The Teleological Dimension of Randomness in Physics II 4-6: A Reconstructive and Interpretative Essay

• Main Author: Iván De Los Ríos Gutiérrez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Nacional de Colombia 2015-08-01
• Series: Ideas y Valores
• Subjects: Aristotle; randomness; dystychia; heneka tou
• Online Access: http://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/idval/article/view/41787/pdf2

The Aristotelian interpretation of randomness is examined as an accidental cause in the sphere of ends of that which can be brought about by nature or by thought. Why would a fortuitous event belong to the order of ends? What does it mean to say that fortuitous events are “for something” (ἓνεκά του)? The main responses to specialists are reviewed, some deficiencies are noted, and a non-causal-explicative reading is proposed for the expression ἓνεκά του. This reading differs from the “as-if teleology” as an explanation of the finality of the fortuitous event.