CHANCE AND PREDISPOSITION

1
CHANCE AND PREDISPOSITION

• What is the power of chance occurrences?
• The chance occurrence is absorbed by a certain
  predisposition.
• The outcome depends on the potential of the
  system or object with which the chance occurrence
  interacts.

2
The Structure of The Potential

• Ones physical and intellectual abilities,
  including cleverness
• The type of vision, namely, local/global,
  comprehensive/disjointed
• The use of certain methods (reflexive and
  selective), styles (positional and
  combinational), and ways of connectivity of
  elements (programming predispositioning, and
  randomness)
• The ability to develop
• The ability to set a goal, to choose a direction,
  and to elaborate a strategy
• Presence/absence of will and inner energy
  required for achieving a goal
• Experience
• Knowledge
• Values
• Background.

3
METHODS
4
OUTERINNER FORCES
5
FATE AND FREE WILL

• In Greek mythology there exists such hierarchy
  Goddess of fate Moiras spin the universal
  yarn (the metaphor for a program).
• Gods are subjugated to the goddess of fate.
• Gods dont know their fate.
• Sometimes they can change their fate, though.
• Later, the goddess of chance appears Tyche and
  Fortune. The idea was to violate a program, to
  give it a chance to develop freely.

6
FATE AND FREE WILL

• Anake and Tyche
• On the frieze of an ancient Greek temple we see
  Anake chasing a man, who is on his turn pursuing
  Tyche.
• Anake -the Goddess of necessity, fate and
  destiny- chases mankind who is, in turn, chasing
  Tyche the Goddess of chance, the unexpected,
  luck. The Greek viewed this scene as a metaphor
  of life Escaping the necessity of pursuing luck.

7
FREE WILL

• Katsenelinboigen approaches the problem of free
  will within the framework of different types of
  programs and their various levels.
• He distinguishes between biological and cognitive
  programs the former are innate, the later are
  "acquired by the individual throughout his life."
  
• He discusses the relationships between the
  zero-level program (behavioral program) and the
  first-level program.
• "A first-level program is a program that changes
  the zero-level program, the second-level program
  is a program that which changes the first-level
  program, etc."
• If the first-level program can alter a zero-level
  program, then one can speak of the
  indeterministic zero-level program. But in what
  cases one cannot speak of free will?

8
FREE WILL

• "Free will means that man can vary his will power
  in pursuing life's objectives. A lack of free
  will means that will power is fixed, so that any
  change in man's behavior is categorically ruled
  out. (Katsenelinboigen)

9
FATE IN GREEK TRAGEDY

• In Greek tragedy the role of Fate is not that
  simple as it may seem. On the one hand, it
  manages characters' lives. This is actually, the
  first stage of the plot development. Here the
  Fate may appear in different representations.

10
FATE IN GREEK TRAGEDYEXTERNAL AND INTERNAL
DETERMINATION

• It may determine the character from either inside
  or outside. For instance, it may form such inner
  values which will not allow the character to
  change easily his behavior.
• The external determination of human lives links
  to either a particular malicious intent of Fate,
  or to a general promise of misfortune which a
  character can hardly avoid. In most of the cases,
  the external determination is combined with the
  type of a character.

11
FATE IN GREEK TRAGEDYEXTERNAL AND INTERNAL
DETERMINATION

• Another way of determining the character from the
  inside is to paralyze his will, in making him
  mentally or physically ill. Then the character
  becomes not responsible for his actions.
• The tragic hero could be a victim of the
  explosive combination of his predisposition and
  circumstances but still have the willpower to
  change his own program of behavior.
• A serious stroke is required to change the
  behavioral program of one whose greatness is
  high, and such a situation is typical not only of
  Greek tragedy.

12
FATE FREE WILL

• Outer forces in Greek tragedy are usually
  revealed through gods and prophecies. Since
  prophecies are usually very general, one may say
  that they are mostly based on characters
  predispositions and subjective probability, as is
  the prophecy in Oedipus the King.

13
FATE AND FREE WILL

• Even if prophecies come true, they are
  nevertheless unable to determine characters
  future development. Even in a seemingly
  deterministic type of tragedy the Greeks remained
  believers of free will.

14
FATE FREE WILL

• R. P. Winnington-Ingram writes
• The godsand particularly Zeus who is supreme
  among the godsare so powerful that the decrees
  of fate are naturally regarded as decrees of the
  gods and yet there are times when a feeling
  comes to the surface that even the gods cannotor
  must notabrogate the decrees of fate,
  particularly where the death of a man is
  concerned. . . . There are two differences indeed
  between a vague destiny and an operative god. In
  the first place, destiny is inexorable, whereas
  gods, it is hoped, can be moved by prayer and
  sacrifice. (152)

15
FATE FREE WILL

• The vague moira can be interpreted as a very
  general representation of the laws of naturethe
  ruling principle that is linked to some very
  basic, unchangeable mechanisms, such as birth and
  death, inherent in all stages of life. Although
  these laws are fundamental and global and no one
  can escape them, they may not be fixed
  forevernothing precludes them from change, which
  could be a slow-going process of development of
  new mechanisms of life. Everything else can be
  changed and altered in a shorter period of time
  in accordance with a predisposition of the world,
  and the gods interference is a great example of
  such a changeableness of the primary doom.

16
FATE FREE WILL

• In this sense, the operative god can be
  interpreted as a metaphor for a changing world
  if the protagonist is willing to reconsider his
  or her behavior (confession), the world will
  change (via the malleable gods). For instance,
  Antigone is aware of her destiny, but only in
  very vague, nonspecific terms. Unlike Oedipus,
  who knew the specifics of his tragic destiny, she
  is aware only of the fact that she will die
  someday (very general, common knowledge that fits
  anyone).

17
OEDIPUS THE KIND

• antistrophe 1God is my help and hope, on him I
  wait. strophe 2But the proud sinner, or in
  word or deed, That will not Justice heed, Nor
  reverence the shrine Of images divine,
  Perdition seize his vain imaginings, If, urged
  by greed profane, He grasps at ill-got gain,
  And lays an impious hand on holiest things. Who
  when such deeds are done Can hope heaven's bolts
  to shun? If sin like this to honor can aspire,
  Why dance I still and lead the sacred choir?