Do We Choose Our Own Fate? Fatalism vs Determinism By Kerry Holmes

My Story When I was in 10 th grade I had been riding a horse named Eddie to prepare for a show, or competition. The day before the show my instructor asked me if I wanted to change horses to another named Gator. Since I had been riding Eddie for the past couple of weeks I chose to stay with him. Unfortunately, at the show Eddie freaked out and fell on top of me when I went to get on. I was alright the only part of me that was injured was my right knee. This made me think about what would of happened if I had chosen the other horse. Was I destined to just get hurt that day or would Gator have been fine? Or even did I really have a choice about what horse I rode or was the already determined as well.

Eddie and I at the show

Fatalism 0 Fatalism defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is a doctrine that events are fixed in advance so that human beings are powerless to change them.

Determinism 0 Determinism is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is a theory or doctrine that acts of the will, occurrences in nature, or social or psychological phenomena are causally determined by preceding events or natural laws

The History of Fatalism 0 In ancient times people felt that they had limits on their freedoms. They weren’t sure exactly why but they contributed it to fate or a grater power. 0 In the Medieval Epoch, they thought the greater power to be a God. 0 In the 17 th century, in wake of new scientific discoveries events were proven not to be based on mysterious fates or Gods but on scientific underlays.

Religion and Fatalism 0 Hindus and Buddhists accept the idea of karma, which is the idea that what happens in a person’s life is determined by what they have done in their past. 0 Christianity’s idea of fatalism is called predestination. Predestination is the idea that everything, including history and a person’s life, as well as what happens after death, is all determined by God.

Religion and Fatalism 0 “It’s God’s will” became a common statement to explain tragedy for the Hebrews, such as when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. 0 Many people were faced with problems of thinking, “What is the point of behaving virtuously if the one’s salvation is already determined by God’s grace?”

Determinism in History 0 Determinism was defined by Newton and other scientists as the idea that every event was naturally caused by pervious events and states plus the universal laws of nature. 0 In the 18 th century, most of America’s “founding fathers” believed that God had created the universe but didn’t intervene after that. 0 David Hume and the French Baron d’Holbach didn’t believe in miracles and divine intervention at all.

Oedipus 0 The Ancient Greeks, believing in Fatalism, wrote the play Oedipus Rex which was about a man who was predetermined to kill his father and marry him mother, then unknowingly did both. 0 (this is the shortened version of Oedipus basically).

David Hume 0 Hume believed that we had to have control over every aspect of what we decide to do or not to do. 0 His arguments were mostly against there being a God with control over everything that we did. He talked about how the God would be full of guilt because of making people do bad things or letting them make bad decisions. 0 He believed that there was complete free will and that that is how we make our decisions and do what we do.

My Opinion 0 I think now after doing some research that while we are do make our own decisions there are some factors that help to predetermine our fate. 0 I believe that every decision that we make has some of our surroundings to help make it. I am not talking about a God or an outside force literally determined our every move, more that individual factors such as something as small as weather or what horse you have been riding can change your whole future.

My Opinion 0 I can’t say that my life is in a line that is written in stone and I am just following around but who’s to say for sure. 0 I chose to come to URI because an advisor suggested it. What happens if I hadn’t gone to that advisor or listened to her opinion? Would I be the person I am now? These questions make me think there has to be somewhat of fate or destiny that we may have because every decision is influenced by other people and outside encouragements.

Work Cited 0 "DeterminismAbout Our Definitions: All Forms of a Word (noun, Verb, Etc.) Are Now Displayed on One Page." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 26 Apr "FatalismAbout Our Definitions: All Forms of a Word (noun, Verb, Etc.) Are Now Displayed on One Page." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 26 Apr "Hume on Free Will." (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr "Oedipus (Greek Mythology)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 26 Apr Solomon, Robert C. The Little Philosophy Book. New York: Oxford UP, Print. Pages 62-67