Free Capitalist Network - Community Archive
Mises Community Archive
An online community for fans of Austrian economics and libertarianism, featuring forums, user blogs, and more.

Determinism and Causality

rated by 0 users
This post has 3 Replies | 0 Followers

Top 150 Contributor
Male
Posts 753
Points 18,750
Jeremiah Dyke Posted: Wed, Jan 26 2011 4:43 PM

Posing the question if determinism could be perfectly revealed, that is, if all actions could be perfectly traced back to their original causes to a the point where it was accepted that all action were determined by cause and effect would there be any need for a system of restitution and property violations? Would all action be defined as behavior?  

Read until you have something to write...Write until you have nothing to write...when you have nothing to write, read...read until you have something to write...Jeremiah 

  • | Post Points: 35
Top 10 Contributor
Posts 7,105
Points 115,240
ForumsAdministrator
Moderator
SystemAdministrator

1) sure, why would people under deterministic causation necessarily not be caused to do things like talk to each other about (and put in place) systems of restitution?

2) Action is behaviour, but a special type of behaviour for which we can give a teleological account. teleological descriptions may lose their pride of place as the 'only/(or much the best)' framework for understanding human agents, but you would have to explain to me why they would fall away all together if the complexities of 'mechanical' reductionism were rendered trivial to our understanding.

Where there is no property there is no justice; a proposition as certain as any demonstration in Euclid

Fools! not to see that what they madly desire would be a calamity to them as no hands but their own could bring

  • | Post Points: 20
Top 150 Contributor
Male
Posts 753
Points 18,750

1) sure, why would people under deterministic causation necessarily not be caused to do things like talk to each other about (and put in place) systems of restitution?

Good point

Furthering the topic, How unintentional can an action actually be? How intentional can an action be? Whats the upper and lower bound? Can we say with any certainty that an action was intentional or unintentional or are we speaking about degrees?

Read until you have something to write...Write until you have nothing to write...when you have nothing to write, read...read until you have something to write...Jeremiah 

  • | Post Points: 5
Page 1 of 1 (4 items) | RSS