Full Idea
I think we are right to explain chance events, yet we are right also to deny that we can ever explain why a chance process yields one outcome rather than another. We cannot explain why one event happened rather than the other.
Gist of Idea
We can explain a chance event, but can never show why some other outcome did not occur
Source
David Lewis (Causal Explanation [1986], VI)
Book Reference
Lewis,David: 'Philosophical Papers Vol.2' [OUP 1986], p.230
A Reaction
This misses out an investigation which slowly reveals that a 'chance' event wasn't so chancey after all. Failure to explain confirms chance, so the judgement of chance shouldn't block attempts to explain.