Re: What the Hell is a Determinism Anyhow?



[ ... ]

JC wrote:
Determined means the current state always follows the
previous state.

Lester Zick wrote:

So determinism means that the current state of affairs
followed the previous state of affairs? How marvelous.
This really helps a lot.


Well it does help a lot. Note I used the word *always*.
That is a little more restrictive than "one thing follows
another". It says P *always* follows Q. If it doesn't
than it is not a determinate system.

We explain how something works by looking for a set of
variables that makes the system determinate or statistically
determinate. Otherwise there is nothing we can say about
the system because it is unpredictable.

An indeterminate system is an unexplained system.


Now we can reply to Dan that when he complains about a
lack of determinism what he means is that the current
state of affairs didn't follow the previous state of
affairs.

I can't make comments about what Dan might mean.

But things don't have to be "material" to be subject to
scientific investigation. Is the electromagnetic wave
"material"? They only have to have an effect which is
regular and reproducible. And they can only be understood
or explained in terms of those regularities.

If ghosts were as regular and reproducible as people
I would believe in them.

--
JC

.

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