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Critique Of Determinism In The Light Of Immanuel Kant
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This definition
points to the fact that human actions are caused. He went further to
argue that all laws are based on rewards and punishments and thus rest
on the assumption that men’s motives can be relied upon to have a
regular influence on their behaviour. Following the fundamental point
of his philosophy that causation is essentially constant succession,
Hume argued that to ask whether human action is caused is to ask whether
there are anything they constantly joined to.
1.8 LOGICAL DETERMINISM
Logical
determinism is the theory, which holds that whatever that is going to
happen will happen. It implies that it is not in the power of man to
alter anything in nature for men’s wills are fettered.
Diodonus
Cronus developed this thesis. His fundamental principle was that it
always follows from the fact that something has happened that it was
going to happen and hence, that it was true that it was going to happen
by chance and nothing depends on the deliberation and decision of man.
The
stoics thought that the most elementary consideration of logic shows
this to be true. In logic, there is a law known as “the law of the
excluded middleâ€. This principle holds that either a statement is true
or it is false. There is no middle position, if this is so, then it
must hold for statements about the past, the present and the future.
For instance the fact that Nigeria got her political independence in
1960 is true thousands of years ago. In other words, if somebody had
made this assertion that Nigeria will have her independence in 1960
thousands of years ago, the assertion will be true even though it has
not yet materialized.
Before I conclude this chapter, it is also
important to mention that there are also other forms of determinism;
soft and hard determinisms. Soft determinism is the idea which holds
that man is determined at the same time it gives room for some freedom
in human actions. J.S Mill, David Hume and Thomas Hobbes belong to this
group. On the other hand, hard determinism gives no room for freedom
in human action. The materialists advocate this type of determinism.
Like
I mentioned earlier, this problem of freedom and determinism has been
there since the beginning of philosophical speculation. In the next
chapter, I shall x-ray the opinions of different philosophers on this
problem from the ancient to the contemporary period.1 S.Wehmeier, (ed),
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, (New York ,2000)
2 B. Mondin, Philosophical Anthropology, (Bangalore,1983),p.103.
3
J. Omoregbe, Metaphysics Without Tears: A Systematic And Historical
Study,(Lagos: Joja Educational Research And Publishers
Limited,1996),p.29.
4 Ibid. p.31
5 S. E. Stumpf, Philosophy History And Problems,(U.S.A: Mc Graw-Hill,Inc.,1994),p.26.
6 P. Edward, (ed), The Encyclopedia Of Philosophy, vol.2 (New York: The Macmillan Company and Free Press, 1967), p.367.
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