ABSTRACT
Fatalist arguments tend to be broadly logical in character, typically relying on assumptions about the nature of truth or the reality of the future, though theological fatalism assumes the existence of an omniscient God. In his excellent article 'Bringing About the Past' Michael Dummett outlines, but does not endorse, the following fatalist argument: popular in London during the bombing. Another version of fatalism, much discussed in the Middle Ages, arises from the supposed tension between God's omniscience and human free will. It starts from the assumption that it is logically impossible to change the past. This assumption is undeniable: to change the past would be to make it the case that some past event both occurred and did not occur, which is impossible. So, on the B-theory of time, and on any other theory which holds the past to be real, is a necessary truth.
