Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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HISTORICAL DETERMINISM

A philosophy of history which claims that human actions are all determined exclusively by their antecedents. Given the same circumstances, people always behave in the same way. The task of the historian, then, is to show that the movements of nations are perfectly regular and that, like all other movements, they are solely determined by their antecedents. This conception of history as a deterministic science is at variance with Catholic Christianity, which believes in human freedom.