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Post by lukejoo on Oct 12, 2014 11:04:55 GMT
For our 2nd period class, we came up with a list of essential questions. Out of them, I'd like to talk about the question, "is everything predetermined or not?" I think you can basically interpret this as whether you believe in fate or not. I have to say, it's a very common theme throughout the stories we read and are reading so far. So, what are your opinions?
I believe, or would rather prefer to believe, that everything is not predetermined, that there isn't fate. It's like I prefer the idea that we are the one's who decide our lives, that we make our choices in life. Otherwise, what'd be the point in living it if everything was meant to be? Where's the fun? Where's the thrilling endeavors you take to achieve your dreams? I don't know if everything is meant to be or not. I'll be totally happy it it's not. But just if, if it is true that there is such a thing as fate, then I'd choose not to believe, not to acknowledge it. Then I'll still be able to feel that I have the power to decide my life which is good enough for me.
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Post by jooyoungparkyesbaby on Oct 12, 2014 11:42:59 GMT
Ah fatalism a lovely concept that confuses so many people. You see I do not have a definite answer to this. Because there is no other way other than some scientific theory proven with solid evidence or some supernatural answer by God, can be sure that there is fate and predetermined life. However, I might self am not fond of the belief of fatalism, since it basically means my life is not in my control. To be honest with you I don'r really care if there is a predetermined life or not, because I go by the mindset that every choice and decision I make will lead to a conclusion, a consequence, and with that I am in power of my own life, and perhaps the future.
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Post by estherchoi on Oct 12, 2014 11:45:37 GMT
I believe in fatalism. I think everything, your thoughts, actions, and even feelings are determined by someone or God. Some people say they don't believe in fatalism because they can change what they have planned and they are making the day as the time passes. However, I think all those changes too are determined. I even believe that someone or God decided to make me to answer this question right now at this second.
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Post by sergeyfen on Oct 12, 2014 11:48:54 GMT
It's very hard to know, whether something is predetermined or not. I dont think that it's even possible to predict scientifically, it's just like a religion some people choose to believe that something is predetermined but others don't. Personally I don't like to think that life or anything else is predetermined, simply because I want to build my own future and make my own mistakes and decisions. Where is the fun of living if your whole life is predetermined? It would really suck if it's predetermined, there is no excitement or anything, just would feel like a job when it should feel like a very long journey from beginning to an end. I just want to decide what I want to do and not what others have in store.
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Post by nerdira on Oct 12, 2014 12:24:06 GMT
It would suck if everything was predetermined by some higher power. I personally want to be in control of my actions and my future, and wouldn't enjoy the thought of being some cosmic plaything. However, I think that in terms of fate and free will, we're stuck in a happy balance of both. I believe that fate is a fluid thing, and your destiny changes based on the courses of action you take. I'd compare your fate to a tree, with the branches being the decisions you make (aka free will), and your final destiny being the end of the branch. weird metaphor, i know
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jimim
Junior Member
Posts: 98
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Post by jimim on Oct 14, 2014 5:10:09 GMT
I think everything is not predetermined and I don't think that fatalism is true because I think that everything is produced or determined by our work. How can everything can be predetermined. I think everything is made by human and led by our decisions.
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Post by James on Oct 14, 2014 5:21:18 GMT
Though every single stories we have dealt with discussed and believed in fatalism, i dont think everything is predetermined. If we were to be living in a world where everything is meant to happen at exact moment, wouldnt it be just pointless to live. I would prefer to believe that everything is not predetermined and therefore there is no such thing as fate
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Post by brandonina on Oct 14, 2014 12:12:11 GMT
I think this involves religious ideas. So if people believe in god, they would probably think that fate and god's will are two major things that drive their lives to a certain way. On the other hand, if people don't believe in god, they would think that they have complete control over their lives by making their life-changing choices. In my opinion, I don't think that everything is predetermined. I believe I have somewhat control over my life and I can change my life according to whatever choices I make. But I think my life is driven by luck and coincidences that help me throughout. Sometimes, something unlucky or unfortunate events happen in my life. I think those can be considered fate because it was just supposed to happen in my lifetime. It's pretty deep...
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Post by lins on Oct 14, 2014 13:03:14 GMT
I really want to believe that there is no fate, but only free will exists. However, I think that there is actually fate that controls us. For example, even though both of the students are great and brilliant, one tends to have greater fortune than the other, thus goes to better university. In this case, we can't do anything to fix the result; it is fate that decides who will go to what school. In addition, majority of people in the past believed in fate, and people in nowadays believe in it too. We can infer that when we think about tarot cards, fortune tellers and palmistry. Our destiny is fixed in the cards, birth dates and palm. We can't change it because we are born with it. (Maybe except for palmistry in that our palm lines actually can change as we live.) Since lots of people believe in it, there must be some reason behind it.
However, I also think that human can have some control over fate, but not completely. For example, I said that palm lines in our hand can change as we live. In this case, we are changing our palm lines, meaning change in fate. Also if something doesn't work right, we work harder to fix it, gong against the fatalism.
Therefore, I think that fate exists to control us, yet we have some free will to control our own lives.
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Post by dannyoh on Oct 14, 2014 14:05:10 GMT
I don't like to think AND I don't think that our lives are already set up. It's kind of scary to think that way. I don't believe in fate... I feel like it's just a man-made idea or an excuse for a lot of the mistakes we make in our lives. When we make our own choices, I don't think it's something that was already made. The idea of your life already built up for you just feels as if we don't have control over our own lives. I personally want to believe that my life is something I take full control of, not predetermined. But I think there is some fate in our lives such as the stuff that happen to us and we can't control that but we can control how we react to them.
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Post by elisalee on Oct 14, 2014 14:06:08 GMT
I do not think that think that everything is predetermined for us. I believe that you can always change your future. For example, your future job is determined on how you do in your younger ages. If you set a goal and worked hard way up, you will achieve your dream. However, if you do not work hard for your dream and just wish to have a job that you want, you are not going to have your dream job. This idea may vary depends on people's religion but I think people build their way up and choose our future.
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Post by saimoon1 on Oct 15, 2014 12:15:04 GMT
I agree with you Luke, I also wish that everything is not predetermined. If everything is predetermined then the sense that we are free is thrown out of the window, but I guess that does not affect our lives anyways because to us it seems we are making our own decision. Predetermined or not I think, if we speak generally, not much difference is felt.
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Post by stephen on Oct 15, 2014 12:19:50 GMT
I personally believe that everything we do can lead to the future, but our future is not always set. I believe that we make our future instead of god chose it and it will be like god choose it without single change. Obviously in the end we die, but that is probably the only fate we will face in the future.
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Post by danielkim on Oct 15, 2014 13:39:56 GMT
No, because there is no evidence that everything is predetermined. We can change the future and events that will happen depending on how we act. If things were really predetermined, then we won’t be able to change the future. For example, accidents and conflicts are not predetermined; they can happen at any time. Besides, I think people in the past thought so because of religious belief such as Calvinist Christianity.
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Post by onysarkar on Oct 15, 2014 14:06:08 GMT
Guys I don't know about you but I am talking from my religious point of view and Since most of ya'll know I am a Muslim, from Islamic point of view yes, everything is predetermined and we all believe strongly in fate. However there is also another thing that is very interesting which is even though everything in our life is predetermined, Allah gave us a chance to have a good karma and change our fate with our good deeds.
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