What Role Does Chance Play in Life?

[JackDaydream]

Klaas Landsman, in , 'The Challenge of Chance', says,
'Humans constantly try to understand random phenomena and prefer explanations that (re) install meaning.' He points out how,
'from Hume and Kant onwards even the causal patterns that permeate science began to be questioned. From Aristotle to the 18th century, natural philosophy had seen these patterns as real, our role being to discover them.'

The question of chance is linked to that of free will, but does come down to the whole nature of order or randomness in the universe. Of course, 'chance' is a human construct and related ideas, such as chaos, order and coincidences are concepts used to try to make sense of order or disorder in the universe and life.

At times human beings have believed in fate and predestination. Others have questioned this deeply and the division between 'spiritual' philosophies and science has been one part of the debate. Some have believed in providence and others in karma. The idea of karma in Eastern religion is of cause and effect, but may not just be restricted to physical laws.

Within science, there are tensions too, with the idea of laws of nature and randomness. Darwin speaks of natural selection but some physicists, especially Heisenberg, have spoken of uncertainty at the quantum level.

Questions about the underlying order or disorder underlying life are philosophical issues which have implications for the way in which human beings understand life on a daily basis, in terms of prediction and navigation of individual freedom. Some may believe that the events in life are a result of chance or coincidence. One idea relevant to this is Carl Jung's idea of synchronicity, which he saw as being 'meaningful coincidences'. These are events which appear to show patterns of significance, although he did emphasise that these were patterns and 'acausal'. In other words, events such as premonitions are more about humans being able to perceive patterns.

Personally, I am inclined to think that there may be more to synchronicity than Jung conceived. This is my intuition based on observation of life, but this may be my overactive imagination. Also, even within chaos theory there does appear to be some inherent order. I am writing this thread with a view to asking people on the forum how they consider the nature of chance in the universe and the nature of causation in life. Is life a series of random, chance events or coincidences?

[JackDaydream]

I wish to add a quote about the nature of uncertainty:
'The quantum world is full of uncertainties. There is no way to predict when a radioactive atom will decay. Indeed, there is no difference between an atom that is about to decay and one that isn't. Albert Einstein objected to this picture of "God throwing dice", but the evidence is that uncertainties are present' , (Cohen and Stewart, 1994, in, 'The Collapse of Chaos'.

So, it may be asked what is chaos in relation to design and , how does this work as an aspect of the basics of any scientific or other attempt to form a metaphysical basis of how 'reality' may be understood? On what level do order and disorder exist, even as human constructs, and how much may be predicted?

[JackDaydream]

I hope that my question will be worthy of some consideration, even if it is not seen as academic, although it may draw upon a multidisciplinary approach to 'truth'. From my understanding the nature of what may be considered as 'chance', or in other ways is important to understand life, although I realise that others may see it differently. I am not sure how meaning exists ultimately, but explaining how the causal world works appears to me as as a central aspect of philosophical exploration.

[LuckyR]

It can play a huge role but on average it doesn't. But given how much is within one's own control, worrying about the portion that is governed by luck (and is therefore out of one's own control) is a waste of energy. In other words, luck is interesting to reflect on retrospectively, but should not be a distraction prospectively.

[JackDaydream]

@LuckyR
I am definitely not wishing to suggest that luck' is a major force in our lives. However, human beings have choices, but it may be that it goes deeper than that to the depths of subconscious facets, to a whole level of mindset. If there is what is known as 'karma' it may involve individuals gravitating towards experiences which they learn from.

The problem with what I have said would be that it is difficult to back it up with evidence. But, my own experience is that what often becomes manifest in life seems to be related to individual learning experiences. What I, and I know some others people, who have certain repeated experiences of events, often difficult ones. Also, I find that it is often hard to force certain goals in life, almost as if there is some amount of 'destiny' and with only a certain amount of freedom of choice.

[Pattern-chaser]

Is life a series of random, chance events or coincidences?

Yes, but it's more than that too. Many events in the universe happen or don't happen 'randomly', meaning there is a probability of whether they will happen. I think the conclusion is that our RL universe is a mixture of randomness, chaos and coincidence, mixed in with order.

[LuckyR]

I am definitely not wishing to suggest that luck' is a major force in our lives. However, human beings have choices, but it may be that it goes deeper than that to the depths of subconscious facets, to a whole level of mindset. If there is what is known as 'karma' it may involve individuals gravitating towards experiences which they learn from.

