On the ‘standard’ Argument for Fatalism

What has sometimes been called the ‘standard’ argument for fatalism never achieved the critical popularity of Richard Taylor’s (1962) infamous argument. But it has enjoyed far greater longevity. In De Fato Cicero (1960) tells us it was known in ancient Greece as the ‘idle argument’, for it purports to show the futility of attempting to control one’s fate and, hence, those persuaded by it could be led to a life of inaction and idleness. Even with such antiquated credentials, however, the argument continues to exercise fine contemporary minds (e.g., Schlesinger 1993). The most-discussed version of it concerns finding oneself in 1940 London facing an imminent air raid. For the sake of both concreteness of the discussion and continuity with tradition, I will focus on this version, which is as follows: