To many earlier Greek philosophers chance did not exist. One of the surviving fragments of Leucippus says: "Nothing occurs at random, but everything for a [[reason]] and by necessity". To the atomists the world was completely [[deterministic]]. However, Democritus also claimed that chance (automaton) caused the [[original]] [[creation]] of "the [[heaven]]ly spheres and all the worlds", i.e. that [[existence]] itself has no prior or determining cause, although everything that has happened since is deterministic. | To many earlier Greek philosophers chance did not exist. One of the surviving fragments of Leucippus says: "Nothing occurs at random, but everything for a [[reason]] and by necessity". To the atomists the world was completely [[deterministic]]. However, Democritus also claimed that chance (automaton) caused the [[original]] [[creation]] of "the [[heaven]]ly spheres and all the worlds", i.e. that [[existence]] itself has no prior or determining cause, although everything that has happened since is deterministic. |