Deism

====Freedom and necessity====
Enlightenment philosophers under the influence of [[Newtonianism|Newtonian science]] tended to view the universe as a vast machine, created and set in motion by a creator being that continues to operate according to natural law without any divine intervention. This view naturally led to what was then called "[[necessitarianism]]"<ref>David Hartley, for example, described himself as "quite in the necessitarian scheme. See Ferg, Stephen, "Two Early Works of David Hartley", ''Journal of the History of Philosophy'', vol. 19, no. 2 (April 1981), pp. 173–89.</ref> (the modern term is "[[determinism]]"): the view that everything in the universe&mdash;including human behavior&mdash;is completely, causally determined by antecedent circumstances and natural law. (See, for example, [[La Mettrie]]'s [http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/LaMettrie/Machine/ ''L'Homme machine''].) As a consequence, debates about [[Free will|freedom]] versus "necessity" were a regular feature of Enlightenment religious and philosophical discussions. Reflecting the intellectual climate of the time, there were differences among Deists about freedom and determinism. Some, such as [[Anthony Collins (philosopher)|Anthony Collins]], were actually necessitarians.<ref>See for example ''Liberty and Necessity'' (1729).</ref>