Predetermination

 

               Technically, if there is in fact a reason for everything that happens then one’s life along with everybody else’s is ultimately predetermined. Humanity does not know and will probably never know every cause for every effect. I think it would take a very powerful device far greater than the human mind to factor in all the forces at play within the universe. Not to mention that gaining awareness of the future would consequently change the future. Regardless, lacking the power to accurately predict the future does not make the future random, it merely makes it unpredictable. So even though one cannot know the exact outcome of their future it doesn't change the fact that their past and future are apart of an unalterable causal chain. Now when I say that the chain is unalterable, I don't mean that a person is neccessarily powerless to change their undesirable circumstances. What I mean is that they're destination is the product of an unimaginable myriad of forces that will ultimately determine one's destination. If the concept of true randomness does in fact exist then the future cannot possibly be predetermined nor predicted. But true randomness is similar to the concept of free will. It's an effect without a cause. Given all that we've come to understand through cause and effect I believe that what seems like randomness is more likely ignorance of all the factors at work.

 

Fatalists and hard determinists both believe that one’s future is predetermined. The difference is that a believer in fate will cross the street without looking both ways because they believe that no matter what they do, they will end up at the same destination. Fatalism pretty much always goes hand in hand with divine intervention. The concept being that one will end up at the same destination no matter what they do, because a god of sorts with supernatural powers will ensure that they end up at the god’s decided destination. This doesn’t directly contradict determinism, because the preternatural god(s) is another factor in the equation. If the god has a plan for a person and that person doesn’t look both ways when crossing the street then the god will use its powers to ensure that the person gets to their destination anyways.

One might ask, ‘why bother to do anything if my life is predetermined?’ From a fatalistic point of view, there is no reason to act. Fatalism implies that incomprehensible forces will direct one to their destination regardless of their actions and therefore there is nothing required of them. From a deterministic view point, well, assuming one is being driven by ordinary compulsions such as thirst, hunger, sexual desire and overall comfort then the only way they can do nothing is to believe that doing nothing will in fact yield the same results as doing something; perhapsby having a belief in fate.