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Cognitive Determinism

A strong form of cognitive realism, arguing that our cognitive and nervous systems don't just shape but determine our experience of reality—that what we can know, perceive, and understand is strictly limited by the structure of human cognition. Cognitive Determinism holds that there are aspects of reality we cannot access because our brains didn't evolve to access them, questions we cannot think because our cognitive architecture doesn't support them, truths that are literally unthinkable. It's the position that the mind is not just a lens but a cage—that our cognitive inheritance both enables and limits what we can know. Cognitive Determinism is humbling: it suggests that the universe is likely far stranger than we can imagine, because we can only imagine what our brains allow.
Example: "He'd always assumed that human reason could eventually understand everything. Cognitive Determinism suggested otherwise: there might be truths his brain simply couldn't grasp, realities his cognition couldn't model. The universe was likely far stranger than he could imagine—not because he wasn't smart enough, but because he was human enough."
by Abzugal March 9, 2026
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Economic moral determinism movement

A movement that seeks to have people to only hold morals that will make and/or save money etc. for example if a person will help you make or save money then you should save there life etc. but if a homeless person is starving and they cannot help you make and/or save money you should let them starve etc.
by The Fury 13 January 15, 2011
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Age of determination

The age at which one can determine/pick which sports teams they will follow before being considered a bandwagon. There are multiple acceptable reasons to choose a team as long as it is before the age of determination(0-7) 5 being the gold standard
Tim became a laker fan by the spring age of 5 therefore he is within the age of determination
by Ac3B00Gi3 March 23, 2019
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My problem with determinism

Is how it's supposed existence is demonstrated, right? They usually use this binary prompt-response scenario. Like "Think of a city. Now did you pick the the specific city or was it random?" And I think that's the wrong way to conceptualize it.
Hym "So, my problem with determinism (at least in this example of determinism) is that although I don't choose the specific city, I still activate the 'mode' that searches for city and I can choose not to do it and prevent a city from coming to mind OR I can misfire. It's like a hat with with slips of paper in it and, on the slips of paper, are the names of cities. Now, you can prompt me to think of 'city.' I can choose to reach into the hat. And only then do I get a random city. But what I DON'T get is 'Nissan' or 'helicopter' or 'banana' or 'dog.' I activate the mode that searches for city and I reach into the hat. See, as I have it conceptualized, thought exists in this nebulous, un-articulated format. So, to get language I need to activate some kind of process. And prompt response ISN'T THE SAME as what I'm doing when I'm monologing. I'm running that nebulous, un-articulated thought-matter through a lexicon that corresponds with my native language. But I am that which activates modes. I can can turn it on or off like a switch. It can also misfire while I'm not paying attention. So, yeah... I think it's a failure to properly conceptualize and a failure to compartmentalize."
by Hym Iam December 2, 2023
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