Evolutionary Determinism: A Logical Analysis of Reality Through Neuroscientific, Biological, Chemical, and Theistic Perspectives

Determinism is the world view that states all events including human actions are ultimately determined by causes external to will. Will being defined as an organism’s ability to act agency upon its surroundings without any third-party affecting that agency. Determinists also hold true that morals do not exist in the classical sense (there is no objective morality or standard held to which all organisms of a group are necessarily subjected to). Here I build a logical argument for why determinism is the best explanation of reality as we know it, and why it is contradictory to Catholic doctrine. Furthermore, I posit that the Catholic doctrine is not compatible with this worldview based on neuroscientific evidence. It is not to be considered a false dichotomy because while I acknowledge that we do not know everything, and there may be other possibilities, determinism can be seen as an atheistic view and Catholicism is a theistic view of reality. Most faiths have some concept of free will similar to Catholicism. So, it would be more apt to pay attention to the general idea of free will instead of targeting Catholicism specifically. Nevertheless, I will use it as an example. We must compare and contrast with the Catholic doctrine for any logical inconsistencies or mismatch to answer this somewhat binary condition so that a position may be reached on the matter. After careful analysis, it becomes apparent that certain elements of the Catholic doctrine can indeed be falsified (the existence of a soul). Therefore, the ideology is not supported by any merit of logic but rather by other means which are not based in reality as we know it.