How does the stoic idea of fate differ from the modern one, if at all?
Is their view of fate dissimilar to scientific determinism in which everything is part of the chain of cause and effect? If everything, including our minds, is perfectly ordered by nature, then anything we do will be ideal. An individual not being virtuous might have been arranged to make others virtuous.similar to the example of a child burning, allowing someone else to exercise virtue (something I saw in A book on Hellenistic philosophy). If everything I do is intended by the universe, then I can't act immorally, even if the stoic understanding of the universe is correct. So, I may as well follow another system. What gaps in the omnipotence of fate might be required for stoicism?
Posted Aug 21, 2026, 2:22 AM UTC
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