Fate or Destiny refers to a predetermined course of
events, which may be conceived as affecting the world in general or a
specific individual. It is a concept based on the belief that there is a
fixed order to the universe. That order can be seen as the product of a
divine Creator, that of a personified will (“he is beloved by Destiny”)
as in Greek mythology, or that of some blind impersonal force.
The very notions of fate and destiny imply a limitation of human
freedom. And, while it is obvious that everyone’s freedom is limited due
to circumstances, belief in fate or destiny adds the idea that there is
a preordained course of action that no personal or common effort can
alter. Destiny in particular can also indicate that there is a given
direction, hence a possible purpose to our lives. Nevertheless, such
beliefs do not necessarily preclude humans’ free participation in
fashioning their destiny—they often indicate that human actions take
place within a fixed framework that hints at a certain outcome but
remains open to human intervention.
The meaning of destiny and fate
The very thought that an invisible, unexplainable guiding force can be
at work in our lives besides the quantitatively measurable series of
cause and effect events is contrary to the scientific mindset.
Accordingly, many educated people today would be reluctant to openly
admit a belief in fate or destiny. At the same time, uncertainty about
the purpose and outcome of life, as well as a certain sense that there
are meaningful patterns of events around us, leads many to assume more
or less consciously that precisely such a force is at work. The question
of destiny forces one to question whether there is a purposeful origin
to existence, whether irrational dark forces control the universe, of
whether the succession of days in history is a qualitatively indifferent
sequence leading nowhere. In the contemporary Western world, it is safe
to assume that many if not most people maintain in their mind a mixture
of all the above, regardless of their scientific or religious beliefs.
A sense of destiny in its oldest human sense is in the soldier's
fatalistic image of the "bullet that has your name on it" or the moment
when your number "comes up," or a romance that was "meant to be." The
human sense that there must be a hidden purpose in the random lottery
governs the selection of Theseus to be among the youths to be sacrificed
to the Minotaur.
The belief in destiny has also had an important concrete impact on human
affairs. Often associated with a sense of religious calling, but
sometimes purely secular, the conviction that one is chosen by destiny
to accomplish certain goals has led individuals, nations, and religious
traditions to actively pursue what would appear unacceptable from a
common sense perspective. The American concept of Manifest Destiny is an
example. White American settlers felt it was their appointed destiny to
colonize the far West of the United States. The belief of being a
chosen people (e.g., Israel) or community has led to many similar
historical situations. There is often a conflict between the proponent
of such beliefs and those who consider them to be mere manipulation in
order to achieve an intended goal (e.g., Nazi Germany’s takeover of
surrounding countries in the name of Aryan superiority). Sometimes, two
such convictions enter into direct conflict with one another (e.g., the
case of Islam and Israel in the Middle East).
Destiny versus fate
Although the words are used interchangeably in many cases, fate and
destiny can be distinguished conceptually. Fate is strongly connected
with mythology, especially that of Ancient Greece. The words has a
pessimistic connotation, as it implies that one’s life course is imposed
arbitrarily, devoid of meaning, and entirely inescapable. Destiny, on
the other hand, is generally used to refer to a meaningful, predestined
but not inescapable course of events. It is the course our life is
“meant” to follow. Destiny is strongly related to the religious notion
of Providence.
Fate
Modern usage defines fate as a power or agency that inexorably
predetermines and orders the course of events. Fate defines events as
ordered to be. Fate is used in regard to the finality of events as they
have worked themselves out, and that same finality is projected into the
future to become the inevitability of events as they will work
themselves out. In classical and Eureopean mythology, there are three
goddessess dispensing fate known as Moirae in Greek mythology, Parcae in
Roman mythology, and Norns in Norse mythology, who determined the
events of the world. One word derivative of "fate" is "fatality,"
another "fatalism." Fate implies no choice, and ends with death. Even
the gods are sometimes seen as subjected to destiny in Greek mythology.
Many Greek legends and tales teach the futility of trying to outmaneuver
an inexorable fate that has been correctly predicted. The legend of
Eoedipus is a good example of the workings of fate as understood in that
context: Oedipus meets his fate by his very efforts to avoid it.
Destiny
If fate is an outcome totally determined by an outside agency, with
destiny the individual involved is participating in achieving the
outcome. Participation happens willfully. Destiny can be seen as a plan
or potential that can be fulfilled or missed depending on the
individual’s response. Even if a person is perceived to have a glorious
destiny, the outcome prepared by that destiny is not seen as certain. On
the other hand, if the destiny is seen as dark and unfortunate, unlike
in the case of fate, that outcome can be altered if the root cause of
that destiny is removed by one’s effort. Examples are the prophesized
destruction of Niniveh in the Old Testament, a destruction that was
averted when the inhabitants heeded Jonah’s call to repentance.
