Fate and Destiny - Research Paper Example

Fate and Destiny Abstract Fate/destiny versus free will is such a fundamental question in the lives of human beings. As sentient living beings, do people have free will or are they all fated to follow particular courses that have already been designed for them in this life? If their destiny has already been laid out or planned, who does it? Although people ask all these and more questions regarding fate/destiny versus free will, they have not come to an unanimous conclusion and each person has his/her feelings towards this topic. This paper discusses fate/destiny versus free will with regard to abortion. Introduction Destiny refers to predetermined state or that to which an individual or thing is destined. In other words, the course of events in a person’s life is predetermined to get to a preordained destination. Fate or destiny means that some power determines or decrees the course that events in a person’s life will take beforehand. Thereby, it leaves no choice or chance (Boloji.com, para2). Free will on the other hand is the apparent human ability of choosing a course of action over another and making own decision regarding an action, regardless of what others else believe (Morgan, para1). Choice/free will, requires accessibility of alternatives for any action, speech and thought from which an individual can choose. Sodha gives an example of the way he occasionally wakes up scarred and bruised from the previous day’s events. He reasons that this does not that imply that his fate should leave him bruised and scarred always and in a state of disrepair. In effect, if he wakes up dreading the every day grind, he stops fate in its tracks. He therefore holds that one can decide on how to live his or her day-to-day life. He looks into the whole argument of fate and free will in various ways. For instance, he argues that if a person’s fate is so mundane to him or her in such a way that daily slog is all it involves with nothing more such as enjoyment, fulfillment and satisfaction with his or her actions, it would thus imply living each day because he or she have to. If this were the case, it would mean that one could do nothing much concerning the future but to let it happen. However, Sodha believes that this is not the case – every individual has free will and can do what he or she pleases with his or her life. According to Merrill, Free Will is the aspect of one choosing his or her destiny, while predestination involves factors outside an individual, which may possibly not be clear, determining his or her destiny. She argues that with free will, a person can take whichever situation that comes his or her way and make it attuned and prospective for his or her own growth in life. On the other hand, concerning predestination, she asserts that the upshot would be determined already and argues that there is no point of the challenge since when outcomes are predetermined; the prevailing situation loses its challenge. Sodha holds the view that although destiny/fate exists; an individual is typically not at its mercy. Although fate is a force that one cannot have control over, he or she can always determine what to choose to be in such a moment – the individual can choose the way in which to perceive where he or she is at that particular moment as well as what to do with whatever has been bestowed on him or her. He or she can consciously choose the decisions to make and do what he or she feels is right for him or her. When an individual is faced with something, he or she can decide to tackle it as a challenge, making the most of it, or else to do it reluctantly. To him, it is not at all times easy to opt for the latter, which he considers as always the more difficult of the two. An individual being proactive and productive is in no way a swift coast down a hill, but is more akin to walking up the stairs on an escalator where he or she is making the effort, with the help of an invisible force (Sodha, para5). In her article, "The Contradiction of Abortion and Morality", documented by 123HelpMe.com, Rachel asserts that every human being has the free will as well as the right to decide the course of his or her own actions. When a person takes responsibility for his or her conduct, he or she is eventually acting as a rational being. Concerning abortion, the woman realizes that she has the capacity to choose her actions freely and that nobody can compel her to do something. It is also important to note that with the freedom of choice too comes the responsibility for her decision. When the person takes responsibility, she reaches her highest reasoning state: she realizes that in addition to being free to make decisions, her decisions have upshots. Applying her free will ultimately implies that she chooses to take the action as well as the responsibility for the outcome. An individual has the free will to choose whether to retain a pregnancy or to carry out an abortion considering that she can reason out and evaluate the moral nature of her action. Rachel explains that morals hinge on humans practicing their freedom of choice in addition to acknowledging that those choices have implications. She further explains that reason allows an individual to not only behave randomly or instinctively, but also realize that her actions will have an upshot and hence should act according to the end she wishes to attain. Failure of abortion to necessitate individuals to take responsibility for their behavior makes it defy reason and thus morally impermissible. When an individual willingly chooses to carry out a behavior despite knowing the result of her actions, she freely accepts the implications and thus takes responsibility for that outcome (123HelpMe.com, para3). In most cases, individuals tend to opt for abortion on realizing that they have a pregnancy that they had not planned for, or for their personal reasons in the course of the pregnancy, which they may have planned for, they lose the willingness to deliver the baby. Rachel argues that by freely deciding to have sex, an individual chooses to agree to the possibility that she might conceive. Even with couples who use modern birth control methods, these methods do not guarantee them absolute avoidance of conception. Although birth control methods prevent conception during sexual intercourse, conception naturally occurs from sex, which implies that with each sexual intercourse action, the probability of getting pregnant remains. Albeit a couple using birth control methods to avoid conception, they are aware of this small possibility of pregnancy. They therefore accept the chance of conception by engaging in sexual intercourse. Pregnancy is a natural outcome the natural consequence of sex – conception is a probable result of all sex, but not a chastisement of irresponsible sex. Reason tells us that taking precautions to avoid these outcomes do not eliminate the possibility of the consequences. Nevertheless, abortion permits individuals to go beyond reason and decline sex outcomes (123HelpMe.com, para3). Regarding abortion, the mother has the right to choose whatever happens to her body. She can also seize her free will and make her decisions without others’ influence. However, as far as she freely chose to have sex, she already exercised her free will and thus took advantage of her freedom of choice – if she consciously and consensually decided to engage in sex, she also consciously and consensually accepted the outcomes. Rachel adds that the moral forbiddance of abortion does not violate the mother’s right of choice and that she only has to embrace responsibility for her already made choice. Since a woman must agree to these responsibilities along with choosing her own course of action based on the outcomes, for a woman who has conceived because of rape, fate may require her to carry out an abortion. It was out of fate that she had sex, conceived and consequently fate pushes her to abort ostensibly because having the child would be a constant reminder of her ordeal, among others. In such an instance, since she did not have the chance of choosing the course of her action, she cannot be required to be responsible for the outcomes. This way, she cannot be morally responsible for that child’s conception. The mother’s right therefore overshadows the responsibility of carrying the child. However, it is important to note that her lack of a chance to choose the course of her action notwithstanding, the woman has the option to exercise her free will on whether to keep or terminate the pregnancy. Therefore, abortion here ceases to be fate and becomes freewill and not fate (123HelpMe.com, para3). Conclusion From the above analysis, it is evident that although fate may state what would be in one's life, the way in which that destiny comes about has all to do with the individual person’s decision/choice. Put differently, incidents do not take place in an individual’s life simply because his or her destiny is written. Rather, they largely depend on the choices that he or she makes concerning them. Abortion therefore is not as much a fate incident in an individual’s life as it is a free will/choice incident. Works cited Boloji.com, (2010). Is Destiny a Matter of Choice or A Matter of Chance? Retrieved 13th March, 2010, from http://www.boloji.com/perspective/080.htm Morgan, H. (2009). Define Free Will. Retrieved 14th March, 2010, from http://www.ehow.com/facts_5575562_define.html Merrill, J. (2010). Free Will Versus Predestination. Retrieved 13th March, 2010, from http://www.helium.com/items/1052495-free-will-versus-predestination Sodha, A. (2005). The Power of Choice: Free Will Vs Destiny/Fate/Karma. Retrieved 14th March, 2010, from http://www.unlimitedchoice.org/blog/power-of-choice/free-will-vs-destiny-fate-karma/ 123HelpMe.com, (2010). The Contradiction of Abortion and Morality. Retrieved 14th March, 2010, from http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=18292 Read More