Historical determinism
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Historical determinism is the stance that events are historically predetermined or currently constrained by various forces. Historical determinism can be understood in contrast to its negation, i.e. the rejection of historical determinism.
Some political philosophies (e.g. Stalinism, Maoism and Marxism), assert a historical materialism of either predetermination or constraint, or both.
Used as a pejorative, it is normally meant to designate a rigid finalist or mechanist conception of historical unfolding that makes the future appear as an inevitable and predetermined result of the past.
See also[edit]
- Bad faith (existentialism)
- Cliodynamics
- Determinism
- Dialectical materialism
- Economic determinism
- False consciousness
- False necessity
- Free will
- Futurology
- Geographic determinism
- Geopolitics
- Hegelianism
- Human nature
- Kondratiev wave
- Marxism
- Millenarianism
- Myth of progress
- Self determination
- Technological determinism
- Whig history