Similarly, in the legend of Faust, though Faust sold his soul to the
devil, the destiny he took upon himself through that decision was not
final. In a famous verse found at the end of his Faust II, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe poignantly expresses the view that whoever striving does his best, for him deliverance is possible (Wer immer strebend sich bemüht, den können wir erlösen).
Used in the past tense, "destiny" and "fate" are both more
interchangeable, as both imply "one's lot" or fortunes and include the
sum of events leading up to a currently achieved outcome (e.g. "it was
her destiny to be leader" and "it was his fate to be leader").
Associated notions
Every language and culture has a number of terms to express a variety or
notions related more or less closely to those of fate and destiny.
Notable expressions found in the English-speaking world are kismet,
fortune, and karma. The word "Kismet" derives from the Arabic word
"qismah," and entered the English language via the Turkish word "qismet"
meaning either "the will\save Allah" or "portion, lot or fate." In
English, the word is synonymous with "Fate" or "Destiny."
The notion of karma originated in India’s religious world before
becoming a household word the world over. Karma is different from
destiny in that it is an application of the law of cause and effect to
explain one’s lot. Karma is not presented as either the fruit of a blind
will or the will of a divinity, but as the consequence of one’s very
own actions. Its often used translation into everyday English is “what
goes around comes around.” Yet, since the consequences of earlier
actions are often long-term, even affecting later generations, in such a
way that the connection between the originating cause and the
consequence remains invisible and unexplained, the perception of karma
often bears a close resemblance to that of destiny: for better or for
worse, the course of our life is defined by more than our immediate
intentions. The key difference is that the outcome is not explained in
terms of a divine providence or a blind will, but in terms of earlier
actions.
The notion of fortune, often associated with East Asia, (e.g., fortune
cookies) is closely related to that of luck, good or bad, hence to that
of destiny. Like destiny, fortune implies that there is an “invisible
hand” at work in one’s life, predetermining to an extent the result of
our endeavors. Fortune is usually combined with the belief that it can
be disclosed and even manipulated by proper intervention and the use of
certain techniques. The belief in fortune ranges from low-level
superstition to schools of philosophical wisdom based on the view that
events are interconnected in mysterious ways transcending the world of
senses. As with karma, good or bad fortune is seen as the eventual
consequence of good or bad actions perpetrated in the past, including by
one’s ancestors.
Divination and mediation
Since fate or destiny implies that the course of our life is decided in
advance, it is normal that humans have come to believe that one's
destiny may be ascertained by divination. In the belief systems of many
cultures, one's destiny can only be learned about through a shaman,
babalawo, prophet, sibyl, saint, or seer. In the Shang Dynasty in China,
turtle bones were thrown ages before the I Ching was codified.
Arrows were tossed to read destiny, from Thrace to pagan Mecca. In
Yoruba traditional religion, the Ifá oracle is consulted via a string of
sixteen cowries or oil-palm nuts whose pattern when thrown on to a
wooden tray represents the 256 possible combinations whose named
"chapters" are recited and verses interpreted for the client by the
babalawo. The Ifa Divination system was added in 2005 to the UNESCO list
of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The
Sociology of religion has long recognized that those entrusted with the
role of mediating between humans and the higher powers of destiny have
typically held considerable powers in the society themselves, a power in
many ways comparable, sometimes even superior to those of temporal
rulers. This has been true of isolated tribes in remote parts of the
world as well as with the relationship between the pope and the emperor
in medieval Europe.
On the other hand, the view also exists that it is unwise or even
sacrilegious to try and figure out one’s destiny, which would be
tantamount to challenging the gods. In a very down to earth way, this
issue reappears with the ability of contemporary medicine to find out
the gender of one’s child before it is born.
Destiny in literature and popular culture
The human struggle to overcome apparent meaningless edicts of fate, or
their heroic effort to fulfill or change destiny have been a natural
source of cultural achievements in all places and at all times. Destiny
thus appears in the form of tragic irony in Greek tragedy, for example
in Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex and the Duque de Rivas' play that Verdi transformed into La Forza del Destino ("The Force of Destiny") or Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey, or in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, whose knowledge of his own destiny does not protect him from a horrible fate.