The problem with what I have said would be that it is difficult to back it up with evidence. But, my own experience is that what often becomes manifest in life seems to be related to individual learning experiences. What I, and I know some others people, who have certain repeated experiences of events, often difficult ones. Also, I find that it is often hard to force certain goals in life, almost as if there is some amount of 'destiny' and with only a certain amount of freedom of choice.

Two things.

First, cosmic karma is a metaphysical concept of dubious veracity. But relationship "karma" is very real, such that we all experience it every day.

Secondly, just to be clear, the freedom of choice we have is not a choice of outcome (destiny), rather a choice of behavior, which may lead to certain outcomes... or not.

[JackDaydream]

@LuckyR
It may be that cosmic 'metaphysical karma' and the karma experienced in relationships is not entirely different, and that both are based on the principle, 'As you reap, you will sow', in terms of cause and effect. One strange experience, I once had was on a library staircase, two boys began provoking an argument with me and one of them began held a knife to me in a threatening manner. I think that he was expecting me to retaliate in some way. However, I did absolutely nothing and, strangely, the knife bounced back at him, although not hurting him. It seemed like some kind of deflection of energy, in which his own intent was thrown back to him.

Linked to the idea of karma, there is the 'law of attraction' spoken of in the writings of Esther and Jeremy Hicks and some other writers. This involves innermost thought and intent having a role in causation and in what becomes manifest in the events of life. On an experiential level, I am convinced that there is some truth in the law of attraction and how consciousness and mindset plays a role in what becomes manifest in reality, but I am aware that it would be difficult to find evidence to demonstrate and it could be seen under the category of superstitious thinking.

[JackDaydream]

@Pattern-chaser
I agree with you that there is such a mix of order, complexity and randomness in life. If everything was fixed there would not be any scope for freedom of choice at all. One concept which may be important here is Nassim Nicholas Taleb's concept of 'black swans, which is about the lack of predictability in life. He says 'A small number of black swans explain almost everything in our world, from the success of ideas and religions, to the dynamics of historical events, to elements of our own personal lives'. He is talking about how the unusual 'black' as opposed to white swans about unusual and extreme events playing significant influence in the events of life. Life is made up of so many irregular and extraordinary events and these need to be lived with and weaved into the way human beings face life and its uncertainties. The human brain needs to be able to accomodate the nature of living with the unpredictable

[Belindi]

It depends what is meant by 'chance'.

There is no such thing as true randomness as every event is a caused event.

What we usually mean by 'chance' or randomness is that we can't possibly predict the outcome from an event, e.g. the action of the roulette wheel

[JackDaydream]

@Belindi
The whole issue of 'chance' does depend on how the term is used and that is probably where the philosophy questions comes in. Is chance about anything can happen in the sense of mere coincidence or about emerging patterns and chains of causes. Definitely, it would seem ridiculous to think of events without causes and I wonder if there may be complex webs, with relationships between objects and people, and the inner and outer aspects of reality. Of course, chance is the human attempt to make sense of it all and I see it as a major question for thinking about what control people have in life. Human beings see themselves as having mastery but, in some ways, may be aspects of larger patterns of causality. I wonder about this in relation to the future existence of human beings, who have in many ways sought mastery over nature, but how much can people really control in their own lives and, in the grand scheme of the cosmos?

[3017Metaphysician]

Klaas Landsman, in , 'The Challenge of Chance', says,
'Humans constantly try to understand random phenomena and prefer explanations that (re) install meaning.' He points out how,
'from Hume and Kant onwards even the causal patterns that permeate science began to be questioned. From Aristotle to the 18th century, natural philosophy had seen these patterns as real, our role being to discover them.'

The question of chance is linked to that of free will, but does come down to the whole nature of order or randomness in the universe. Of course, 'chance' is a human construct and related ideas, such as chaos, order and coincidences are concepts used to try to make sense of order or disorder in the universe and life.

At times human beings have believed in fate and predestination. Others have questioned this deeply and the division between 'spiritual' philosophies and science has been one part of the debate. Some have believed in providence and others in karma. The idea of karma in Eastern religion is of cause and effect, but may not just be restricted to physical laws.

Within science, there are tensions too, with the idea of laws of nature and randomness. Darwin speaks of natural selection but some physicists, especially Heisenberg, have spoken of uncertainty at the quantum level.

Questions about the underlying order or disorder underlying life are philosophical issues which have implications for the way in which human beings understand life on a daily basis, in terms of prediction and navigation of individual freedom. Some may believe that the events in life are a result of chance or coincidence. One idea relevant to this is Carl Jung's idea of synchronicity, which he saw as being 'meaningful coincidences'. These are events which appear to show patterns of significance, although he did emphasise that these were patterns and 'acausal'. In other words, events such as premonitions are more about humans being able to perceive patterns.

