Oedipus Rex Fate Vs Free Will
The Determined Will of Oedipus Rex
Since the dawn of humanity, man has struggled and persevered through nature s
unforgiving vicissitudes, but emerged fervently from them with the stern intent of
actuating his ever evolving desires. The debate between determinism and free will
has raged since antiquity, due to the main difference between them, which lies in the
element of control; the one outer and the other inner, respectively. Determinism, more
commonly known as fate, is the philosophical idea that every event or state of affairs,
including every human decision and action, is the inevitable and necessary
consequence of antecedent states of affairs (Stanford). Free will, per contra, is the
power of acting without the constraint of necessity ... Show more content on
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Oedipus discovers he was adopted, and like any curious adoptee, he consults
someone who it is believed can tell one who their biological parents are. Instead of
receiving clarification, Oedipus is told that he was fated to kill his father and to
marry his mother. Oedipus, who believed in the gods, was inclined to believe the
soothsayer. As a result, he, like most individuals after hearing such a concerning
remark, did all he could to avoid fulfilling the prophesy, and decided to travel to
Thebes, which is away from Corinth where the parents who raised him lived. On
his way there, he encounters a traveling caravan and a fight ensues. His biological
father is killed as a result. It is understandable why his biological father would be
traveling to the city of Thebes because he was the king of that city , and it was
already established why Oedipus wished to travel to Thebes. Therefore, it seems
unnecessary to subscribe to the idea that Oedipus fate was ruled by the gods, reductio
ad absurdum, since the happenings described above are understandably natural not
supernatural and follow of consequence, one after the other. What caused Oedipus
thoughts and actions to be predetermined if he wasn t predetermined by the gods?
Oedipus thoughts and actions are predetermined by his environment, experiences, and