PHI-10 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Necessitarianism, Principle Of Bivalence, Fatalism
Document Summary
That which cannot be otherwise is necessarily as it is . That which must happen or be as it is . Ex: 2 +2 = 4 (a mathematical truth, cant be false. That which could happen or be otherwise than it is. The cause necessitates the effect- if the cause had not happened then the effect would not have occurred. The effect is necessary relative to the cause- given the prior causes, the effect must happen. Given the history of a causal system, exactly one state is possible (given the laws of nature and the initial cause, one stain is the possible effect) Ex: given the dominoes, knocking the first one over causes the next one to fall down the change. Fatalism (necessitarianism): whatever happens, must happen- the way the world in fact is, is the only way it could be. Global causal determinism is compatible with contingency- it does not imply fatalism without further assumptions.
