Determinism

Abstract

IN his address on the decline of determinism,¹ Sir Arthur Eddington enunciates a very curious equation. “If the atom has indeterminacy, surely the human mind will have equal indeterminacy: for we can scarcely accept a theory which makes out the mind to be more mechanistic than the atom.” This statement will not bear too close an examination even from a non-quantitative point of view. Thus an attempt by myself to solve even a simple wave equation might lead to any of a large number of results; a similar attempt by Sir Arthur Eddington would lead to the correct solution with a high degree of probability. I do not think that this proves that his mind is more mechanistic than my own, whatever that may mean. Actually it is generally regarded as a compliment to describe a person as reliable, that is, to suggest that his conduct is predictable.