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Full Idea
My term 'precariousness' designates a possibility of not-being which must eventually be realised. By contrast, absolute contingency designates a pure possibility; one which may never be realised.
Gist of Idea
Possible non-being which must be realised is 'precariousness'; absolute contingency might never not-be
Source
Quentin Meillassoux (After Finitude; the necessity of contingency [2006], 3)
Book Ref
Meillassoux: 'After Finitude: the necessity of contingency', ed/tr. Brassier,R [Bloomsbury 2008], p.62
A Reaction
I thoroughly approve of this distinction, because I have often enountered the assumption that all contingency is precariousness, and I have never seen why that should be so. In Aquinas's Third Way, for example. The 6 on a die may never come up.
Related Ideas
Idea 19667 If the laws of nature are contingent, shouldn't we already have noticed it? [Meillassoux]
6215 | 'Contingent' means that the cause is unperceived, not that there is no cause [Hobbes] |
4299 | Contingency is an illusion, resulting from our inadequate understanding [Spinoza, by Cottingham] |
4824 | We only call things 'contingent' in relation to the imperfection of our knowledge [Spinoza] |
4839 | Reason naturally regards things as necessary, and only imagination considers them contingent [Spinoza] |
5040 | Necessary truths can be analysed into original truths; contingent truths are infinitely analysable [Leibniz] |
4307 | A reason must be given why contingent beings should exist rather than not exist [Leibniz] |
21533 | Contingency arises from tensed verbs changing the propositions to which they refer [Russell] |
17693 | The necessary/contingent distinction may need to recognise possibilities as real [Armstrong] |
14895 | 'Superficial' contingency: false in some world; 'Deep' contingency: no obvious verification [Evans, by Macià/Garcia-Carpentiro] |
19660 | Possible non-being which must be realised is 'precariousness'; absolute contingency might never not-be [Meillassoux] |