Fate And Free Will : The Cold Equations

The short story,“The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin explains the theme of think before you act. To begin with, Tom Godwin portrays the theme of think before you act when Marilyn stowaways in the stardust and unknowingly something has to be done with her so the spaceship to save fuel,”Is that it? she asked at last. Just that the ship doesn't have enough fuel?” on page 5 This quote helps me prove my theme because it shows that she obviously didn’t think before she went into the ship. Second, another reason why the theme of think before you act is shown in the story,” the cold equations” is on page when Barton says ,”These little ships are always given barely enough fuel to reach their destination and if you stay aboard your added weight will cause

Mrs. Mallard and Mrs. Sommers have a fair share of intemperance. Mrs. Mallard has come to the realization that the death of her husband is not only a tragic occurrence, but also a beneficial cutting of her previously binding marital ties. The crisis of her grief has given her new insight on her life, and Mrs. Mallard understands that her marriage has limited her independence and freedom. Due to this realization she immediately forgets about the accident and starts to think about her freedom: ““Free! Body and soul free!” she kept whispering” (paragraph 14). It is only an hour after Mrs. Mallard has received the bitter news of her husband’s death. Considering that her husband is gone, instead of mourning, she is overwhelmed with the freedom she

Suppose that every event or action has a sufficient cause, which brings that event about. Today, in our scientific age, this sounds like a reasonable assumption. After all, can you imagine someone seriously claiming that when it rains, or when a plane crashes, or when a business succeeds, there might be no cause for it? Surely, human behavior is caused. It doesn't just happen for no reason at all. The types of human behavior for which people are held morally accountable are usually said to be caused by the people who engaged in that behavior. People typically cause their own behavior by making choices; thus, this type of behavior might be thought to be caused by your own choice-makings. This freedom to make

In The “Cold Equation” by Tom Godwin, Marilyn starts of the story as a girl who jumps on a ship to go see her brother who is in war. She is quickly haunted by the news that she will have to sacrifice her life to save the lives of other people. Through Marilyn’s actions and words, she could be described as oblivious, loving, and courageous.

A major way the author integrates this theme into the reading is when Jim Casy is determined to give himself up for Tom. After Tom trips a police officer, Casy kicks the police officer in the neck to knock him out. Casy is aware the officer will not be out much longer and suggests that Tom should get out of there. Tom is skeptical of Casy’s offer to run but Casy brings Tom’s family back to his attention, “Somebody got to take the blame. I got no kids. They’ll jus’ put me in jail, an’ I ain’t doin’ nothin’ but set

The main theme of “The Cold Equations” is based on sacrifice. It is shown when Marilyn had to die to save other lives. “ You’re going to make me die and I didn’t do a nothing to die for – I didn’t do anything – “ He signed deep and wearily. “I know you didn’t child. I know you didn’t” (Godwin 5). Marilyn is only one human life herself and if the pilot did strictly follow through the plan, than six other lives would have been gone within seconds. With that being shown sacrifice is the main theme in this short story in whether it was Marilyn’s life or six other lives had to be saved.

Although free will has been defined in multiple, conflicting ways, the present approach analyzes it as a psychological capacity including self-control, choices, planning, and the ability to assess and initiate things independently. These capabilities are useful for making human social life and culture possible, but they depend on a limited resource and therefore often fall short of optimal levels. Religion may be helpful to individuals and society in part because it supports both the exercise of free will and the belief in it.

In each instance the selfish natures of the characters lead to conisquences that not only affect themselves but also the people around them. In “The Life That You Save May Be Your Own”, Mr. Shiftlet and Mrs. Crater contiuisly use young Lucynell as a pon in their game to gain and automobile and a son-in-law. Leaving the young girl to be abandoned by her new husband and left completely alone. While in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the grandmother’s selfish and deceitful tendencies lead to the death of herself and her family. All which could have been avoided if she had not tried and changed the family vacation from Florida to East Tennessee. When that did not work she continued to feel the need to make her family miserable and go against everything they asked her to do, including bringing the cat the caused the accident that lead to their

