First off, someone saying "Determinism applies to physical actions in the universe. It does not apply to mental thoughts" obviously believes either that (a) "mental thoughts" are not physical (actions), or (b) "mental thoughts" are not (physical actions) in the universe, or both (a) and (b).Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Fri Jun 18, 2021 12:50 amBut Determinists think...and have to insist...that it does. Because if "mental thoughts" are a part of the universe, then Materialism insists they must be strictly material, nothing else; and thus they also must be bound by Determinism.jayjacobus wrote: ↑Thu Jun 17, 2021 9:51 pm Determinism applies to physical actions in the universe. It does not apply to mental thoughts.
Whether that person should really be called a determinist is a different issue. I'd say "No," but that would be simply based on normal usage of the term and the contextual fact that there's not really anyone who argues that nothing is causally determined, so making a distinction there is of negligible utility (and will only tend to confuse).
Finally, as I keep explaining, one can be a materialist and NOT a determinist. Again, I'm an example of one of those people. You should be able to understand how one can be a materialist and not a determinist, despite you thinking that materialism is ridiculous.