A very important debate that runs in our society is the role of fate in the life of a person. Many philosophers have chosen to highlight the importance of fate while many others, especially those with a scientific bent of mind, have chosen to ignore the role of fate. Many people, especially scientists, believe that fate is non-existent and that a man writes his won destiny. They believe that a man’s industry creates his fate and that there are other forces that determine the progression of his life. They cite the lives of great men and women, who had defied fate and had made a name for themselves in the society. They believe that a person must use his skills and his resources and fight against all odds to become successful in life. On the other hand, those who support the existence of the entity called fate believe that human progress is pre-determined. They believe that all the trials and tribulations that men face in this world is due to fate: that pre-determined entity that seems to make all our attempts to secure something futile. They believe that successful people have become successful because fate had ordained them to be so. Without fate on their side they would have definitely failed. They have numerous examples to cite wherein people failed in their endeavors without any apparent reason. People who seemed set to achieve their goals failed miserably without any explainable reason. It is worthwhile to have a discussion on the role of fate in our lives. We will invite Oedipus, the tragic hero, whose life was a living hell because of the effect of fate and Socrates, the all-time cynic who believed in the potential of man to rewrite fate even if it did exist. They will share the Dias and debate on this topic. Welcome gentlemen!

Oedipus: I believe that fate has a very profound effect on the life of people. I too in my younger days did not believe in the prophecy that surrounded my life and always believed that I could rewrite fate. However the lessons of life have proved that man is not above fate and that his every action is guided and determined by fate [Sophocles]

Socrates: There is nothing like fate my dear. Fate is only an imaginary belief that society and culture has bestowed on us. If we look at the origin of humans, we cans see that there was nothing like fate. Man lived his life according to instincts and completed his life cycle as his instincts told him to do so. When culture and civilizations made their mark in the world, they unfortunately also brought in a lot of limitation that has always strived to hold us back. Fate is one such belief that seeks to restrain us and keep us tied to what the society needs out of us.

Oedipus: Sir, I beg to differ. The course of my life will always show you that I have lived all my life in fear of my fate. At every turn of my life, I have tried to avoid the prophecy that always hung above my head. For example, I ran away from my foster parents during my childhood years fearing that the prophecy of killing my father and marrying my mother would become true. And look what happened. Fate eventually took me to my parents and with the help of my ill-fated luck I fought and won against my own father whom I killed. Worse, fate made me marry my mother and mad me to beget my children from her. What other than fate could conquer the mighty Oedipus who had the world under his feet? What would not have I conquered if there was nothing like fate? Why did fate make me commit the grossest sins in the world? Even after I committed those sins why did fate make those facts public to the world so that I and my mother had to burn ourselves in the fire of self-pity and humiliation?

Socrates: It is true that you had a life full of misery and hardships that was compounded by the peculiar circumstances in your life. Indeed such circumstances would have put any self-respecting person to shame. But come to think of it. It may be said that the entity that you call fate was nothing but a sequence of events that followed your mother's actions. Lord bless the poor soul, but it was her lack of independent and analytical thinking that created the circumstances that followed you in your life. Imagine that your mother had not given you off to the shepherd in fear of the prophecy. That was the first big mistake that she did. If she had brought you up under her guidance I am sure that the fine man that you would grow into, would never have let the prophecy come true. It is a sad misfortune that the power of suggestion induced by the prophecy prompted your mother to get rid of you. She however chose the worst method to get rid of you. If she had decided to get rid of you, she could have eliminated you, but she chose to abandon you, not kill you, and you grew up in the palace of another King to kill your father. I must say that it was her indecision to let you grow as a proper human being that made the prophecy come true. She had the choice of bringing you up under the strict controls of your culture or to kill you. In either case the prophecy would not have come true. It is however her faulty judgment that made the prophecy come true.

Oedipus: That is exactly what I am trying to say sir, but on a different note. I believe that it was fate that made my mother make the decision that she took. It was indeed unfortunate that she chose to entrust me to a shepherd. The shepherd gave me to King Polybus of Corinth where he raised me as his own. Later when I learned of the prophecy, I chose to defy fate by running away from Corinth. I did that because I believed that Polybus and his wife Melope were my true parents and I feared that I would kill my father. You can see that every conscious decision I made in my life was made wrong by my fate which finally wrecked my life. I agree with you that had my mother chose to let me live under her love and care, or had she chose to kill me, the chain of events that followed my birth would have never happened. I would never have had to bear the mantle of the tragic hero and the associated shame all my life. But fate had it that she would make her choice to abandon me to a shepherd who would the give me away to a king.

Socrates: I think we need to examine this a little further. You say that fate ordained you to live a life that you never enjoyed: a life that was peculiar for its misfortunes and unhappy endings. It was indeed a life that no one would ever want to have in lieu of riches and other material benefits. But tell me sir, was not that fate the result of a conscious decision of your mother? Did your mother not make a conscious decision to abandon you? Did she not have the strength and will to kill you? She would have been justified by the society because she would be performing an act that was fit for a patriot. But she chose to abandon you and all your misfortune originated from there. So I must say that more than fate it was the conscious decision of your mother that prompted the events in your life.

Oedipus: Yes sir, I agree that my mother was a strong lady and that she could have easily decided to kill me. For argument’s sake, let us consider that she had the ability to make conscious decisions which according to you, defines the future of one’s life. Queen Jocasta had a terrible share of trials, perhaps more than me. Now what role did she have in the restrictions posed by royalty that required her to marry me, her husband and my father's slayer? Why was she, a powerful queen, helpless to defy the traditional edicts imposed by culture that compelled the slain king's wife to marry the victor? And why did I, given to a shepherd, end up as a royal heir? I must say that that it was indeed my fate to become King. It was also my unique fate that I was destined to marry my mother and kill my father.

Socrates: I am sure that you have not examined your life in greater detail. As I always believe, the unexamined life is not worth living, because a life that is simply guided by fate makes you more an animal than a human being with emotions and intellectual powers. There is no point in living out life since if we were to live without using our mental or cognitive faculties, we need not have been provided with the mental capacities that sets us apart from other animals. In fact I believe that the lack of the will of the common man to examine their own life is what makes us fond of fate. [Sorabji Richard, 1993] Let me therefore continue in my quest to understand life and be not influenced by your love for fate. “God orders me to fulfill the philosopher's mission of searching into myself and other men, I were to desert my post through fear of death, or any other fear; that would indeed be strange, and I might justly be arraigned in court for denying the existence of the gods, if I disobeyed the oracle because I was afraid of death” [Apology, 28e]

The debate ends inconclusively.

Keywords : Oedipus, Socrates, Fate, Philosophy, Term Paper

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