(73, 80, 83)
de·ter·min·ism
noun
1.
the doctrine that all facts and events exemplify natural laws.
2.
the doctrine that all events, including human choices and decisions, have sufficient causes.
Determinism
is a metaphysical philosophical idea stating that for every event or state of affairs,
including human action and decision, there are conditions such that nothing
else could happen. These states of affairs are inevitable and necessary
consequences. “Past events and the laws of nature fix or set future events.” (New World Encyclopedia)
Determinism is
contrasted with the theory of free will. Free will is the ability to make choices unrestrained
by certain factors. In physics, determinism is synonymous with cause-and-effect.
The
idea of determinism makes three obvious appearances in Arcadia. This happens once on page 73 when Chloe and Valentine are
talking about the theory of how the future could possibly be programmed like a
computer (a huge computer), but Chloe goes on to disprove her own theory by
saying “the only thing going wrong is people fancying people who aren’t
supposed to be in that part of the plan.” (73) This suggests an element of free
will in a deterministic universe. The play itself is very deterministic. The
simple fact that it has been written out takes away any free will that the
characters in the story may have had. Also, we know the future of the
characters in the earlier period of the play as the characters in the later
period are discovering what happened to them, so their future had already been
written out.
~Teresa Turner
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