Be sure to distinguish determinism from hard determinism. Determinism is a metaphysical view about the nature of the world we live in, namely that it runs with law-like regularity. Every thing is caused; all events are caused. Natural laws are of the form If event 'c' occurs, then event 'e' will always follow, or All c's are followed by e's.
Hard determinism draws the conclusion from this that no one has genuinely free will and consequently no one can be held morally responsible.
Four pitfalls:
A. Determinism is NOT the view that nothing changes. It is the view that all change is caused.
B. Determinism just means caused by prior physical or mental events*. It has nothing to do with purpose or someone (God?) being determined to do something. 'Determine' can mean:
i) caused. "Whether we will have the picnic will be whether it rains." When the ice on the lake forms will be determined by the temperature."
ii) trying hard. "I am really determined to make the team."
iii) deciding or choosing. "I've determined that I will take that one."
Don't confuse them.
* If there is a separate mental realm which cannot be reduced to brain events then one could still be a determinist by holding that there are laws of thought. In fact late 19th century psychology was thought of as trying to discover the laws of thought.
C. Determinism is not the popular view that there is a REASON for everything.
There is good evidence for determinism, but very little for the latter view.
D. 'Soft' determinism (Compatibilism) is not "soft" on determinism. It is NOT the view that only some events are caused. It accepts full blown determinism or at least thinks that it is a reasonable working hypothesis about the universe. AND, it is misleading to think of it as a "compromise" position between hard determinism and free will. Yes it does say that both people can act freely and that determinism is true, but they mean something entirely different by 'free' than libertarians (free will, interventionists) and hard determinists mean by it.
PLEASE BRING THINK (and thinking) TO CLASS