title: Chance: from metaphysical principle to explanatory concept. The idea of uncertainty in a natural history of knowledge.
abstract: The term "chance" has been given varied and different meanings in the history of occidental thought, carrying metaphysical connotations and controversial power. Despite the obscurity implied by this polysemy, this term is still frequently used without undergoing the conceptual clarifications that could locate its precise meaning and its original function in a theory. Here I propose a brief genealogical draft of this term and of its conceptual forms, from Aristotle to Darwin, to demonstrate the necessity of specifying what function it is fulfilling in each precise theoretical framework, in order not to be overwhelmed by the wide spectrum of the word.
authors.affiliation: Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 15 Parvis René Descartes, BP 7000, 69342 Lyon Cedex 07, France. morizot.baptiste@gmail.com
authors.forename: Baptiste
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Morizot
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D019359:Knowledge; D009154:Mutation; D013269:Stochastic Processes; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D035501:Uncertainty