necessitarianism

[nuh-ses-i-tair-ee-uh-niz-uhm]

noun

1. the doctrine that all events, including acts of the will, are determined by antecedent causes; determinism.

necessitarianism

/ ˌnɛsɪˈsɛərɪəˌnɪzəm, nɪˌsɛsɪˈtɛərɪəˌnɪzəm /

noun

1. philosophy another word for determinism Compare libertarian

Other Word Forms

• necessitarian noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of necessitarianism¹

First recorded in 1850–55; necessitarian + -ism

Example Sentences

Libertā′rian, one who believes in free-will as opposed to necessity; Libertā′rianism, the doctrine of the freedom of the will, as opposed to necessitarianism; Liber′ticide, a destroyer of liberty; Liber′tinage, debauchery; Lib′ertine, formerly one who professed free opinions, esp. in religion: one who leads a licentious life, a rake or debauchee.—adj. belonging to a freedman: unrestrained: licentious.—n.

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His necessitarianism is modern, his scepticism is modern, and the difficulties in which it arises are modern too.

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There is, we must confess, a good deal of such sophistry to-day in the use of arguments drawn from the current philosophy of necessitarianism and the idea of heredity.

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In philosophy, Collins takes a foremost place as a defender of Necessitarianism.

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The materialism of Hobbes, the pantheism of Spinoza, the empiricism of Locke, the determinism of Leibnitz, Collins’ necessitarianism, Dodwell’s denial of the natural immortality of the soul, rationalistic attacks on Christianity, and the morality of the sensationalists—all these he opposed with a thorough conviction of the truth of the principles which he advocated.

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