Personally, I am inclined to think that there may be more to synchronicity than Jung conceived. This is my intuition based on observation of life, but this may be my overactive imagination. Also, even within chaos theory there does appear to be some inherent order. I am writing this thread with a view to asking people on the forum how they consider the nature of chance in the universe and the nature of causation in life. Is life a series of random, chance events or coincidences?

Jack!

The short answer is that existence is both determined and indeterminable. In other words, it's not one or the other, it's both. Consider how consciousness operates. You have both the conscious and subconscious mind working together in an 'illogical' fashion (not to mention the unconscious). They (one's stream of consciousness) fade in and out from one another kind of like trying to specifically identify the Will and the Intellect and which mental state is actually subordinate to the other. Life can be said to be more dynamic than static.

For more fodder, consider Whitehead's process philosophy, or even process theology where it's not an either/or paradigm or binary kind of model or proposition like you would find in a priori logic. Living life is not only A or B; it's both A and B:


God is not omnipotent in the sense of being coercive. The divine has a power of persuasion rather than coercion. Process theologians interpret the classical doctrine of omnipotence as involving force, and suggest instead a forbearance in divine power. "Persuasion" in the causal sense means that God does not exert unilateral control.[8]

Reality is not made up of material substances that endure through time, but serially-ordered events, which are experiential in nature. These events have both a physical and mental aspect. All experience (male, female, atomic, and botanical) is important and contributes to the ongoing and interrelated process of reality.

The universe is characterized by process and change carried out by the agents of free will. Self-determination characterizes everything in the universe, not just human beings. God cannot totally control any series of events or any individual, but God influences the creaturely exercise of this universal free will by offering possibilities.

To say it another way, God has a will in everything, but not everything that occurs is God's will.[9]
God contains the universe but is not identical with it (panentheism, not pantheism or pandeism). Some also call this "theocosmocentrism" to emphasize that God has always been related to some world or another.

Because God interacts with the changing universe, God is changeable (that is to say, God is affected by the actions that take place in the universe) over the course of time. However, the abstract elements of God (goodness, wisdom, etc.) remain eternally solid.

Charles Hartshorne believes that people do not experience subjective (or personal) immortality, but they do have objective immortality because their experiences live on forever in God, who contains all that was. Other process theologians believe that people do have subjective experience after bodily death.[10]

Dipolar theism is the idea that God has both a changing aspect (God's existence as a Living God) and an unchanging aspect (God's eternal essence).[11]



Jack, that Dipolar concept was played-out as a thought experiment in Wheeler's Cloud.

[JackDaydream]

@3017Metaphysician

Your reply is interesting because it is about processes with some aspects coming from beyond us but with some capacity for choice, although there are many unknown variables influencing us. In particular, each of has so much impacting upon us, including genetics, socialisation and life experiences. Perhaps, it would be true to say that each person has some choices though as reflective conscious agents.

Your post, especially the idea of immortality possibly being about 'experiences living on forever in God' leads me to think of the Hindu idea of the human ego in relation to the 'divine', Brahman and Atman merging together. I first came across this idea of immortality within a writer called JB Phillips. I mentioned it to a Catholic friend at the time, who thought that would be a 'real swindle'. But, it could be that it is the ego consciousness which wishes to cling to ego identity and it may be that whatever happens at death, with all possibilities, such as those portrayed in NDEs, that, at death the ego dissolves and possibly some aspects of the 'spirit' moves on, but that the various aspects of the person are involved in constant cycles and processes of change, within the timeless picture of eternity. Your post points to the idea of God as imminent force which is different from many 'conventional' ideas of God, but may be more logical than many other ones.

But, getting back to chance and freedom of choice, it may be one of the many paradoxes of human existence and, that human beings have some freedom of choice but only some. It also seems that the life circumstances of each individual differ and some people have more choices available than others. It may be that there are more choices earlier in life often and these may become more narrow when someone has followed specific pathways. Life may be like metaphorical spirals, mazes and tunnels. This may be 'karma', although it could also be seen simply as the processes arising due to the limitations of the material circumstances of life, which leaves ambiguity of possible interpretation.

[Tegularius]

Enough to ensure the unexpected always happens.

[JackDaydream]

@Tegularius
The 'unexpected' does always seem to happen somehow and I often feel that the more I try to imagine what is going to happen, something different entirely seems to occur. Some aspects are usually much worse than may be expected and some much better. However, life may be more interesting because it is so unpredictable.