Does fate exist? (read entire question please)?

Question

Is there any logical argument that suggests that fate exists? LOGICAL arguments should not include any references to God. Do not make quote random phrases from the bible. Passages from the bible are highly debatable at best.

It really doesn't make sense to defend a debatable topic like the existence of fate with an even more debatable topic like the existence of god.

Answer 1

Probabilties. Things have a probability that they will happen. There is also a probability that this thing will happen to you. Other factors play into this including the interactions with other people. The light that you got stopped at because you left home 10 seconds late because you were trying to catch the end of that story on the news which is also controlled by personal preferences developed through learning over the years. Do you decide what you learned through experience or did it just happen. If you didn't decide to learn these things then you were destined to be stopped at that light from the moment that you started learning.

Answer 2

Well to argue the existence of Fate, one must first define fate

Fate: the will or principle or determining cause by which things in general are believed to come to be as they are or events to happen as they do.

So, in other words, it is the reason behind the action upon which was predicted long before occurring.

Given that all things happen by the will of which they are controlled (every living creature does what it wants to), fate cannot possibly exist because it would be prohibiting the will of which things have.

It all depends on your perspective. Do have a choice in our actions, or are our actions chosen for us.

If the answer is yes to the first one, then fate is not possible.

If it is the second one, that it is inevitable.

I'm not sure my thoughts were completely gathered when answering this question, but I've done so to the best of my abilities.

Answer 3

The word "fate" comes from the goddesses of "fate" or "moirae" in Greek mythology....so even using the word draws you into the realm of the spiritual - or the mythical - where logic and reason fail... "fate" means a planned destiny or journey....someone or some "thing" has to do the planning!! so how can you have a discussion without including the notion of a god?

Answer 4

Actually, I believe in fate, but based around an idea that doesn't concern god.

Mostly, I believe in action-reaction sequences. If you consider that the universe started at the big bang (that being the start of the action-reaction chain, if you will) and everything up until now has been a long series of actions and reactions, what I do in the future is basically the sum of the experiences of my past. So, while it seems to me like I'm making arbitrary decisions, I'm actually using my past experiences to make future decisions, in a deterministic manner. So, does fate exist? I suppose it does, but it's undeterminable - I am not "fated" to any particular outcome that I can detect, but what does happen to me will be a combination of factors that have led me throughout my life to that moment.

Answer 5

Things happen. Humans make up stories about these things so that they all fit into one nice, neat package.

Fate is a great way to avoid accepting responsibility, collectively as well as individually. Quoting Bible passages or saying that it must be "God's plan" are as well.

Society limits are viable options, or at least makes many of them extremely difficult. That could be seen as a sort of Fate, but we can change society any time we want.

Answer 6

I can't give you any hard evidence that fate exists. I believe in fate, but not as it's own entity. I think it is more a series of coincidences that a person chooses to believe is fate. For example, and bear with me- this sounds crazy and it probably is:

As a child, my mother found a stray cat and we nursed her back to health. She was my very best friend and often times the only sense of normalcy in my life. My mother was constantly ill- my dad wandered in and out of my life- but the cat was my constant companion. When I was 18, I moved away and soon after I moved, mom called to tell me that the cat had disappeared.

Two years later, I was waiting to go to court against my husband who had abused me and was now trying to get custody of our newborn daughter. I took a moment and prayed for a sign that things would all go back to normal soon. Not long after I stopped praying, I **** you not- the CAT crossed the street in front of me. I stopped the car- picked her up- and there was no doubt it was her. She had the same scar on her ear that she had had when she wandered onto our farm years before. I took her home with me- court went great- and within a week she passed away peacefully in her sleep.

In my own mind, I believe she was fated to be my sign that day- that's why she wandered onto our farm- that's why I developed such an attachment to her in childhood. I'm not saying this proves fate or God or anything else..

But..

Is it not comforting to believe in SOMETHING once in a while? Even if it sounds silly?

Answer 7

Logical reasons that fate exists? I doubt it. I don't know that I really believe in fate. I do believe that if two people should be together, they will, because both will want to be together and will eventually work hard enough to make it happen - simple as that. I also believe that if someone believes in fate and dwells on their thoughts that they were meant to be more famous, meant to make more money, meant to be with someone they can't have, etc., that they are making excuses for not working hard in life, and screwing up their lives. So I guess I don't really believe in fate.

Answer 8

It would be a matter of personal experience. Some people are convinced the prayer really works. Fate may be a reality but it is a matter of your view of it. Some days I feel that there is nothing but fate and I am just along for the ride.

Answer 9

you can jump at any time, but as soon as you do, forces pull you down.

The same thing with choices. The will itself is free, but any time you will yourself to action, forces interfer.

The will itself is free. Actions come under fate or destiny.

Just a side note: I use destiny to refer to a person's life, and fate to describe everybody's destiny, so fate would be like mankind's destiny.

Answer 10

If you mean that your life is totally pre-determined, no. I believe that life is all about choices. We may not have total control over the things that happen to us in life, but we always have a choice of how to react to them.

Let's take an example of someone in the public eye, say Christopher Reeve. He pretty much had the use of his body taken away from him in a horrible accident. He had many choices about how to react to this after it occurred. He could have become angry and embittered for the rest of his days, denied the love of his wife and son, and died in total misery---in which case, many people probably would never have heard of him over and beyond his movie career. Instead, he chose a path that wasn't just about himself, but about caring for others, continuing his career, inspiring people, and find a cure for paralysis. When he died, people all over the world were truly touched and saw him, not as a man who could not take care of himself, but as someone we looked up to admired, and wished to emulate.

So, you might make the case that he was fated to fall off of his horse and become a quadriplegic, but going forward he began making choices about how to deal with his affliction. (...and you could make a case that he could have chosen NOT to get on his horse that day.)