Hard Determinism
Q: How might a hard determinist justify punishment? Before we begin analyzing this question, it is important to first look at the meaning of determinism, what a hard determinist is, and how we define punishment. Determinism is defined as: A thesis that states that if you list all the causally relevant facts pertaining to an event at a given time, these facts uniquely determine what will happen next. A hard determinist believes that determinism is true, and that free will is an illusion.