Recently, aphorisms have become fashionable again. Great words are often quoted on social networks, as an epigraph they sound at various trainings, are used in the media and books. But similarly to the winged phrase “every great man has a great woman”, each such statement has its own author, although history does not always preserve his name. After the release of the cult cartoon "Kung Fu Panda", the saying "accidents are not accidental" became very popular. Who said this phrase and who is credited with its authorship, read about it below.
Version one: cartoon "Kung Fu Panda"
If you ask a question, who said "randomness is not accidental," the vast majority of respondents will answer: one of the characters in the cartoon "Kung Fu Panda", which was released in 2008. However, in reality, the cartoon uses only a well-known saying. And who is the author of the quote "chance is not accidental"?
Fans of the animated story about the panda warrior not only believe that this phrase was voiced in the cartoon, but also confuse the one who said "randomness is not accidental." Many for some reason believe that these words were spoken by the master Shifu, the mentor of the protagonist, although this is not entirely true. According to the plot of the cartoon, in response to Shifu’s words about the appearance of the panda “this is an accident”, it was precisely the master Ugway who was the one who said “accidents are not accidental”. In fact, this winged expression appeared much earlier than the cartoon "Kung Fu Panda."
Version Two: Great European thinkers
At different times, many great people talked about chance, for example, the Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, the physicist Albert Einstein, Blaise Pascal or the German philosopher of the 19th century, Friedrich Nietzsche. In fact, everyone had their own version of the winged expression about randomness with a similar meaning, but none of them was the one who said "randomness is not random."
There is also a version that this thought belongs to the Chinese philosopher Confucius. She is already closer to the truth - the proverb was really born in China. However, Confucius has nothing to do with her, he lived a couple of centuries earlier than the author of the famous saying.
"Accidents are not accidental" - who really said this phrase?
The story is remarkable in that we cannot recreate events with absolute certainty. Nor can we say for sure who said "chance is not accidental." The search for the author of this aphorism is complicated by the fact that at different times these words were spoken in one form or another by many great minds. However, historical evidence indicates that the author of the quote "randomness is not accidental" is Chuang Tzu, the great Chinese thinker who lived in the 4th century BC. And although very little information has been preserved about this philosopher, these are rather subjective sources (memoirs and biographies), and there are practically no reliable materials with data on him, some of Chuang Tzu’s sayings still survived to our time. This also applies to the question of who said "chance is not accidental." This phrase has a deep meaning, which we will discuss later.
What else is the author of the quote "accidents not accidental" famous for?
In addition to this aphorism, Chuang Tzu is the author of many other philosophical statements. These include stories about the master who dreamed that he became a butterfly, as well as the dialogue between Chuang Tzu and the envoys of the ruler, who brought orders to attract the philosopher to public service. The aphorism is that if you steal a hook from your belt, you will be executed, and if the kingdom is crowned. It was first expressed by this Chinese thinker.
Analogs of the famous aphorism
The idea of chance appeared when people made their first attempts to understand the nature of the events and their influence on the fate of man. It is not surprising that practically every of the great minds (not only philosophers, but also scientists and art workers) of all times and peoples will surely find a statement about this concept.
There are many aphorisms on the topic of chance. Some authors are known, but some remained in the shadows. Recall the winged expressions of chance, similar in meaning to the phrase "chance is not accidental."
The ancient Greek philosopher Democritus wrote: "Events seem to be random, the causes of which we do not know." These words reflect basic philosophical concepts: randomness and necessity, where randomness is considered an unknown necessity.
A similar thought was expressed by one of the greatest French philosophers of the 18th century, Voltaire, saying that it is customary to call any action for which we do not see the root cause or do not understand it.
Franz Kafka also had a similar opinion, who called chance only a reflection of the boundaries of knowledge.
The French mathematician Blaise Pascal owns the words that only trained minds make random discoveries.
The famous Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud wrote that there is nothing accidental, everything has a root cause.
Leo Tolstoy was sure that there were no accidents, rather, a person creates his own destiny than meets her.
An aphorism about this philosophical concept, belonging to a mathematician who remained unknown, was sounded in the Soviet film “The Most Charming and Attractive”: “Chance is a special case of law”.
Each of the above aphorisms has a similar semantic meaning with the words of the Chinese thinker Zhuang Zi, therefore there is nothing surprising in the fact that his statement is attributed to other philosophers, writers and scientists.