High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Determinism is the view that every event, including human cognition, behavior, decision, and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. Determinists believe the universe is fully governed by causal laws resulting in only one possible state at any point in time. With numerous historical debates, many varieties and philosophical positions on the subject of determinism exist, most prominently the debate involving compatibilism and incompatibilism. Determinism should not be confused with predeterminism, which specifically factors the existence of God into its tenets.