Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome | |||
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Coincidence: coincidence is not the absence of a causal explanation, but the coinciding of several events, which were caused by independent causal chains. The determination of a coincidence belongs to the description level and may express the deviation from an expectation. The property of being accidental is not inherent to events. See also determinism, indeterminism, contingency, necessity, probability._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
Author | Concept | Summary/Quotes | Sources |
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D. Dennett on Coincidence - Dictionary of Arguments
I 223 Coincidence/Dennett: the blue alga, very early in evolution, is a perfect converter of light into chemical energy. This cannot be a coincidence. It is the result of targeted improvements. I 64 Coincidence/Dennett: Coincidence has no memory. (E.g. competition in coin toss favors no properties of the winner). I 207f Origin of Life/Dennett: In order for a cell to be formed by coincidence, at least 100 functional proteins would have to meet simultaneously in the same place. The probability is 10 to the power of -2000, so it is virtually impossible. ((s) Cf. >Life/Stuart Kauffman.)_____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Dennett I D. Dennett Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, New York 1995 German Edition: Darwins gefährliches Erbe Hamburg 1997 Dennett II D. Dennett Kinds of Minds, New York 1996 German Edition: Spielarten des Geistes Gütersloh 1999 Dennett III Daniel Dennett "COG: Steps towards consciousness in robots" In Bewusstein, Thomas Metzinger, Paderborn/München/Wien/Zürich 1996 Dennett IV Daniel Dennett "Animal Consciousness. What Matters and Why?", in: D. C. Dennett, Brainchildren. Essays on Designing Minds, Cambridge/MA 1998, pp. 337-350 In Der Geist der Tiere, D Perler/M. Wild, Frankfurt/M. 2005 |