cannot be reduced to the relationship between observables facts, since the measurement results are in the nature of a probability distribution. The expression of I. were the ideas about the “free will” of the electron, that individual micro-phenomena are controlled by teleological forces, etc. Dialectical materialism, rejecting I., at the same time shows the insufficiency of previous mechanistic ideas about determinism and, based on the achievements of modern natural and social sciences forms a new generalized idea of determinism. Lit. see under art. Causality. A. P. Ogurtsov.

General characteristics of determinism

Along with the principle of the substantial unity of the world and the principle of development, the general theoretical principle of determinism is the fundamental principle of the philosophical doctrine of being. If the principle of the substantial unity of the world gives an answer to the question of whether the world is one or multiple and what underlies its unity, if the principle of development gives an answer to the question of whether the world always remains identical to itself or whether it is constantly undergoing changes, then the principle determinism contains the answer to the question whether the phenomena of the world are conditioned in their existence and development, whether this conditionality is regular, ordered or arbitrary, disordered. In other words, this is the question of whether the world in its existence and development appears as an ordered Cosmos or disordered chaos. The answer to the last question, like the answers to the first two,

has always been of interest to philosophers since antiquity; Depending on this answer, philosophical teachings fell into two directions: philosophical determinism and philosophical indeterminism.

Initially, the meaning of the word “determination” was associated with its literal meaning and had an anthropomorphic character. The term “determination” comes from the Latin “determinare”, meaning “to determine”, “to separate”, “to delimit”, and in this sense it denoted the operation of determining an object through identifying and fixing its characteristics that separate one object from another. It is clear that determination in this sense necessarily presupposes the existence of a knowing subject. Later, determination in philosophy began to be understood in the objective sense, as the formation, formation of objective characteristics of an object under the influence of objective factors. But such a change in the use of the term “determination” by attributing to it an objective status necessarily led to a change in its semantic meaning. Determination in the objective sense no longer means definition, limitation or separation, but the conditioning of some phenomena, processes and states by other phenomena, processes and states, as a result of which the former acquire certain characteristics that can be recorded in definitions. It is this objective meaning of the term “determination,” characterizing the existence of a relationship of objective conditioning in the world, that modern philosophy has in mind when it affirms the determinacy of all objective phenomena.

Determinism is the doctrine of the universal conditionality of objective phenomena.

This idea of the world is based on the universal interconnection of all phenomena, which, on the one hand, is a manifestation of the substantial unity of the world and the way of its implementation, and on the other, a consequence and prerequisite for the universal nature of development.

The initial category of determinism is the concepts of connection and interaction. Interaction manifests itself in the mutual change of things. In it, things turn out to be those factors through whose action the relation of determination is realized. The existence of a universal universal interconnection of all phenomena is the initial premise of the principle of determinism. Determinism is a general doctrine that recognizes the existence of a universal relationship and denies the existence of any phenomena and things outside this universal relationship (See: Kedrov B.M. “Scientific concept of determinism” // “Modern determinism, laws of nature.” M., 1973 8).

However, the content of the principle of determinism is not exhausted

this. Philosophical determinism also presupposes a certain concept of the nature and structure of determination relations, which is expressed in the doctrine of causality, necessity (in its relationship with chance), regularity, the variety of types and types of determination relations existing in the world, and in solving a number of other problems.

In a more expanded form, the general theoretical principle of determinism can be presented in the aggregate of the following theses:

1. The thesis about the universal conditionality of material systems and processes,

through which each specific thing acquires and retains its characteristic characteristics and which explains the change in phenomena. As Y. F. Askin rightly notes, within the framework of this thesis, “determinism is a relationship that expresses the dependence of things (properties of things, relationships between them, events, processes, states) in their existence and change from any factors” (Askin Y. F. "On the question of the categories of determinism" // "Modern determinism and science". T. 1. Novosibirsk, 1975. P. 44-45).

2. The basis of the entire variety of relations of determination (or conditioning) is genetic, causal productivity.

Each event has its own cause, each event is generated, produced by another event, and this generation process is accompanied by the transfer of matter, motion and information.
In other words, the principle of determinism includes the principle
3. Thesis about the diversity of types of determination

and the existence of non-causal relations of determination. This means that the principle of determinism does not reduce all relations of determination to causal determination, but postulates the existence of a variety of types of relations of determination that are not directly reducible to causality. At the same time, causal determination turns out to be the basis for the existence of all other types of determination.

4. Thesis about the lawfulness or regularity of conditioning relationships:

the conditioning process has a regular, ordered character. He is subject to laws, immanent patterns of being, inherent in the relationships between phenomena. According to this thesis, every phenomenon and event is subject to regular relationships in the process of its existence and change.

