Abstract

There has been a great deal of attention given to the "free will versus determinism" debate. However, little attention has been paid to the most common expressions from this controversy--people's everyday experience of fate and destiny. In fact, fate and destiny are terms that are often used as synonyms as if there were no differences between the two words. This paper distinguishes the two concepts by reviewing some historical distinctions made by a variety of philosophers, psychologists and scientists. The paper also discusses some of our contemporary understandings of destiny and concludes that an individual's stance toward fate and destiny significantly affects one's sense of life-authorship and vitality. 2012 APA, all rights reserved)