Determinism In Oedipus - 1163 Words

Destiny has made her appearances in countless stories throughout the years. Stories that follow the â€Å"chosen one† who must overcome certain challenges to accept their fate of defeating the evil villain, or following prophecies to become the king they were destined to be. We seem to love these stories and if you’re like me, hope that we are that â€Å"chosen one† in our own story. One popular story about fatalism in the philosophical world is that of Oedipus who was prophesied to kill his father and marry his mother. Upon hearing this prophecy, Oedipus’s father, Theban King Laius stabs a spike through Oedipus’s ankles and leaves his son in the woods in die. Well, Oedipus was found and adopted by King Polybus and his wife, and later in his life,†¦show more content†¦One of the ways determinism threatens free will is taking away our responsibility. A classic lesson from our father’s talks is to be responsible for our choices and act ions. With hard determinist’s view on predeterminism, there is no way for us to be responsible for our actions since we never freely made the choice to commit the action. For an example, let’s go back to the story of Oedipus. From a deterministic view, Oedipus killed his father and married his mother based on a prophecy that predetermined his actions. Therefore, his actions were not his choice and the consequence should be lifted from him and placed on the maker of the prophecy. Even his choice to run away wasn’t his choice at all, but a predetermined choice to fulfill the prophecy. The world needs personal responsibility or it will diminish into chaos, unless, that’s already predetermined. The second way determinism threatens free will is by taking away the personal agency that makes us free. Although the argument that we are free because we feel that we need to be free is unsubstantial, there is some truth to it. Our actions come from our ideas, and our ideas are random and sometimes completely out of the ordinary. It’s what makes us human. Different thoughts allow us to have different personalities that make us who we are. Determinism destroys this humanShow MoreRelatedFree will and Determinism in Oedipus the King by Sophocles Essay924 Words   |  4 PagesDeterminism is based off this notion that all events are pre-determined, without influence by human actions. If this is true, we can imply that people do not have free will and thus are not responsible for their actions. In Oedipus the King we see that the dichotomy of fate and free will is hazed by the hyperbole of events, which can make it difficult, but possible, to determine if humans even have free wil l. 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