Philosophy 101
March - May 2013
So.......... you took the survey in the book to see if you have any traits of Existentialism, Stoicism, Buddhism, and Hedonism. I bet you found that you have some of each. One reason might be because Americans are actually a blend of many cultures................We often practice many (sometimes conflicting) philosophical systems at the same time (whether we know it or not).
You will also find that many philosophies have different "levels" or "degrees". Like at a game sometimes you might be really decked out in Blue and Gold, while others might just wear a blue t-shirt. Both are practicing their colors, but at different levels.
An extreme Existentialist practices a system that EVERYTHING is free will. An extreme Stoic practices a system where NOTHING is free will and EVERYTHING is fate/ and determined ahead-of-time. What do you think about fate and free will?
I personally believe fate plays a most vital role in every person's life. As much as most individuals would like to be "in control" of their own lives, and to some extent they are, consequence and fate will overrule human ingenuity every time. I said to an extent people can determine their own fate, and by this I mean a person can be driven and ambitious about their future, always taking in new opportunities. These people are able to choose their profession, schooling, and spouse at their own leisure, BUT at any time I believe either fate's cruel hand or kind ways can and will intervene. I strongly believe if something is meant to happen it always will, no matter what.
ReplyDeleteI think some things in life is predetermined. I also think that in life you are given choices which is your own personal free will to choose a different path for yourself. I lean more towards having free will in life because if everything was planned out to perfection why would we want to make some people suffer a life of poverty when fate should guild them. I think they made a choice to not try rising above being poor and making a better life for themselves.
ReplyDeleteI believe there are many differences between fate and free will, but there will also be some similarities. Free will seems to be more of a choice in life - will you just wear the blue t-shirt and jeans, or go all out? Whereas fate is more of a 'chosen for you' idea to me - when you fall on the ice, will you catch yourself or snap your leg in half? Either way - whether life is determined by fate or free will - there are many ways to try to 'redeem' mistakes and make things better, perhaps another school spirit day, or walking a different path to your car. On another note, you should not rely on living under the 'rules' of fate. You can change who you are, whether for better or for worse, but you can't always change what is going to happen to you, and living under a combination of free will and fate is how most people (in my eyes) succeed and make their lives content.
ReplyDeleteI believe both fate and free will play an important part in every human's life. All human beings are free to make their own decisions. I agree with Jordan, free will is definitely the more dominating feature of a person's life. Our decisions shape us as individual people. If fate ran every life, there would be no need for people to make their own decisions. There are two types of people in this world: The people who live life, and the people who sit around and watch life happen. No matter what, life is going to happen. So, there are two choices. A person can either use their free will to choose their own destiny, or they can let fate choose their destiny for them.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of your life is free will. You can choose to do whatever it is you want to do and you will suffer the consequences. At the same time I think there is some fate in life. Some things are chosen for you. Fate is what causes you to meet a certain person in your life but it is your own free will that decides if that person will stay in your life or not.
ReplyDeleteI don't like to subscribe to the idea of fate or predestination, yet paradoxically I find that such ideas (e.g. soul-mates) agree with me. These conflicting beliefs have me cornered and I am not sure which one to choose. I would side with the existentialists and state nothing is set in stone. We are in control. On the other hand, I find complete control to be an illusion. My resulting belief system is a conglomerate of these binary opposites. Rather odd, it seems.
ReplyDeleteI believe in both free will and fate. Our personal choices which effect us in the present also may send us down paths in the near or distance future. You may choose to act on several decisions differently and own up to whatever consequences may follow your decision. As for fate, I believe that certain events in your life are predetermined events that will happen no matter what you do. An example of fate, albiet a very demoralizing example, would be death.
ReplyDeleteI personally believe that both free will and fate play an important role in every person's life. We all have the ability to freely act at our own discretion. We can make our own choices and decisions. The choices and decisions that we make shape our lives. I do believe in fate and that certain major events in our lives are predetermined. These predetermined events will happen regardless of the choices and decisions that we make. I believe that if something is meant to be it will always find a way.
ReplyDeleteI believe in free will. I believe that our daily actions will create our future. The actions we perform on a daily basis are what determines our future. I don't believe that when we are born that our future is already preset. I believe that our future changes on a daily basis. I am not saying that fate believers are wrong, I just respectfully disagree.
ReplyDeleteI believe in both of these concepts, if you make the wrong choices in your own free will, I think your fate will change. We, as Americans have a free will to do whatever we want, but a wrong choice will definitely change our fate. I believe these two concepts are dependent upon each other. While some choices in our lives are predetermined, we posses the power to change our fate with great or terrible decisions.