The relationship between the second thesis, which postulates the principle of causality, and the third thesis, which asserts the existence in the world of non-causal types of conditioning or determination, requires clarification. At first glance it may seem that these

theses are in relation to contradiction. The second thesis asserts the universal nature of causality, and the third the existence of non-causal types of conditioning in the world. If we interpret the content of the third thesis about the existence in the world along with the causality of phenomena that do not have causes, then we are indeed faced with a logical contradiction. However, in reality, the third thesis only states that, although every phenomenon has a cause, the variety of relations between phenomena is not limited to relations of causation; there are other types of relations of objective conditioning, knowledge of which is equally important for successful cognitive and practical human activity. Therefore, the principle of regularity finds its manifestation both in the relations of causal and in the relations of non-causal determination. In this regard, the principle of regularity turns out to be broader in scope than the principle of causality.

The relationship between the concepts of causality and the principle of determinism also requires clarification. From the above definition of the principle of determinism it follows that the concept of causality is considered as a necessary component of the principle of determinism and that the latter asserts something more about the world than the principle of causality.

In our literature there is a tendency to identify the principle of causality and the principle of determinism. For example, in the “Philosophical Encyclopedia” determinism is defined “as the doctrine of the universal causal material conditionality of natural, social and mental phenomena” (Yaroshevsky M. “Determinism” // “Philosophical Encyclopedia”. T. 1. M., I960. P. 464 ). With such an identification of causality and determinism, the very use of the term “determinism” turns out to be unnecessary. In this case, it is more logical to use the term causalism to denote the doctrine of regular conditioning. In addition, such identification leads to the exclusion of the very possibility of the existence of non-causal types and types of conditioning, and therefore to the exclusion of the possibility of the existence of non-causal laws, which contradicts the actual practice of science.

The identification of causality and determinism has historical roots and contains a grain of truth. The rational point in it is the idea of the inseparability of the principle of determinism and the principle of causality. The denial of causality necessarily leads to the rejection of materialistic determinism. However, reducing determinism only to the doctrine of causality significantly impoverishes the concept of philosophical determinism.

An alternative position to determinism is indeterminism (See: Ogorodnikov V.P. “Knowledge of necessity. Determinism as a principle of a scientific worldview.” M., 1985, section “Indeterminism and metaphysics against science”). There are various forms of indeterminism, but they are all associated either with the denial of the principle of causality or with the denial of the objective nature of the relations of determination. The last version of indeterminism is characteristic of the philosophy of D. Hume and I. Kant. Without denying the importance of the categories of determinism in scientific knowledge, they pursue a subjectivist line in the interpretation of the nature of causality, necessity, and regularity: regularity and conditionality are inherent only in our perception of the world, but not in the world itself.

In modern Western philosophy there is a very widespread doctrine, the supporters of which reject the principle of causality, but accept the principle of regularity. Sometimes this doctrine is designated by the term “pomological determinism” (from the Greek “nomos” - law). But in fact, this doctrine is a hidden form of indeterminism, since, as already mentioned, the exclusion of the principle of causality leads to indeterminism, since the relations of conditioning are thereby deprived of a substantial material basis.

Anyone studying the problems of determinism should keep in mind the polysemy of the use of the term “determinism” both in domestic and foreign literature, and since the terms “determinism” and “indeterminism” are antonyms, this polysemy turns out to be characteristic of the use of the term “indeterminism”. Thus, the term “determinism” is widely used to denote one of the historical forms of determinism - Laplacean determinism, in which the determinism of phenomena is identified with their unambiguous predictability. Accordingly, those philosophers who deny Laplacean determinism should be called “indeterminists,” although the denial of Laplacean determinism is not unambiguously associated with the denial of the principle of universal conditionality, causality, and regularity and, therefore, does not necessarily lead to the doctrine of philosophical indeterminism.

The essence of the dialectical concept of determinism is fully revealed based on a number of philosophical categories, which include primarily “cause” and “effect”, “law” and “regularity”, “essence” and “phenomenon”, “necessity” and “chance”, “freedom”, “possibility”, “reality”, etc.

What is indeterminism?

Indeterminism, as the name suggests, is a doctrine that denies causality. Similar ideas are found in theological treatises, in the teachings of Kant, Hume also spoke about this. In contrast to determinism, we are talking about the subjective nature of cause and effect.
Simply put, it is understood that when making this or that conclusion, a person is actually completely unclear about the degree of its correspondence to the true state of affairs.

Difference The term indeterminism appeared as a scientific movement along with the development of the statistical field and is considered the opposite of determinism.