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Full Idea
'The ball's path is determined' must mean 'there is only one possible path for the ball (assuming no air currents)', but what ground could one have for believing this, if one does not believe in some system for which it is a consequence?
Gist of Idea
To believe in determinism, one must believe in a system which determines events
Source
G.E.M. Anscombe (Causality and Determinism [1971], §2)
Book Ref
'Causation', ed/tr. Sosa,E. /Tooley,M. [OUP 1993], p.97
A Reaction
This seems right, but it doesn't follow that one has to know the full details of the system. The system might just be the best explanation, or even a matter of vague faith. It might, though, be just that you can't imagine any other outcome.
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| 8350 | Since Mill causation has usually been explained by necessary and sufficient conditions [Anscombe] |
| 8353 | Freedom involves acting according to an idea [Anscombe] |
| 8352 | To believe in determinism, one must believe in a system which determines events [Anscombe] |
| 10363 | Causation is relative to how we describe the primary relata [Anscombe, by Schaffer,J] |
| 4777 | The word 'cause' is an abstraction from a group of causal terms in a language (scrape, push..) [Anscombe] |
| 20041 | Intentional actions are those which are explained by giving the reason for so acting [Anscombe] |
| 7439 | The qualities involved in sensations are entirely intentional [Anscombe, by Armstrong] |
| 8065 | 'Ought' and 'right' are survivals from earlier ethics, and should be jettisoned [Anscombe] |
| 8069 | Between Aristotle and us, a Judaeo-Christian legal conception of ethics was developed [Anscombe] |
| 8070 | It would be better to point to failings of character, than to moral wrongness of actions [Anscombe] |