DETERMINISM

1. DETERMINISM . “I (…) regard determinism as inevitability (…)” Aron Katsenelinboigen, Indeterministic Economics

2. FATE IN GREEK TRAGEDY • In Greek tragedy the role of Fate is not that simple as it may seem. On the one hand, it manages characters' lives. This is actually, the first stage of the plot development. Here the Fate may appear in different representations.

3. FATE IN GREEK TRAGEDY:EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL DETERMINATION • It may determine the character from either inside or outside. For instance, it may form such inner values which will not allow the character to change easily his behavior. • The external determination of human lives links to either a particular malicious intent of Fate, or to a general promise of misfortune which a character can hardly avoid. In most of the cases, the external determination is combined with the type of a character.

4. FATE IN GREEK TRAGEDY: EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL DETERMINATION • Another way of determining the character from the inside is to paralyze his will, in making him mentally or physically ill. Then the character becomes not responsible for his actions. • The tragic hero could be a victim of the explosive combination of his predisposition and circumstances but still have the willpower to change his own program of behavior. • A serious stroke is required to change the behavioral program of one whose greatness is high, and such a situation is typical not only of Greek tragedy.

5. FATE & FREE WILL • Outer forces in Greek tragedy are usually revealed through gods and prophecies. Since prophecies are usually very general, one may say that they are mostly based on characters’ predispositions and subjective probability, as is the prophecy in Oedipus the King.

6. FATE AND FREE WILL • Even if prophecies come true, they are nevertheless unable to determine characters’ future development. Even in a seemingly deterministic type of tragedy the Greeks remained believers of free will.

7. FATE & FREE WILL • R. P. Winnington-Ingram writes: • The gods—and particularly Zeus who is supreme among the gods—are so powerful that the decrees of fate are naturally regarded as decrees of the gods; and yet there are times when a feeling comes to the surface that even the gods cannot—or must not—abrogate the decrees of fate, particularly where the death of a man is concerned. . . . There are two differences indeed between a vague destiny and an operative god. In the first place, destiny is inexorable, whereas gods, it is hoped, can be moved by prayer and sacrifice. (152)

8. FATE & FREE WILL • The vague moira can be interpreted as a very general representation of the laws of nature—the “ruling principle” that is linked to some very basic, unchangeable mechanisms, such as birth and death, inherent in all stages of life. Although these laws are fundamental and global and no one can escape them, they may not be fixed forever—nothing precludes them from change, which could be a slow-going process of development of new mechanisms of life. Everything else can be changed and altered in a shorter period of time in accordance with a predisposition of the world, and the gods’ interference is a great example of such a changeableness of the primary “doom.”

9. FATE & FREE WILL • In this sense, the “operative god” can be interpreted as a metaphor for a changing world; if the protagonist is willing to reconsider his or her behavior (confession), the world will “change” (via the malleable gods). For instance, Antigone is aware of her destiny, but only in very vague, nonspecific terms. Unlike Oedipus, who knew the specifics of his tragic destiny, she is aware only of the fact that she will die someday (very general, common knowledge that fits anyone).

10. OEDIPUS THE KIND • antistrophe 1God is my help and hope, on him I wait. strophe 2But the proud sinner, or in word or deed, That will not Justice heed, Nor reverence the shrine Of images divine, Perdition seize his vain imaginings, If, urged by greed profane, He grasps at ill-got gain, And lays an impious hand on holiest things. Who when such deeds are done Can hope heaven's bolts to shun? If sin like this to honor can aspire, Why dance I still and lead the sacred choir?

11. OUTER&INNER FORCES

12. FATE: CATHOLISIM • Catholics believe that God works actively in the world. Christians may grow in grace through prayer, good works, and spiritual disciplines such as fasting and pilgrimage. Prayer takes the form of praise, thanksgiving and supplication. • Human cooperation is needed, in line with a new capacity to adhere to the divine will that God provides.

13. FATE: PROTESTANTISM The subjective principle of the Reformation is justification by faith alone, or, rather, by free grace through faith operative in good works. • Protestantism does not depreciate good works; but it denies their value as sources or conditions of justification, and insists on them as the necessary fruits of faith, and evidence of justification.

14. FATE: PROTESTANTISM • Grace alone. The Roman Catholic view of the means of salvation was believed by the Protestants to be a mixture of reliance upon the grace of God, and confidence in the merits of one's own works, performed in love. The Reformers posited that salvation is entirely comprehended in God's gifts, (i.e. God's act of free grace) dispensed by the Holy Spirit according to the redemptive work of Jesus Christ alone. Consequently, they argued that a sinner is not accepted by God on account of the change wrought in the believer by God's grace, and that the believer is accepted without any regard for the merit of his works - for no one deserves salvation.