As an aethist or agnostic do you believe in fate?
Life is random. There can be some amazing serendipity which probably isn’t as ‘lucky’ as I might presume they are.
Life is random and is directed by what we put into it, how others effect our lives, disease, natural disasters, how many children or no children, your sexual orientation, etc. It is all a chance, no matter what you put into it. You may work hard and have every opportunity. You look both ways and get hit by a bus anyway. the believer would think that was a terrible way to look at life. It is just reality and reality isn't always pleasant. We do our best and that's it.
We have free will to choose or not to choose what we decide to do no matter what the outcome is, as we can't predict that but we can use something called common sense, which a lot don't use anymore when making choices. Fate is like saying that someone knows someone's destiny. One can make an assumption or draw upon a conclusion to that decision but who's to say what the initial outcome will be.
There is no fate but, the one you choose. Choice and random events but, it is your choices that expose you to those random events.
We are fated to behave in certain ways by our genes, and the universe is fated to heat death.
Fate eliminates choice, and that is unacceptable. In a hall with a hundred doors, there are one hundred choices. One may be influenced in a number of ways, but in the end, the choice is yours. The idea of fate belongs to all those notions of supernatural control and has no place in the mind of a free thinker.
No, I merely do not accept determinism in the same sense as you. On the one hand I accept that cause and effect is the operational path of the Universe, but that within that framework there is an incredibly large array of possibilities when it comes to the human psyche.
One may argue that even my hall with a hundred doors is deterministic, and I will agree, but with the limited number of choices presented, the choice is, after all, yours. I know, there is a seeming dichotomy here and I will grant you that. However, if the hall had only one door, there remains an array of possible actions.
I voted no.
I think that people who believe in fate are more likely to believe in the supernatural, like their life is controlled by some outside force.
Interesting that you don't believe that there are things on earth that go beyond scientific explanation.
@AMGT Paul voted no then stated that people who do believe in fate more likely believe in the supernatural. Which clearly says to me since he doesn't believe in fate then he doesn't believe in the supernatural. I'm not suggesting any sort of god. I'm suggesting there may be other forces at work thay we don't understand that might be labeled as supernatural as in a spirit composed of energy.
Sure there things that go beyond scientific explanation, that doesn't make them supernatural or determined by fate. So far, there is no scientific way to test for the existence of the supernatural (fate).
Science does not and will not ever deal with the supernatural @Paul628
@NothinnXpreVails If someone could produce falsifiable evidence to support the existence of the supernatural using the scientific method then it would be accepted as a scientific truth. The chances of this happening are slim though.
If the supernatural ever became quantifiable, it would no longer be supernatural. By definition @Paul628
I voted, No. I (think) I'm making choices that offer certain variable outcomes. As I make more choices, several results become more or less likely. Some may have a positive, neutral or negative effect. I think what people describe as fate is when one of those less likely (usually positive) results presents itself in the end.