ReplyDeleteI believe life is a mixture between both free will and fate. I believe the circumstances you are put in, such as your parents, the house you live in, how much money you have is all fate as a child. People are put into different situations. But after that everything is free will. I think everyone is placed in different situations as a test to determine how you will react. Whether you will blame a poor childhood on committing crimes as an adult or blame a luxurious and rich childhood on being an arrogant adult will determine your fate in the afterlife.
ReplyDeleteI believe in both. I believe we have the choice to do what we want. At the same time how do we really know? If things are predetermined how do we know we are really choosing things on our own? With fate ideas can be planted in us that it is free will, but in reality it's all just apart of the system, and we have no idea.
ReplyDeleteI believe in free will. The decisions that we make daily, will eventually create our future. We make our own choices which makes us the person we are. We were't brought into the world knowing where or who were going to be. I don't believe in fate because we make the decisions, they don't make themselves. Example of fate is falling in love with someone, but really you made that decision and it's also up to you to make them stay in your life.
ReplyDeleteI believe that fate sets out different predestined paths for us that can be changed at any time by the choices we make by using free will. If you decide to go on the path that leads to college, the path that lead to what you would do if you didn't go to college would disappear. Fate and free will need one another to exist, each helps out the other.
ReplyDeleteI believe in free will. All of your actions determine the outcome in your life. Every little thing that you do affects your future and what happens in it. Some people may say fate is responsible for an event in their life, but it's your choices that you make that generate the outcome. Our future doesn't stay the same, it constantly changes everyday as we live our lives.
ReplyDeleteI believe in both. In life we are given things and its our choice on how we act on them. I believe everything happens for a reason. Anything and everything can effect your future. In a way I feel that human lives are just tests from god on how we act on certain situations.
ReplyDeleteI believe in both free will and fate. We all have the freedom of picking between right and wrong. At any time in our lives we can make the slightest effort to improve ourselves and the conditions we are presented. Everything happens for a reason. The families we have, the bodies we have, and our race are all fate and it happened for a reason. Yet, there is free will even in situations where change seems impossible. We always have the choice of reacting to our fate in either a positive or negative way. Free will is within our power and fate was our chosen power.
ReplyDeleteI believe in fate and free will. Free will allows you to make your own choices. The choices you make determines your life. The decisions show the type of person you are and how you life will be. But, I also believe everything happens for a reason. I think certain events in your life occur for a reason and are predetermined. If something in your life is supposed to happen, it will.
ReplyDeleteI personally believe that fate and free will both play a key part in our lives. I think that a person has free will to take certain steps in their lives of where they go to school, and or if they go to school. I think that free will starts to play a part in what happens in your life once you've reached certain steps like who you meet when your at school. People are in charge of what they do but who they meet and where life takes them is in my opinion fate.
ReplyDeleteI believe that free will conquers over fate. We, as a singular being, decide how we interact with others, what individuals we allow to influence us. Although fate pushes us along, overall we have control. The blame we usually put on others for actions that turn out bad, actually traces back around and falls onto our shoulders. We allowed that person to influence us enough to make the mistake we preformed. Life serves you up a huge amount of opportunities. It takes guts to act upon them, making them free will. We set our own path, so in reality, we're actually following in our own footsteps.
ReplyDeleteI believe that what you do with your free will decides your fate. You choose your fate by the roads that you take. Say if you choose to go to college and become a doctor your fate is to help people. I think your fate is changed by the people you hang out with and the choices you make. I also believe that some choices you make are fate and anything you do won't change your choice. Overall I believe that free will is more powerful then fate.
ReplyDeleteI think that we choose our fate. Nothing was decided for us so we get to decide the outcome of our lives by how we react to it. Free will is just that, freedom to do what we want. Perhaps what we do with our freedom decides what our fate will be. I believe that free will can be used for good and bad. Our freedom is crucial to our existence and lifestyle, and nothing good could happen without it. But if we take our freedom and use it loosely then bad things will develop from it.
ReplyDeleteI believe in both fate and free will. We have the power to make our own decisions, but everything happens for a reason. Some situations in life seem to be based off of someone's personal decision or action, but maybe they carried out that choice because it was their fate.
ReplyDeleteFree will and fate are both important parts in our lives. Our free will decisions may determine the outcome of our fate. Some parts of life can not be changed and are just a part of our predetermined fate, however, we are able to change the way we live our life through our free will.
ReplyDeleteI believe in mostly free will. Other than the environment out of our control at a young age, most of life is undetermined. This environment, however, may breed some level of fate, as those born into circumstances are more likely to repeat those same circumstances (the abuse cycle, drugs, etc.)
ReplyDelete