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Fatalism is a philosophical doctrine emphasizing the subjugation of all events or actions to fate
Destiny

Destiny refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a Predeterminism future, whether in general or of an individual. It is a concept based on the belief that there is a fixed natural order to the universe....
 or inevitable predetermination.

Fatalism generally refers to several of the following ideas:
  1. A flawed perception of the consequences of exercised free will
    Free will

    The question of free will is whether, and in what sense, rational agents exercise control over their actions and decisions. Addressing this question requires understanding the relationship between freedom and Causality, and determining whether the laws of nature are causally deterministic....
    , ignorance
    Ignorance

    Ignorance is the state in which a person lacks knowledge, sophistication or intelligence. The word 'Ignorant' is an adjective describing a person in that state....
     (or Avidya
    Avidya

    Avidya is a Sanskrit word that holds the semantic field of "ignorance", "delusion", "unlearned", "unwise" and that which is not, or runs counter to, vidya....
    ), and forgetfulness (or Adristi).
  2. That free will
    Free will

    The question of free will is whether, and in what sense, rational agents exercise control over their actions and decisions. Addressing this question requires understanding the relationship between freedom and Causality, and determining whether the laws of nature are causally deterministic....
     does not exist, meaning therefore that history has progressed in the only manner possible.






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    Fatalism is a philosophical doctrine emphasizing the subjugation of all events or actions to fate
    Destiny

    Destiny refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a Predeterminism future, whether in general or of an individual. It is a concept based on the belief that there is a fixed natural order to the universe....
     or inevitable predetermination.

    Fatalism generally refers to several of the following ideas:
    1. A flawed perception of the consequences of exercised free will
      Free will

      The question of free will is whether, and in what sense, rational agents exercise control over their actions and decisions. Addressing this question requires understanding the relationship between freedom and Causality, and determining whether the laws of nature are causally deterministic....
      , ignorance
      Ignorance

      Ignorance is the state in which a person lacks knowledge, sophistication or intelligence. The word 'Ignorant' is an adjective describing a person in that state....
       (or Avidya
      Avidya

      Avidya is a Sanskrit word that holds the semantic field of "ignorance", "delusion", "unlearned", "unwise" and that which is not, or runs counter to, vidya....
      ), and forgetfulness (or Adristi).
    2. That free will
      Free will

      The question of free will is whether, and in what sense, rational agents exercise control over their actions and decisions. Addressing this question requires understanding the relationship between freedom and Causality, and determining whether the laws of nature are causally deterministic....
       does not exist, meaning therefore that history has progressed in the only manner possible. This belief is very similar to determinism
      Determinism

      Determinism is the philosophy proposition that every event, including human cognition and behavior, decision and action, is causality determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. With numerous historical debates, many varieties and philosophical positions on the subject of determinism exist from traditions throughout...
      .
    3. That actions are free, but nevertheless work toward an inevitable end. This belief is very similar to compatibilist predestination
      Predestination

      Predestination is a religion concept, which involves the relationship between God and His creation. The religious character of predestination distinguishes it from other ideas about determinism and free will....
      .
    4. That acceptance is appropriate, rather than resistance against inevitability. This belief is very similar to defeatism
      Defeatism

      Defeatism is acceptance of defeat without struggle. In everyday use, defeatism has negative connotation and is often linked to treason and pessimism, or even a hopeless situation such as a Catch-22 ....
      .


    Determinism, fatalism and predestination

    While the terms are often used interchangeably, fatalism, determinism
    Determinism

    Determinism is the philosophy proposition that every event, including human cognition and behavior, decision and action, is causality determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. With numerous historical debates, many varieties and philosophical positions on the subject of determinism exist from traditions throughout...
    , and predestination
    Predestination

    Predestination is a religion concept, which involves the relationship between God and His creation. The religious character of predestination distinguishes it from other ideas about determinism and free will....
     are discrete in emphasizing different aspects of the futility of human will or the foreordination of destiny. However, all these doctrines share common ground.

    Determinists generally agree that human actions affect the future, although that future is predetermined. Their view does not accentuate a "submission" to fate, whereas fatalists stress an acceptance of all events as inevitable. In other words, determinists believe the future is fixed because of action and causality
    Causality

    Causality denotes a necessary relationship between one event and another event which is the direct consequence of the first.While this informal understanding suffices in everyday use, the Philosophy analysis of how best to characterize causality extends over millennia....
    , whereas fatalists and many predestinarians think the future is ineluctable despite causality.

