Ancient summaries describe the Tzedukim as placing strong weight on human choice rather than fate. Responsibility belonged to the actor, with less room for angelic mediation or predetermined history.

This position fits their practical, institutional character: law, status, sacrifice, and political action mattered because human decisions had real consequences.

Sources: Josephus, especially his comparison of Tzedukim, Perushim, and Essenes/Yahad-type groups.

Josephus presents the Tzedukim as giving little or no role to fate. The theological result is a strong emphasis on immediate responsibility: people choose, act, and bear consequences. This fits an elite temple faction involved in courts, politics, estates, diplomacy, and priestly administration. The node is placed with the Tzedukim because it contrasts with Yahad determinism and Perushim compatibilism. Together the three free-will nodes show that late Second Temple sectarianism was not only about temple control; it also debated how divine rule and human agency fit together.