A Philosophical Analysis of the Criterion of Physical Determinism

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the concept of determinism whether belongs to the physics or metaphysics. The Laplacian determinism is explained and its components are analyzed exactly. The criteria of the deterministic physical systems are developed according to the philosophical understanding. In this regard two ideas for modeling the determinism in the physical systems are reviewed: 1- the Globally Duplicated (GD) idea in a deterministic world as well as 2- the Unique Evolution (UE) of deterministic system. The first idea is criticized for its defect in encountering the sophisticated determinism. The second criterion is vindicated based on Mulla Sadra's philosophical teachings on the causal necessity. According to the UE criterion, the modern physics theories such as quantum mechanics and special relativity theory are analyzed. It is shown that contrary to the popular perception, the quantum theory does not violate the determinism criterion. Moreover the strongly deterministic theory of special relativity does not entail predictability.