"Nor is there any definite cause for an accident, but only chance, namely an indefinite cause." 1
"Causes from which chance results might happen are indeterminate; hence chance is obscure to human calculation and is a cause by accident." 2
"If we are unable to trace conduct back to any other origins than those within ourselves, then actions of which the origins are within us, themselves depend upon us, and are voluntary (εκουσια - will)." 3
1. Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1025a25
οὐδὲ δὴ αἴτιον ὡρισμένον οὐδὲν του̂ συμβεβηκότος ἀλλὰ τὸ τυχόν: του̂το δ' ἀόριστον.
Metaphysics, Book V, 1025a24
2. Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1065a33
τὰ δ' αἴτια ἀόριστα ἀφ' ὡ̂ν ἂν γένοιτο τὰ ἀπὸ τύχης, διὸ ἄδηλος ἀνθρωπίνῳ λογισμῳ̂ καὶ αἴτιον κατὰ συμβεβηκός, ἁπλω̂ς δ' οὐδενός.
Metaphysics, Book XI, 1065a
3. Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, III.v.6
εἰ δὲ ταῦτα φαίνεται καὶ μὴ ἔχομεν εἰς ἄλλας ἀρχὰς ἀναγαγεῖν παρὰ τὰς ἐν ἡμῖν, ὧν καὶ αἱ ἀρχαὶ ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ αὐτὰ ἐφ' ἡμῖν καὶ ἑκούσια.
Nichomachean Ethics, III.v.6
 Chapter 6.6 - Language |
Chapter 6.8 - Progress  |
| Part Five - Problems |
Part Seven - Afterword |
