Freedom And Pre-Determined Fate
...seen through the eyes of our past role models both freedom and pre-destination can be viewed in a diverse context, yet it is evident that these two entities are linked to one another. Throughout history many authors, such as Vergil, Exodus, Calvin and Voltaire have various views concerning freedom and pre-destination. Vergil is an ancient author who has the belief that the world is pre-destined for its people; because of pre-destination human beings have limited freedom and a lack of choice as it is the Gods who control this unit of life both directly and indirectly. The book of Exodus tries to explain how destination determines your freedom in a Judeo-Christian context. Calvin, from the reformation, would agree in part with Vergil’s point of view regarding fate. Like Vergil, Calvin also sees a life where pre-destined fate is set for each individual yet he also proves that this is the aspect of life that sets people free and allows them to make the choices in life necessary to keep them on a free and pre-destined path. This paper will show how pre-destination and freedom are linked together through the views of Vergil, Exodus, Calvin and Voltaire and one will then be able to distinguish if a belief in fate gives an individual more or less freedom in the here and now.
When Vergil wrote Aeneid, he made it abundantly clear that the world people live in is based on fate and pre-destination; as a result there is a complete lack of freedom and choice. Throughout Vergil’s epic, Aeneas has numerous encounters where you would think he is forced to make choices that could distort the path set out for him. However this is false, even though there might a slight consideration of choice in Vergil’s epic Aeneas knows that he has no choices as his destiny has already been set for him. A classic example is when Aeneas meets a lady friend Dido; when Dido goes on to...
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