The Dilemma of Determinism
E661615
"The Dilemma of Determinism" is an influential essay by William James in which he critiques strict determinism and defends a form of indeterminism to preserve moral responsibility and genuine choice.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Dilemma of Determinism canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7410857 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Dilemma of Determinism Context triple: [The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy, hasEssay, The Dilemma of Determinism]
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A.
essay "Is Everything Determined?"
The essay "Is Everything Determined?" is a philosophical and scientific reflection by Stephen Hawking on determinism, free will, and the implications of modern physics for predicting the future.
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B.
The Freedom of the Will
The Freedom of the Will is an influential 18th-century theological and philosophical treatise by Jonathan Edwards that rigorously defends a compatibilist view of human freedom and divine sovereignty.
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C.
Causality and Determination
Causality and Determination is a philosophical work by Elizabeth Anscombe that critically examines the concepts of causation and determinism, challenging prevailing assumptions in analytic philosophy and the philosophy of science.
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D.
On the Freedom of the Will
On the Freedom of the Will is a philosophical treatise by Arthur Schopenhauer that critically examines the nature of human freedom, moral responsibility, and determinism.
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E.
The Philosophy of the Act
The Philosophy of the Act is a posthumously published collection of George Herbert Mead’s writings that develops his pragmatist and social behaviorist account of action, experience, and the emergence of mind.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Dilemma of Determinism Target entity description: "The Dilemma of Determinism" is an influential essay by William James in which he critiques strict determinism and defends a form of indeterminism to preserve moral responsibility and genuine choice.
-
A.
essay "Is Everything Determined?"
The essay "Is Everything Determined?" is a philosophical and scientific reflection by Stephen Hawking on determinism, free will, and the implications of modern physics for predicting the future.
-
B.
The Freedom of the Will
The Freedom of the Will is an influential 18th-century theological and philosophical treatise by Jonathan Edwards that rigorously defends a compatibilist view of human freedom and divine sovereignty.
-
C.
Causality and Determination
Causality and Determination is a philosophical work by Elizabeth Anscombe that critically examines the concepts of causation and determinism, challenging prevailing assumptions in analytic philosophy and the philosophy of science.
-
D.
On the Freedom of the Will
On the Freedom of the Will is a philosophical treatise by Arthur Schopenhauer that critically examines the nature of human freedom, moral responsibility, and determinism.
-
E.
The Philosophy of the Act
The Philosophy of the Act is a posthumously published collection of George Herbert Mead’s writings that develops his pragmatist and social behaviorist account of action, experience, and the emergence of mind.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (44)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
philosophical essay
ⓘ
work on free will ⓘ |
| addresses |
compatibilism
ⓘ
incompatibilism ⓘ |
| arguesAgainst | necessitarianism ⓘ |
| arguesFor |
open future
ⓘ
real alternatives in choice ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
William James’s theory of will
ⓘ
pragmatism ⓘ |
| author | William James NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| concerns |
conditions for moral praise and blame
ⓘ
relationship between causality and freedom ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| critiques | strict determinism ⓘ |
| defends | indeterminism ⓘ |
| genre | philosophical literature ⓘ |
| hasNotableConcept |
dilemma between determinism and indeterminism
ⓘ
genuine possibilities ⓘ moral significance of choice ⓘ |
| hasPhilosophicalPosition |
indeterminist view of human action
ⓘ
libertarianism about free will ⓘ |
| hasReception | considered an influential text in free will debates ⓘ |
| includedIn | collections of William James’s philosophical essays ⓘ |
| influenced |
20th-century debates on free will
ⓘ
analytic philosophy discussions of determinism ⓘ contemporary libertarian views on free will ⓘ |
| influencedBy | earlier debates on free will and determinism ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
determinism
ⓘ
free will ⓘ indeterminism ⓘ moral philosophy ⓘ moral responsibility ⓘ philosophy of action ⓘ |
| period | late 19th century ⓘ |
| philosophicalDiscipline |
ethics
ⓘ
metaphysics ⓘ philosophy of mind ⓘ |
| philosophicalTradition | American pragmatism NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| studiedIn |
courses on American philosophy
ⓘ
courses on philosophy of free will ⓘ |
| supports |
genuine choice
ⓘ
moral responsibility ⓘ |
| workOf | William James NERFINISHED ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Dilemma of Determinism Description of subject: "The Dilemma of Determinism" is an influential essay by William James in which he critiques strict determinism and defends a form of indeterminism to preserve moral responsibility and genuine choice.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy
→
hasEssay
→
The Dilemma of Determinism
ⓘ