Divine fatality and human freedom in Sophocles

Abstract

Sophocles' tragedies show us, more than a coincidence, the collaboration between divine fatality and human freedom, which today seems to us a paradox and a philosophical problem. However, Greek tragedy operates with a repertoire of images and notions inherited from mythical thought. It is from the perspective of this way of thinking that we must understand this unexpected and paradoxical collaboration. In this study, the hermeneutic analysis of each of Sophocles' seven surviving tragedies shows how divine fatality constitutes the foundation and condition of human freedom.