Predeterminism is generally the philosophy that all of the events of history, past, present and future, have been decided before the advent of temporal existence. It is a type of determinism founded upon scientific inquiry and closely related to the field of cosmology.

Predeterminism versus Free Will

The difficulties in understanding exactly what free will is in a predeterministic framework lie in the unclear nature of free will. It is often loosely defined in a religious sense as the ability to make one's own decisions given to mankind by God. In this regard it is largely a moral philosophy intended as a reconciliation of evil. Verifiability of

The argument for predeterminism states that temporal existence is bound to a causal chain of events. The initial conditions, according to predeterminism, issued forth this chain necessarily according to a predetermined set of universal laws. Advocates of predeterminism claim this predetermined set of universal laws is science itself. In effect, what this argument amounts to is the idea of a first cause.

Predeterminism and Science

Predeterminism is often studied in the context of quantum physics.

See also

• Scientific determinism
• Kip Thorne
• Stephen Hawking
• Karl Popper
• Predestination