P1+Shawn+T

Fate  Shawn Taylor

Fate is the idea that a person’s life cannot be changed due to the forces of an outside party directing that person’s life in a certain way. An entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy says “It may be argued for in various ways: by appeal to logical laws and metaphysical necessities; by appeal to the existence and nature of God” (Fatalism). This quote is telling that fate can be expressed by logical or divine means or plain determinism. Logical means is something that could be expressed as two people arguing over a certain date that a person will die. If the person does die on that day, or doesn’t, is logical in that on of the two people arguing was pushing that person toward his inevitable death. Divine means is when a person tells others that God told him to do whatever he is doing. For example, the “Son of Sam” serial killer thought God or demons were telling him to kill people. A common misconception is that fate and destiny are the same. They are not. With fate, the individual has no control over how they do things; with destiny, they have some control over their life but the outcome will be the same.

“Fatalism.” //Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy//. Stanford, 10. Oct. 2006. Web. 1 Dec. 2009