For example, Oedipus was born with a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. Like any father would do (just kidding), the father of Oedipus was influenced enough to just leave him in the wilderness, hoping he would die, therefore this prophecy would not come true. However, a family found young Oedipus and raised him. As an adult, Oedipus learned of his prophecy and left "his" parents, thinking they were his actual parents. Later, he killed a man from a fit of rage and then married the dead man's widow. The man he killed was Oedipus' actual father, that he never met, and married his mother...
Crash course/ source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCGtkDzELAI
This introduces the belief that all events are caused without free will implying that humans have no free will and not responsible for their actions, or as having a fate. On the other hand, free will is the power of acting without the constraint of fate with caution of causing offense. So, which one is true or real? Well, that's for you to decide.
If this is confusing, then you have a choice to ask or help me out and clarify, but if you decided that this isn't worth your time. Remember, you decided a choice either way and you are determined to act it out.
Some URLs for the interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=HYWiIWpcCIM
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C43&q=free+will&btnG=
Baron D'Holbach
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C43&q=+baron+d%27holbach&btnG=
Some questions:
1. Do you believe that we are free?
2. Do you believe we have a fate?
3. Do you have a prophecy?
4. Are you determined or devoted in a specific career?
5. What career do you aspire to work in?
Does the Oedipus story really imply determinism? I thought it was a tragedy based on mistaken identities and false beliefs. If Oedipus really had no free will, he could not reasonably hold himself accountable for his tragically mistargeted acts.
ReplyDeleteWe shouldn't confuse determinISM with determinATION. One can possess the latter freely, but not the former.
Isn't it better to proceed on the assumption that we have some degree of free will, but in full understanding that faulty or inadequate information impairs our ability to make wise choices?
Well given that it is ancient Greek culture and he has a given prophecy that we as the reader know he cannot escape. We could then argue that within the confines of the story he has no free will because he lacks choice and this is due to Greek tragedies utilizing characters specifically as plot tools to be used as intended. I believe Oedipus showcases a distinct dehumanization within a story since his life is trivialized as showcased as a story where his personal actions are led upon by a distinct and produced prophecy/plot. Basically i'm just saying no characters in stories have free will since their will is inherently controlled by the writer. So by that means Oedipus is a good example of determinism as is almost all Greek tragedies since you have a outbound figure controlling the lives and details of each given character to a higher purpose.
Delete"no characters in stories have free will since their will is inherently controlled by the writer" - Interesting. In many people's theologies God is the "writer," so for them Augustine's coupling of free will and now-conventional Xianity must be incoherent. Or a "mystery"...
DeleteLesley Walker - Section 10
ReplyDeleteThe tragedy of Oedipus has always been a story that I have enjoyed analyzing and has been thought provoking to me. One of my favorite things about it is that it played into Sigmund Freud's work as I find a lot of his work to be rather interesting, though it can be a little far out on the spectrum. As far as the story of Oedipus, I think it really does make us wonder if there is such things as free will and fate, and can we actually control either of them. I think that a lot of times when we try to avoid things in life we end up making it more likely to happen. I personally think that even if you have all the determination in the world to try and change something in your life, if it is meant to happen, it is going to happen regardless of what you do or do not do to change it.
One thing I've heard that I really like is that we don't necessarily have free will, but we have free choice. It is a very small difference but it is sigifugant. I am a Christian though so my beliefs differ from many other peoples. But we have the freedom to choose which path we want but not total control of our lives.
ReplyDeleteAnother way to say that is, we're free to CHOOSE what we will, but not to WILL what we will. So in then end, on this view, we still could not have done otherwise than we did. Is that freedom?
DeleteI agree with the moral of the story of Oedipus somewhat, because there are things we can not control. Some of our free will is stripped away. We have a set of laws that we must abide by that limit our free will, as well as things like we have to pay for food before buying it or our parents giving us a curfew, or having to pay to attend college. Some things are just out of our control and strip away our free will. However, a lot of our decisions are made because we have free will.
ReplyDelete