Life is a complex phenomenon as it is made up of a web of ideas and events. From a philosophycal view point, it is my opinion that isaues of life are to a large extent influenced by these concepts viz PREDETERMINISM, DETERMINISM AND FREE WILL. However, the purpose of this article is to identify the force (out of the above mentioned three) with the most viable influence on human life.
(A) PREDETERMINISM. According to Wikipedia, predeterminism is "the idea that all events are determined in advance". This concept was among other things popularized by an ancient Greek novelist/philosopher in the person of Sophocles through a novel titled " Oedipus Rex".
(B) DETERMINISM. "This is the idea that everything that happens, including all human activities, is completely determined by prior events" (The Information Philosopher). It was the works of Pythagoras the great mathemacian, that greatly contributed to the advancement of the theory of determinism.
(C) FREE WILL. In line with Meriam-Webstar Dictionary, "Free Will means the freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or divine intervention". In a similar vein, Longman defines Free Will, " as the ability to make your own decisions about what to do, rather than being controlled by God or Fate".
MY POINT OF VIEW.
I once read a play titled "The gods are not to blame" written by Ola Rotimi of blessed memory. The nucleus of the story centres on the birth, life time and death of the hero called Odewale. He was born with a curse to the effect that he will live to kill his father and marry his mother. Depite all the attempts to avert this curse, Odewale did live to fulfil his destined ill fate. But ironically, Odewale had a character flaw (hot temper) which happened to be the architect of his downfall, hence the title of the book.
The forces of predeterminism and free will played out strongly in the above scenario. I believe that every individual human being is born with a destiny or fate, the reason being that we are not the makers of ourselves, a Higher Being (God) created us, and He has a unique purpose for each and everyone of us. The foregoing can literally be substanciated with our distinctive palm prints, no two persons on earth have the same palm prints. So we all have peculiar purposes to actualise in life.
Now the pertinent question is "did God also give humans the power of Free Will (volition)? If the answer is in the affirmative, then it means that it is our choices that determine what becomes of us thus invalidating the concept of predeterminism. But if otherwise, it then suggets that man is more like a robot in the hands of his maker. I disagree with the concept of determinism, but strongly believe in the ideas of predeterminism and free will. It is my opinion that God has a predestined purpose for every human being, but did not take away the power of volition from us. Our choices and decisions go a long way to determine the outcomes of our lives. In overview, our fates are Divinely chosen while we use our Divinely given power of volition as a vehicle to bring our fates into reality. God is a Supernatural/Spiritual Being, hence He endowed us with the power of choice knowing that we exist here on earth physically, in order for us to manifest the destiny He pre-chooses for us.
Thank you for reading this article. What is your opinion on the subject matter? Please I will like to know your veiws.