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Wellsprings
cosmology

Chance and Spontaneity in Nature

τὸ αὐτόματον καὶ ἡ τύχη

Did the world's order arise for a purpose, or stumble into being by sheer luck? Aristotle dissects what we mean by "chance."

When we say something happened "by chance" or "spontaneously," what do we actually mean? Aristotle answered that chance (tychē) and the spontaneous (to automaton) are not hidden forces but accidental causes — coincidences that fall outside the regular, purposeful patterns of nature, where chance proper belongs to deliberate agents and the spontaneous to the wider natural world. He developed this analysis partly to rebut earlier thinkers like Empedocles and the atomists, who held that the cosmos and even living creatures came together by chance rather than for any end. The debate set the terms for two millennia of argument over whether nature is shot through with purpose or merely the residue of accident.

Where this idea shows up

18 Greek sources·3 Jewish-canon citations

Where to read it