Fate vs.

Free Will
By: Jenny Araojo

For centuries, people have always been debating about fate vs. free will and for such a long time, we
have always had a resolution. We just never gave it a deeper thought or we have simply overlooked the
idea because of the missing blend of psychological awareness that has been attained in the last 50 years
of research in sociology and psychology. It is as well interesting to note that most celebrated minds in
science and psychology have participated in such discussion. Nevertheless, the question remains – is it
really fate that controls the course of man or is it his free will?

Such debate is similar to two known belief systems in physics. One asserts that the behavior of atoms
is entirely governed by a physical law, and the other states that humans have free will. The first one
implies that whatever an atom does, it just has to do. But what if a man chooses to move his arm, does
this mean that the atom has free will? Plato had an answer to this argument. In his theory of forms, he
explained that “by becoming one with the stars, he becomes one with his fate.” This means that while a
person moves and that he chooses to move the atoms in his arm. Evidently, the individual exhibits free
will.

The idea about momentum as a useful constituent of probabilities in prediction has made it an essential
part of the construct called fate. A crucial evidence of such construct is the momentum of the psyche
applied in the concept of primacy, a psychological theory on infant development. Thus psychologists
deduce that children’s paths are shaped by their experiences and these experiences play vital roles in
their development. Also derived from the psychological viewpoint, there is this concept of self-esteem
that plays a vital role to the belief of ones effectiveness. It is as well taught that if you remove a man’s
belief to control his environment, it affects this person’s self-esteem. If this happens, this man would
learn about helplessness and would later on believe in fate. This is known as learned helplessness in
modern psychology, a condition of an individual to lose control over a situation or free will over a
series of unfortunate events or fate.

Thus, the strong viewpoint of Niels Bohr on fate vs. free will despite Einstein’s skeptic ideas is proven
true. Bohr believes that the experiential freedom of will controls man’s course and he was right.
Without free will, he is bound to be helpless with fate.

In summary, the article talks about

1. According to the theory of forms, an individual can exhibit free will during his actions. He has a
choice over his fate.
2. Man is taught to have been born with fate based on Psychology. He relies on it during development;
but his free will controls his life. If he ever loses free will, he ends up being helpless.
3. Based on Bohr’s conviction, free will controls man’s course and without it man is bound to be left to
his fate.

References:
• Freeman, W.H. (1976). “Helplessness: On Depression, Development, and Death.” ISBN 0-7167-0752-7.
• Moore and Bruder. (2007). "Philosophy, The Power of Ideas," Seventh Edition. ISBN-13: 9780073535722.
• Cole, Michael and Sheila. (2004). "The Development of Children," Fifth Student Edition. ISBN-13: 978-0716755555.
• Crabtree, V. (2009). “The Illusion of Choice, Free Will and Determinism.” http://www.humantruth.info.