    Therefore, in determinism, if the past were different, the present and future would differ also. For fatalists, such a question is negligible, since no other present/future/past could exist except what exists now.

    Fatalism is a broader term than determinism. The presence of history indeterminisms/chances, i.e. events that could not be predicted by sole knowledge of other events, does not exclude fatalism. Necessity (such as a law of nature) will happen just as inevitably as a chance – both can be imagined as sovereign

    The idle argument


    One ancient argument for fatalism, called the idle argument, went like this:

    • If it is fate
      Destiny

      Destiny refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a Predeterminism future, whether in general or of an individual. It is a concept based on the belief that there is a fixed natural order to the universe....
      d for you to recover from your illness, then you will recover whether you call a doctor or not.
    • Likewise, if you are fated not to recover, you will not do so even if you call a doctor.
    • It is either fated that you will recover from your illness, or that you will not recover from your illness.


    While the idle argument applies fatalism on the effect side (i.e., the recovery from illness), it does not apply fatalism to the cause side. Literalist fatalists apply it to both sides of the cause and effect. While the fact that you will recover or not is left to fate, fatalists believe it is also pre-determined whether or not you will call the doctor.

    The logical argument


    The logical argument for fatalism is one that depends not on causation or physical circumstances but rather argues based on logical necessity. There are numerous versions of this argument, but the most famous are by Aristotle and Richard Taylor. These have been objected to and elaborated on but very few people accept them.

    The key idea of logical fatalism is that there is a body of true propositions (statements) about what is going to happen, and these are true regardless of when they are made. So, for example, if it is true today that tomorrow there will be a sea battle, then there cannot fail to be a sea battle tomorrow, since otherwise it would be not be true today that such a battle will take place.

    The argument relies heavily on the principle of bivalence
    Principle of bivalence

    In logic, the semantic principle of bivalence states that every proposition takes exactly one of two truth values . The laws of bivalence, law of excluded middle, and law of non-contradiction are related, but they refer to the calculus of logic, not its semantics, and are hence not the same....
    , the idea that any proposition is either true or false. As a result of this principle, if it is not false that there will be a sea battle, then it is true; there is no in-between. However, rejecting the principle of bivalance—perhaps by saying that the truth of a proposition about the future is indeterminate—is a controversial view, since the principle is an accepted part of classical logic
    Classical logic

    Classical logic identifies a class of formal logics that have been most intensively studied and most widely used. They are characterised by a number of properties; non-classical logics are those that lack one or more of these properties, which are:...
    .

    Another problem with logical fatalism is that first you must accept there is a timeless set of all propositions which exist without being proposed by anyone in particular. Constructivists (a school of thought in logic and maths) would argue that this is not the case, and that propositions only exist when they are constructed, or expressed.

    Fatalism in popular culture


    • Kurt Vonnegut Jr. satirized fatalism in several novels including Slaughterhouse-Five
      Slaughterhouse-Five

      Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance With Death , by Kurt Vonnegut, is a post-modern anti-war science fiction novel dealing with a soldier's experiences during World War II and his journeys with time travel....
      .
    • The character of John Locke on ABC's television show "Lost
      Lost (TV series)

      Lost is an American Serial television program. It follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island, after a commercial Oceanic Flight 815 flying between Sydney, Australia and Los Angeles, United States crashes somewhere in the Oceania....
      " is portrayed as a fatalist, with much of his decision-making being done based on what he feels is his "destiny".
    • The story of Markandeya
      Markandeya

      Markandeya is an ancient rishi from the Hindu tradition, born in the clan of Bhrigus Rishi. He is celebrated as a devotee of both Shiva and Vishnu and is mentioned in a number of stories from the Puranas....
      .
    • Dead End
      Dead End (Transformers)

      Dead End is the name of several different fictional characters in the Transformers universes....
      , a Decepticon
      Decepticon

      The Decepticons are usually depicted as the Antagonists in the fictional universes of the Transformers toyline and related comics and cartoons....
       Stunticon in the Transformers
      Transformers

      Transformer may refer to:* Transformer, a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another by magnetic coupling* Transformer , Lou Reed's 1972 rock album...
       franchise, is a fatalist, portrayed as being unwilling to fight, under the belief that everyone will eventually be dead, preferring to polish himself and look good when he dies.
    • The final chapter of Mikhail Lermontov
      Mikhail Lermontov

      Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , , a Russian language Romanticism writer and poet, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", was the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death....
      's novel A Hero of Our Time
      A Hero of Our Time

      A Hero of Our Time is a short novel by Mikhail Lermontov, written in 1839 in literature and revised in 1841 in literature. It is an example of the superfluous man novel, noted for its compelling Byronic hero Pechorin and for the beautiful descriptions of the Caucasus....
       is titled "The Fatalist" and involves concepts of predestination and free will.
    • The character Neji Hyuga of the Naruto
      Naruto

      is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become a World of Naruto#Kage, the ninja in his village that is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of all....
       series is a fatalist in his debut. He is shown to change his philosophy however.
    • The character Basil Hawkins of the One Piece
      One Piece

      is a Japanese shonen manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda, that has been serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine since August 4, 1997....
       series is a fatalist.
    • The character Morpheus
      Morpheus (The Matrix)

      Morpheus is the name of a fictional character in the science fiction films, The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, and The Matrix Revolutions....
       of the Matrix
      Matrix

      Matrix usually refers to:* Matrix , a mathematical object generally represented as an array of numbers;* The Matrix , a series of films, video games and comic books;...
       series is a fatalist.
    • The character Tweak of the show South Park
      South Park

      South Park is an United Statesn animation situation comedy, notorious for its toilet humour, surrealism, and often black comedy, which satirizes Subject matter in South Park including religion, politics, violence, abuse, sexuality, and mental disorder....
       is most likely a fatalist.
    • The film Donnie Darko
      Donnie Darko

      Donnie Darko is a 2001 in film Cult film psychological thriller film written and directed by Richard Kelly , and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, and Mary McDonnell....
       is about fatalism, with its main character being a fatalist.
    • The character Paul Atreides
      Paul Atreides

      Paul Atreides is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert; he later takes the Fremen name Paul Muad'Dib and the sietch name Usul ....
       from Frank Herbert
      Frank Herbert

      Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American list of science fiction authors. Although also a short story author, he is best known for his novels, most notably Dune and its five sequels....
      's Dune undergoes a complete state of fatalism when he goes blind


    See also

    • Problem of future contingents
    • Theological fatalism
      Theological fatalism

      Theological fatalism is the view that all our actions are pre-determined because of God's forknowledge of them, and that therefore we have no free will....
    • Determinism
      Determinism

      Determinism is the philosophy proposition that every event, including human cognition and behavior, decision and action, is causality determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. With numerous historical debates, many varieties and philosophical positions on the subject of determinism exist from traditions throughout...
    • Theological determinism
      Theological determinism

      Theological determinism is the religious view that all events in the world were pre-ordained by God. The most prominent theologian espousing this view was John Calvin....
    • Accidental Necessity
      Accidental necessity

      In philosophy and logic, accidental necessity, often stated in its Latin form, necessitas per accidens, refers to the necessity attributed to the past by certain views of time....
    • Predestination
      Predestination

      Predestination is a religion concept, which involves the relationship between God and His creation. The religious character of predestination distinguishes it from other ideas about determinism and free will....
    • Calvinism
      Calvinism

      Calvinism is a theology system and an approach to the Christian life that emphasizes the rule of God over all things. It was developed by several theologians, but it bears the name of the French Protestant Reformation John Calvin because of his prominent influence on it and because of his role in the confessional and ecclesiastical debates t...
    • Amor fati
      Amor fati

      Amor fati is a Latin phrase that loosely translates to "love of fate" or "love of one's fate". It is used to describe an attitude in which one sees everything that happens in one's life, including suffering and grief, as good....
    • Defeatism
      Defeatism

      Defeatism is acceptance of defeat without struggle. In everyday use, defeatism has negative connotation and is often linked to treason and pessimism, or even a hopeless situation such as a Catch-22 ....


    • Predestination in Islam
      Predestination in Islam

      Qadr is divinity destiny in Islam....
    • Shikata ga nai
      Shikata ga nai

      is a Japanese language phrase meaning "it can't be helped" or "nothing can be done about it". is an alternative....
       (Japanese expression)
    • Jansenism
      Jansenism

      Jansenism was a branch of Roman Catholic Church thought which arose in the frame of the Counter-Reformation and the aftermath of the Council of Trent ....


    External links

    • , from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a Open access online encyclopedia of philosophy maintained by Stanford University. The SEP was initially developed with U.S....
    • from Project Worldview