| De Fato | |
| Author: | Marcus Tullius Cicero |
| Language: | Latin |
| Subject: | Fate and free will |
| Genre: | Dialogue |
| Pub Date: | 44 BC |
De Fato (English: "Concerning Fate") is a partially lost philosophical treatise written by the Roman orator Cicero in 44 BC. Only two-thirds of the work exists; the beginning and ending are missing.[1] [2] It takes the form of a dialogue, although it reads more like an exposition,[1] [3] whose interlocutors are Cicero and his friend Aulus Hirtius.
In the work, Cicero analyzes the concept of Fate, and suggests that free will is a condition of Fate.[4] [5] Cicero, however, does not consciously deal with the distinction between fatalism and determinism.[6]
It appears that De Fato is an appendix to the treatise on theology formed by the three books of De Natura Deorum and the two books of De Divinatione.[7] These three books provide important information regarding Stoic cosmology and theology.[8]
De fato is part of the second group of Cicero's writings.[1] [9] The work was composed at Pozzuoli between April 17 and May 23 of 44 BC.[1] [3] In any case, the work would have most likely been completed prior to Cicero's abortive departure for Greece in July of that year.[1] [3] The work was written in haste, as Cicero was planning to return to the political arena.[1] [2]
Hirtius notes that Cicero has adopted the Academic method of investigation: arguing against all propositions.[10] Therefore, he outlines the positions of Democritus, Heraclitus, Empedocles, and Aristotle as those who maintained that everything happens by necessity. As such Cicero develops the propositions of fate and necessity as follows:
Cicero essentially dismisses this proposition as antithetical to what is observed, but postulates freedom as a necessity for moral life.[6] Ultimately, Cicero maintains this position as he is emotionally convinced that it is in man's power to achieve virtue for himself; if determinism were the order of things, then such ability would not be true.[6]