Hard Determinism

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Hard Determinism
The theory of hard determinism postulates that the actions and behavior of human beings are completely established by external causes, and hence humans do not have ethical responsibility or true free will. Since hard determinists believe that every human action is determined by forces beyond our control, it contradicts the reasoning behind free will. The entire human legal and moral belief system is built on the notion of free will and individual responsibility. Some of the common reasoning of human behavior in determinism is that all our actions are determined by the laws of nature and past factors. Baron d’Holbach suggests that humans are indistinguishable “connected to the universal nature” (Holbach 165). This means that human beings, just like all other living beings, fit into the natural world. Baron d’Holbach supports his claim by arguing that since researchers assume that all other universal dimensions, both biological and physical, are subject to causal laws that inevitably characterize their relationships and behaviors, human beings should not be excluded from that deduction.
Additionally, he states that cultural beliefs like morality, criminal justice, and religion which are formed on the perception of personal freedom are erroneous and just illusions created by individuals who think they have freedom of choice but in reality they do not because human beings are an essential part of nature in all aspects and our actions and behaviors are determined in the same manner as everything in the world.

D’Holbach uses an example of giving a thirsty man something to quench his thirst and then informing the individual that the water is poisoned to see if the person will drink or not drink the water to strengthen his case for determination. In the case of conflicting forces such as the one presented by the ‘thirst’ example, the strongest one prevails. And it has nothing to do with free will but self-preservation. Some of the external and internal constraints of this theory include coercion, compulsions, incarceration, obsessions, threats, and uncontrolled anxiety.
Work Cited
Holbach, Paul Henri Thiry. The system of nature: Or, laws of the moral and physical world. JP Mendum, 1889.