Determinism 2

The human being 'as a subject for science'

'Sir, we know our will is free, and there's an end on't.' Dr Johnson

Examples of the scientific perspective being applied to the human being and human groups:

· Cognitive Science

· Social 'evolutionism'

Cognitive science

- the brain as an information-processing device.

A test for machines: The Turing Test

Could autonomy 'emerge'?

Could what starts as a mechanism turn into something with autonomy? Two possibilities perhaps:

· True autonomy turns out to be a myth as highly complex mechanisms mimic it successfully.

· True autonomy 'emerges' from high fully determined complexity.

Social 'Evolutionism'

· Herbert Spencer

· Auguste Compte

· Plato

· Marx

Popper's criticism of 'historicism': change sometimes depends on the acquisition of new knowledge which necessarily cannot be predicted.

Fatalism

is to be distinguished from causal determinism.

It is the thesis that there are some events which certainly will happen, whatever.

VP