Free will, determinism and fatalism.

Essay by eric1221981University, Bachelor'sA+, March 2004

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According to the notes and the discussion in class we have seen that fatalism means "that certain events are fated to happen no matter what we want or do", therefore assuming that there is nothing that we can do to stop it from happening. Hosper is a believer of the fatalism; he argues that we are all determined to behave in a certain way according to the psychological laws. I would have to agree with Hosper, if he refers to those certain psychological laws as the environment that surrounds each individual. In my opinion, individuals will react and make decision according to the way that individual was brought up or depending on his environment. In my point of view, fatalism makes sense only for small choices, choices that do not have a big repercussion in someone's life. For example Fatalism is easy to believe in a small case that shows an Asian person choosing sushi over a burger; and vise-versa for an American person to choose the burger over the sushi.

That choice can be called fatalism; However Determinism makes more sense, "it is the view that all actions and events are determined to happen based upon antecedent causes and pre-existing conditions. Given your beliefs and desires a certain action or response was certain to follow. According to the determinist all actions are determined and that rules out the possibility of human freedom. We are simply biological entities behaving in accordance with the laws of nature. If you knew all the laws, then you could determine all of our behavior". I believe this theory holds some truth, it applies to more important choices an individual will make, like for example in the area of love. It is difficult for me that a person was for each another. In the notes,