Necessity and Fate (Ananke and Heimarmene)

Table of Contents

  • Epicurus rejected the "fate of the natural philosophers" as worse than the myths about the gods. Some things happen by necessity, some by chance, and some depend on us, and it is the things that depend on us that praise and blame rightly attach to. See There Is No Necessity To Live Under the Control of Necessity.

    Greek ἀνάγκη (anankē), εἱμαρμένη (heimarmenē); Latin necessitas, fatum

    1. Key Texts

    Quote from Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus 133-4

    Whom, after all, do you consider superior to the man who ... would deride the fate which some introduce as overlord of everything, but sees that some things are necessitated, others are due to fortune, and others depend on us, since necessity is accountable to no one, and fortune is an unstable thing to watch, while that which depends on us, with which culpability and its opposite are naturally associated, is free of any overlord? For it would be better to follow the mythology about gods than be a slave to the 'fate' of the natural philosophers: the former at least hints at the hope of begging the gods off by means of worship, whereas the latter involves an inexorable necessity. (tr. Long & Sedley)

    2. See Also

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