determinism: the principle of causality, hard determinism and soft determinism, internal and external causation;

What is the Principle of Causality?

Also called 'universal causation,' it is the idea that every event has a prior cause.

What is Hard Determinism?

The belief that humans have no free will because every action is fixed by a chain of causes.

What does John Locke's 'locked room' analogy illustrate?

It illustrates that a man might think he chooses to stay in a room, not knowing the door is actually locked from the outside.

What was Benedict Spinoza's argument regarding free will?

He argued that people only believe they are free because they are ignorant of the biological or psychological causes of their actions.

What is Soft Determinism?

The view that while our actions are caused, we are still free if we are acting according to our own nature and are not being coerced.