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(Quote from Cassius) I hope to add something to the discussion by bringing up the difference between determinism and fatalism. I don't think that Democritus' position imply that there's no room for personal decision, but I recognize that Epicurus could have understood so. Those who do think that we can't change our future whatever we do are the stoics. (They even talk frequently about Providence.) Democritus was a determinist, stoics were fatalist. What's the difference? A determinist thinks tha…

I'm sorry if I made things more confusing by introducing the distinction determinism/fatalism. I just wanted to make some justice to Democritus' position. Specially because there are contemporary people who defend something similar, that "free will" (that's the term they use) is an illusion. (Quote from waterholic) I totally agree with you, Nate. However by introducing the swerve in the nature of the world Epicurus (or Lucretius) introduced a form of indeterminism. (The supercomputer that you me…

(Quote from Onenski) What I have in mind here, perhaps is clearer if I put it like this. Determinism is the idea that every event in the universe has a causal explanation. Every event is explained appealing to past events that caused it. There is no event without cause. The idea of a swerve implies an event that is not caused (because is random). So, the world is indeterministic if we accept the swerve. I imagine something like: you're a chemist, but in an indeterministic world sometimes chemica…

(Quote from waterholic) Thanks for your answer, Nate. My understanding of determinism it's that even what you want is determined by previous events (what you've experienced, the culture where you live, the beliefs with which you've grown up, etc.). So the fact that you wanted to smash the cup was determined as well (I recommend one more time Sapolsky's book "Behave" for more on this). I fear that the use of the word "agency" in this paragraph and the next refers to a special kind of causation in…