Necessitarianism
Necessitarianism is a metaphysical principle that denies all mere possibility; there is exactly one way for the world to be. It is the strongest member of a family of principles, including hard determinism, each of which deny free will, reasoning that human actions are predetermined by external or internal antecedents. Necessitarianism is stronger than hard determinism, because even the hard determinist would grant that the causal chain constituting the world might have been different as a whole, even though each member of that series could not have been different, given its antecedent causes. The
Century Dictionary defined it differently in 1889–91, essentially as belief that the will is not free but instead subject to external antecedent causes or natural laws of cause and effect. The definitions of
necessarian,
necessarianism, and
necessitarian were written by the philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce, who argued against necessitarianism with Paul Carus..
necessarian I. a. Relating to necessarianism; necessitarian.
II. n. One who accepts the doctrine of necessarianism; a necessitarian.