In the story “The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin, Marilyn makes one single decision that can affect her future forever. There is no telling what the future will hold. In the beginning, Marilyn desperately wishes to see her brother, so she sneaks onto a EDS to take her to him: “'Why did you stow away on this EDS?'...'I wanted to see my brother'"(Godwin 4). Marilyn’s future changed for the worst because of the consequences she will experience by being a stow away. Next, by deciding to sneak onto the EDS Marilyn will have to die because of the law. “'They’re waiting for you to kill me, aren’t they? They want me dead, don’t they?'"(Godwin 9). When she hears that her consequence will be death she came to the realization of how her decision truly affected

"I'm guilty, so what happens to me now? Do I pay a fine, or What?" (Godwin 3-4) Immediately recognizing the situation, Barton then contemplates, “In a way, she could not be blamed for her ignorance of the law; she was of Earth and had not realized that the laws of the space frontier must, of necessity, be as hard and relentless as the environment that gave them birth” (Godwin 4). This just shows how unfair the situation is ruling over Marilyn. She doesn’t even know or think what she did would be that a big deal, and she was purely naive about the laws of the space frontier. The Earth leaders don’t even inform their people about laws of the frontier, and Barton starts to take these facts into account. Barton starts to rationalize with himself, “Why couldn't she have been a man with some ulterior motive? A fugitive from justice hoping to lose himself on a raw new world; an opportunist seeking transportation to the new colonies where he might find golden fleece for the taking; a crackpot with a mission. Perhaps once in his lifetime an EDS pilot would find such a stowaway on his ship - warped men, mean and selfish men, brutal and dangerous men - but never before a smiling,

The idea about free will and fate is still unsolved and debatable throughout the world. Some claim that humans have their own power to create their own destiny, however, others argue that they are inescapable victims of fate. The novel, Things Fall Apart, portrays the relationship between human’s determination to succeed and his or her own fate by describing Okonkwo as a tragic figure. While Okonkwo believes that he can overcome his fate through his hard work, Chinua Achebe reveals that fate is a powerful, inevitable event in the novel.

She looks forward to moving away like others in her town. She admits she will not be missed at her job and at nineteen, without the former protection of her older brothers, she is beginning to feel "herself in danger of her father's violence.” This danger she sees is taken away when she meets her suitor, the sailor, Frank who promises her a better life away from these hardships she has faced.

A Clockwork Orange demonstrates the philosophically issues of free will and determinism through how the main character was treated in the movie. It also addresses important issues such as ethics, philosophy of the mind, free will and determinism, and the problem of perception. Philosophers such as John Hospers, B.F. Skinner, and Jean-Paul Sartre have different views on the issue through their theories of how individuals are or are not responsible for the free will choices that they make in life. The main character in the movie was a very violent , and reckless person. He participated in sinful acts such as being a gang member, raping women, being involved in fights, etc. These actions resulted in him being sent to prison and eventually being brainwashed into doing things out of his character. The three philosophers have very different interpretations of how the main character should have been dealt with and the reasonings behind his actions.

Some people believe that no matter what a person does in their life, it will ultimately have no effect on the outcome ofa it. Existentialists find this to be true because they believe that no matter what they ever do, they will always die. Existentialists link the inevitability of death to the idea that there is no higher power. Additionally, existentialists hold the belief that no one should allow society to control how they live their life. Writer Albert Camus uses many existentialist themes his works like The Stranger and “The Guest”. The protagonists in both stories demonstrate existentialist beliefs in their actions. As a result, many existentialist ideas can be seen throughout out both novels. Camus uses the paradox of free will in order to illustrate the inevitability of death for everyone as well as the idea that in order to obtain free will, a person must reject society and face exile.

In this essay I will explain why I think the strongest position of the free will debate is that of the hard determinists and clarify the objection that moral responsibility goes out the door if we don’t have free will by addressing the two big misconceptions that are associated with determinists: first that determinism is an ethical system, and secondly that contrary to common belief determinists do believe in the concept of cause and effect. I will also begin by explaining my position and why I believe that the position of the indeterminist does not hold water as an argument and the third