ACebrian asked:

What's fate?

Does it is predestinated or we control it?

And if it is predestinated, who does it?

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Fate, or destiny, is one's true path. It is that to which you are destined, the person you will become.
We cannot choose our fate, or our true path and may not be able to recognise what it is. Of course
you already have to be a fatalist to believe what I'm saying. The odd thing about fate is that it can be
known in advance. You can tell what will and what will never happen to you, intuitively, yet we have
no knowledge of future causal events.

Fate should be distinguished from the causal idea that we are pre-destined rather than free. If fate
was equivalent to causal pre-destination, being a fatalist would be impossible. We can't just sit back
and let life take its course because things will happen anyway. We have to participate in life. But you
can be a fatalist. This means believing that there is a true path for you. Fatalism implies freedom: You
can participate in your fate or you can be influenced by the wrong experiences. Causal
pre-destination, on the other hand, implies that you participate, but don't choose because what will
happen is pre-determined.

The concept of fate, then, cannot be reduced to the idea of causal pre-destination which is that the
times in which we live, our genetic make-up and the life-circumstances which determine our
psychological make-up and choices constitute a causal force pushing us towards a destiny. On the
pre-destination view, we are not free and cannot really choose, but if fate is our true path, then it is
possible to make choices that will not lead us down the path which is right for us. Sometimes, for
instance, a choice influenced by social values to which you don't genuinely adhere can lead you from
your true path.

Fatalism implies acceptance of what life brings, but this is not simply to lack will, nor is it negative.
Acceptance of what has happened in the past, integration rather than rejection and bitterness, is a
fatalistic but successful attitude. Acceptance of circumstances which might be deemed unfortunate,
sad or unlucky is to come to recognise that there are advantages in every situation. Fatalism is an
attitude founded in the belief in true destiny which enables us to deal with and make the best of a bad
lot.

Fatalism admits of another sort of freedom, not just the freedom to choose. This is a freedom from
being bound to the world of choice, a rising above the causal pushes and pulls of external
circumstances and the impingement of social values upon one's own system of evaluation, as one
pursues one's unique destination.

Rachel Browne