Modern Arguments for Fatalism
Ricardo Santos (LanCog, University of Lisbon)

06 May 2022, 16:00 (Lisbon Time – WET) | Sala Mattos Romão (Departamento de Filosofia)

Abstract: Fatalism is one of the traditional metaphysical problems in philosophy. Among other things, a fatalist believes that whatever happens could not have failed to happen, hence could not have been avoided. While some people have scorned the view as prescientific and primitive, and the known arguments for it as pure sophisms, many analytic philosophers have thought that there are arguments for fatalism that are quite challenging and worth careful examination. Some of them have even tried to come up with new and stronger fatalistic arguments. In this talk, I will distinguish several forms that arguments for fatalism can take and I will review them, trying to make clear what are the main available options for responding and their more general consequences.

The room has a limited number of seats. Pre-registration is required at <info@lancog.com> until a day before the event.