Fate vs. Free Will

[hush_hermit]

I find it fascinating when individuals use a collection of vague and rather unscientific observations to support or refute a philosophical concept such as free will. Unlike most people here, I won’t profess to have any adamant inclination in either direction, but I think it would be wise to establish the difference between fatalism and determinism.

All of the previously stated scientific arguments are indicative of determinism, i.e. causality. The best way I have discovered to differentiate determinism and fatalism is the following: The present is merely the accumulation of all prior events. Determinism states that if you went back in time and changed these events, the future would change accordingly. Fatalism contends that even if past events changed, the future would remain the same. So, if determinism exists, it still allows for free will, just not absolute free will.

Conversely, the most cogent argument for fatalism I’ve encountered is the following: All human actions are inherently selfish. Helping others, i.e. virtue, is an arbitrary and irrelevant designation. We need both good and bad, ideally in equal quantities, and therefore one is neither more important nor better than the other [see: Taoism]. Since human beings can only make selfish decisions, it’s only logical that they will always make the most selfish decision. In other words, the strongest desire always dominates. Therefore, we have no control over our decisions.

This argument sustained me for a short while until I was reminded of Cicero’s brief and elegant philosophy of humanity. The human animal, he argued, is unique among all animals in that it can think beyond the present to concerns other than momentary satisfaction. Only by this action are human beings genuinely fulfilled. In all other instances, they are destructive and frightened like the animals of the field. This would seem to suggest that fatalism exists only for those who remain shackled to the natural forces of instinct and emotion. By evolving into rational, enlightened beings, humans escape the bonds of fate and embrace the special talents of their species.