Other notable examples include Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'urbervilles,
in which Tess is destined to the miserable death that she is confronted
with at the end of the novel; the popular short story "The Monkey's
Paw" by W.W. Jacobs; and the M. Night Shyamalan film Signs. Destiny is a recurring theme in the literature of Hermann Hesse (1877-1962), including Siddhartha (1922) and his magnum opus, Das Glasperlenspiel also published as The Glass Bead Game
(1943). The common theme of these works is a protagonist who cannot
escape a destiny if their fate has been sealed, however hard they try.
Destiny is also an important plot point in the hit TV show LOST.
Amor fati
Amor fati is a Latin phrase that translates as "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 loss, as good. That
is, one feels that everything that happens is destiny's way of reaching
its ultimate purpose, and so should be considered good. Moreover, it is
characterized by an acceptance of the events that occur in one's life.
The phrase is used repeatedly in Nietzsche's writings and is
representative of the general outlook on life he articulates in section
276 of The Gay Science, which reads,
Outside of Nietzsche's works, the phrase can be found in works as far removed from German philosophy as Frank Herbert's God Emperor of Dune.
Providence and Predestination
In religious thought, notably Christian theology, the notions of fate and destiny find an approximate counterpart in those of divine Providence and predestination. From that perspective, the idea that there could be a preordained course in our life apart from the will of the divine Creator is unthinkable. In general terms, one can say that the notion of Providence mostly applies to the destiny of humankind as a whole (the ways in which God mysteriously accomplishes his work of salvation), while predestination usually applies to individuals. John Calvin is famous for his extreme position called double predestination (from the beginning of Creation, God predestined some to the saved and some to be damned), a position that bears a strong resemblance to the notion of fate, with the difference that the conscious will of God, rather than blind forces, is the source of the arbitrary decision. Other forms of Christian doctrine make more room from human free will in responding to God’s work of salvation (see articles on salvation and predestination).
Max Weber (1864-1920), the German pioneer of sociology produced a fascinating study on the interplay between the sense of destiny and free will taking place in the depth of people’s minds. Weber remains famous for his study on The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. In it, he noticed that the genesis of modern capitalism was closely connected to the Protestant tradition. Weber concluded that Protestants felt compelled to be successful in their business ventures, because they somehow irrationally hoped that this success would come as a sign that they belonged to those predestined to be saved—this, even in later generations where religious faith had ceased to be important.
Fatalism
Fatalism is commonly referred to as "the doctrine that all events are subject to fate or inevitable predetermination."
More precisely, it can refer to at least one of three interrelated ideas:
- That there is no free will, and everything including human actions, could only have happened as it did. This version of fatalism is very similar to determinism.
- That although human actions are free, they are nonetheless ineffectual in determining events, because "whatever will be will be". This version of fatalism is very similar to predestination.
- That an attitude of inaction and passive acceptance, rather than striving, is appropriate. This version of fatalism is very similar to defeatism.
Determinism, fatalism and predestination
The level of equivalence between determinism, fatalism, and predestination is open to dispute. Determinism and predestination differ on the status of free will. Some fatalists deny that fatalism as a fact implies defeatism as an attitude, or put a positive interpretation on the acceptance of one's fate (amor fati). Max Weber made a distinction between Christianity’s belief in predestination (applied to life after death) and Islam’s belief in [predetermination]] (applied to events in one’s earthly life).
For some, determinism should not be mistaken for Fatalism. Although determinists accept that the future is, in some sense, set, they accept that human actions affect what happens—even though those human actions are themselves determined; if they had been different, the future would also be different.
In other words, determinists think the future is fixed because of causality, whereas (predestinarian) fatalists think it is fixed in spite of causality. Determinists think that if the past had been different, the present would have been different (although for them the idea that anything could have been different is purely hypothetical and not a real possibility). Fatalists think that even if you could change the present or the past, the future would still be the same. Human actions are for determinists merely a special case of the dependence of the future on the present and past, and have no special properties beyond that.
The idle argument
One ancient argument for fatalism, called the idle argument, went like this:
- If it is fated 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.
- So, calling a doctor makes no difference.
The logical argument
Arguments for fatalism, although rarely accepted, do have a bearing on discussions about the nature of truth. The logical argument for fatalism says that, if there will be a sea battle tomorrow, and someone says "there will be a sea battle tomorrow" then that sentence is true, even before the sea battle occurs. But given that the sentence is true, the sea battle could not fail to take place. This argument can be rejected by denying that predictions about the future have to be true or false when they are made (i.e., rejecting bivalence for sentences about the future, though this is controversial).