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Single Idea 19660

[filed under theme 10. Modality / B. Possibility / 5. Contingency ]

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]

The 10 ideas with the same theme [facts which could be otherwise]:

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]