FATALISM: The doctrine that all events are determined by fate, instead of by natural causes, and that nothing that man can will or do affects the course of events. While in the fatalistic view of the world everything is ruled by necessity, this is quite a different kind of necessity from that of Determinism (q.v.), with which fatalism is often confused. Indeed, fatalism and determinism are diametrically opposed to one another. The determinist, or necessitarian, says that events take place with necessity, but that they are made necessary by events immediately preceding, to which they stand in a relation of cause and effect. The fatalist, on the other hand, eliminates natural causes entirely. In his view the ultimate result will remain the same, no matter how much the antecedent causes be varied. For example, believing that a blind fate has decreed his death at a certain time, the fatalistic soldier goes into the battle with the firm conviction that he will not meet his death a moment sooner than if he had stayed at home. While fatalism bears a resemblance to predestination it is essentially a heathen view, and leaves no room for freedom of the will, or for any personal relation between man and God the Father. Fatalism appears in Greek philosophy, and sometimes in modern pantheism, but it has found its fullest expression in the fanaticism of Mohammedanism.