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Academy Resources Glossary of Philosophical Terms Timeline of Philosophy A Timeline of American Philosophy Diagram: Development of Philosophic Thought Diagram: Divisions of Philosophy The Philosophy Resource Center The Religion Resource Center Books about Philosophy in The Radical Academy Bookstore Books about Religion in The Radical Academy Bookstore Click Here for New & Used College Textbooks at Discount Prices Click Here for College Education Information & Study Resources Shop Amazon Stores in the Radical Academy Bookstore Magazine Outlet Music Store Classical Music Store Video Store DVD Store Computer Store Camera & Photo Store Computer/Video Games Software Store Musical Instruments Outlet Store Cellular Phones Toys & Games Tools & Hardware Automotive Store Outdoor Living Consumer Electronics Home & Garden Kitchen & Housewares Baby Superstore Apparel & Accessories Gourmet Food Grocery Store Sporting Goods Jewelry & Watches Health & Personal Care Beauty Store		Chance, Luck, Accident The Traditional Position of Classical Realism   Terms like "chance," "luck," "accident," and similar expressions are found in all languages. They show the firm conviction of people that many things happen in this world which are beyond the control of any regulative principle in nature. Such occurrences are, therefore, conceived as happening without being the result of purposive action: no end or purpose and consequently no final cause determines their course. What truth is there in this view? The following are instances of the occurrences which are usually considered to be the result of "chance" or "luck" or "accident." A man spades his garden, in order to plant some vegetables, and uncovers a hidden treasure of which he had no knowledge. This is a case of "good luck," and he is said to find this treasure by "chance" or "accident"; it is also spoken of as "good fortune." Years after a war, a farmer plows a field which had been the scene of a battle, hits a hidden shell, and is hurt by the explosion. He had "bad luck" or "misfortune," and his injury was the result of an "accident." Two cars, speeding along separate highways which cross each other at right angles, meet at the intersection, and a collision occurs. The meeting of the cars was "by chance," and the collision was an "accident." What is chance, or luck, or accident? The Principle of Causality guarantees that no effect can happen without an adequate efficient cause to account for it. "Chance" results, therefore, must never be understood in the sense that effects occur without a cause: such events would be impossible. But what is meant by chance results is that certain effects are not intended by the active agents under these particular circumstances. An effect may be "intended" by directly willing it, if the agent is free in its activity; or it may be "intended" because a thing has the natural tendency to produce a definite effect. Thus, if I deliberately throw a ball, I "intend" the movement of the ball through the air. Gravity has the natural tendency to bring the ball back to earth; it also "intends" this downward motion. Neither of these two movements is due to "chance," "luck," or "accident." When, however, a certain effect is not intended freely or naturally, as just explained, it is said to be due to "chance," "luck," or "accident." For instance, when I throw a ball, and the ball, without my intending it, hits a man on the head, this is an "accident." Because, although I freely "intended" to throw the ball, I did not intend the man's head as the target for my marksmanship; and so, too, although gravity attracted the ball in virtue of a natural tendency and thus "intended" its downward course, it had no natural tendency to attract the ball in such a manner that it would alight upon the man's head. That the ball struck his head was due to an unfortunate conjuncture of causes which was intended neither by me nor by nature. In accidental occurrences two distinct factors must be considered. Each efficient cause intends a certain result, either freely or because of a natural tendency, and the causality of the efficient cause is directed and determined by an end or purpose which the efficient cause seeks to realize as the direct effect of its action; the action of each cause is, therefore, intended separately and independently of the other, so that there is no concerted action intended by the different causes with relation to each other. The coincidence of these separate and independent lines of action, therefore, is not intended by these efficient causes and lies outside the scope of their individual ends and purposes; therein lies the element of "chance," "luck," and "accident," because no regulative principle controls the meeting of these separate and independent actions: their meeting or conjuncture just "happens." Accidents thus occur incidentally to some intended action. Aristotle therefore defines chance, or luck, or accident (for they mean essentially the same thing) as the incidental production of some significant result by a cause that took its place in the causal chain incidentally, and without the result in question being contemplated. And he goes on to say: Clearly then luck itself, regarded as a cause, is the name we give to causation which incidentally inheres in deliberately purposeful action taken with respect to some other end but leading to the event we call fortunate [or unfortunate]. (Physics, Bk. II, Ch.V.) Aristotle's observation here is very acute and is borne out by the analysis of an accidental occurrence. Two automobile drivers take their cars out into the country. One drives from east to west, and the other from north to south. Their action is purposeful; each intends to ride, and drives his car in accordance with his purpose. That the two cars, driven at their respective speeds, will meet at the intersection of the two highways at a particular moment and thus cause a collision, is something unforeseen and unintended by both drivers. Hence, the conjuncture of these two sets of efficient causality is only incidental to the purposeful action of each driver and is beyond their knowledge and control. Since there is no finite controlling factor which brings about this conjuncture of efficient causalities, such accidental effects cannot be foreseen and foretold with any degree of certainty. Irregularity and lack of constancy are the characteristic marks of events that happen by chance. It follows that events and phenomena, which occur regularly and constantly in nature according to physical law, cannot be the result of chance; whatever is constant, normal, and according to type, is contrary to the very concept of chance. Is the universe, then, governed by chance or purpose? The law, order, and harmony manifest everywhere in nature is the best evidence that the universe is governed by purposeful design. Aristotle expresses his view on this question as follows: In general, the theory [of chance, as the dominant factor in the universe] does away with the whole order of Nature, and indeed with Nature's self. For natural things are exactly those which do move continuously, in virtue of a principle inherent in themselves, toward a determined goal; and the final development which results from any one such principle is not identical for any two species, nor yet is it any random result; but in each there is always a tendency toward an identical result, if nothing interferes with the process.   A desirable result and the means to it may also be produced by chance, as for instance we say it was "by luck" that the stranger came and ransomed the prisoner before he left, where the ransoming is done as if the man had come for that purpose, though in fact he did not. In this case the desirable result is incidental; for, as we have explained, chance is an incidental cause.   But when the desirable result is effected invariably or normally, it is not an incidental or chance occurrence; and in the course of Nature the result always is achieved either invariably or normally, if nothing hinders. It is absurd to suppose that there is no purpose because in Nature we can never detect the moving power in the act of deliberation...That Nature is a cause, then, and a goal-directed cause, is above dispute. (Physics, Bk. II, Ch. VIII.) Nature, of course, has no intelligence of its own and as such cannot select the goal of its action as an end or purpose for which to strive. Nevertheless, intelligence is required in order that nature can be "a goal-directed cause," striving toward the realization of its all-encompassing purpose according to precise laws. Hence, the presence of a purpose or goal in nature demands the existence of a Supreme Intelligence outside itself. One of the most eminent of modern physicists, Max Planck, says: "The most perfect harmony and consequently the strictest causality in any case, culminates in the assumption that there is an ideal spirit having a full knowledge of the action of the natural forces as well as of the events in the intellectual life of men; a knowledge extending to every detail and embracing present, past, and future." (in his work The Philosophy of Physics.) Most Classical Realists have argued, of course, that this "ideal spirit" is God. You may respond to this essay in The Radical Academy Forum Enrich Your Life With a Philosophy Book... Enrich Your Life With a Philosophy Magazine... Academy Showcase Specials Philosophy Resource Center Main Page
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