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Full Idea
It would be better to follow the stories told about the gods than to be a slave to the fate of the natural philosophers.
Gist of Idea
Sooner follow mythology, than accept the 'fate' of natural philosophers
Source
Epicurus (Letter to Menoeceus [c.291 BCE], 134)
Book Ref
Epicurus: 'The Epicurus Reader', ed/tr. Inwood,B. /Gerson,L. [Hackett 1994], p.31
A Reaction
At this point in history there is a blurring between autonomous decisions and what we now call free will, and also between fate and determinism, which we try to keep distinct.
Related Idea
Idea 14061 Our own choices are autonomous, and the basis for praise and blame [Epicurus]
14062 | Sooner follow mythology, than accept the 'fate' of natural philosophers [Epicurus] |
20836 | The Lazy Argument responds to fate with 'why bother?', but the bothering is also fated [Chrysippus, by Cicero] |
21679 | When we say events are fated by antecedent causes, do we mean principal or auxiliary causes? [Chrysippus] |
20837 | Fate is an eternal and fixed chain of causal events [Chrysippus] |
23315 | The nearest to ancient determinism is Stoic fate, but that is controlled by a sympathetic God [Stoic school, by Frede,M] |
21674 | Even Apollo can only foretell the future when it is naturally necessary [Carneades, by Cicero] |
23347 | If I know I am fated to be ill, I should want to be ill [Epictetus] |
13162 | Sloth's Syllogism: either it can't happen, or it is inevitable without my effort [Leibniz] |
24133 | I have perfected fatalism, as recurrence and denial of the will [Nietzsche] |
24152 | Fate is inspiring, if you understand you are part of it [Nietzsche] |
24182 | We must be obedient, and love necessity [Weil] |
9253 | The human heart has a tiresome tendency to label as fate only what crushes it [Camus] |