This article examines the resurgence of an especially deterministic form of naturalism in contemporary American culture, which can be linked to particular attributes of neoliberalism. In particular, neoliberal power is shown to have been exercised partly through what the author terms “exonerative determinism,” a discourse whereby those in power claim to have been forced by outside circumstances into morally dubious policies. Two neo-naturalist texts – Dave Eggers's novel Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?, and the television miniseries The Night Of – are employed as case studies in order to examine the discourse of exonerative determinism. The essay concludes with a brief examination of how this discourse has been more overtly employed during the Trump administration.

中文翻译：

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无罪决定论：新自然主义在 21 世纪美国文化中的应用

本文考察了当代美国文化中一种特别确定的自然主义形式的复兴，这可能与新自由主义的特定属性有关。尤其是，新自由主义的权力被证明部分是通过作者所说的“免责决定论”来行使的，这是一种当权者声称被外部环境强迫采取道德上可疑的政策的话语。两个新自然主义文本——戴夫·艾格斯的小说你的父亲，他们在哪里？和先知，他们永远活着吗？和电视迷你剧之夜– 被用作案例研究，以检查免责决定论的话语。这篇文章最后简要考察了这种话语在特朗普政府期间是如何被更公开地使用的。