Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-18T18:57:44.187Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Determinism, Laws, and Predictability in Principle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

Richard Boyd
Richard Boyd*
Affiliation:
Cornell University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines commonly offered arguments to show that human behavior is not deterministic because it is not predictable. These arguments turn out to rest on the assumption that deterministic systems must be governed by deterministic laws, and that these give rise to predictability “in principle” of determined events. A positive account of determinism is advanced and it is shown that neither of these assumptions is true. The relation between determinism, laws, and prediction in practice is discussed as a question in scientific epistemology.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 39 , Issue 4 , December 1972 , pp. 431 - 450
Copyright
Copyright © 1972 by The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[1] Goldman, Alvin I. “Actions, Predictions, and Books of Life.” American Philosophical Quarterly 5 (1968).Google Scholar
[2] Lewis, David K. and Richardson, Jane Shelby. “Scriven on Human Unpredictability.” Philosophical Studies 17 (1966).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[3] Scriven, M. “On Essential Unpredictability in Human Behavior.” Scientific Psychology: Principles and Approaches. Edited by Wolman, Benjamin B. and Nagel, Ernest. New York: Basic Books, 1965.Google Scholar
[4] Rogers, Hartley Jr. Theory of Recursive Functions and Effective Computability. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968.Google Scholar