Max Scheler (a phenomenologist) used a term "unity of fate" to (partially- I'm amazingly paraphrasing here) describe a juxoposition of free will and fate as not completely seperate ideas. He used this phrase to explain how human beings are as creatures of habit, continually falling back on past decision making processes whenever presented with a new choice.
What are most likely to do? He proposed that we usually opt for the familiar.
So think about that....you can look back at parts of your life and see how you made the same types of decisions over and over, until suddenly - something changed, you decided differently than you had in the past and it changed your life in a small, or big way.
My close friends know I'm crazy about this idea because it places two seemingly at odds philosophies : Free Will and Fate right next to each other....in the free choices we are faced with in life we can be fated to respond in the familiar way...or we can change our fate and head in new directions....I just dig it.
My gratitude to Edward Vacek, S.J., for writng the article that introduced this idea to me and all the other things I learned in his class at WJST.
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