232 



Thoughts on Causality. 



some range of possible movement and possible place of 

 rest for the dice. But whatever movement transpires, and 

 whatever may result in the position of the dice, ordinary 

 physical forces were the cause — the proximate cause, of 

 all. Chance, in this case, is simply a field of possibility. It 

 is a range of values of an unknown quantity, within certain 

 limits. It is a name for our inability to gauge precisely the 

 forces which act — our ignorance of the precise result which 

 they will produce. 



The case is not fundamentally altered when, for the dice, 

 we substitute the atoms of a universe. The field of possi- 

 ble results is inconceivably enlarged; but we must feel 

 equally certain that, whatever adjustment the atoms assume, 

 there has been some adequate cause or set of causes to 

 move them to their places. We say that any particular 

 adjustment is the result of chance; but it is absolutely 

 certain that, whatever the adjustment, there were forces 

 moving the atoms in such directions and with such velo- 

 cities as to produce precisely that adjustment. The chance 

 of which we speak is no more a cause in this case than in 

 that of the dice. 



Chance is essentially a negation of cause. . The moment 

 I assert that a result is caused, the idea of chance is neces- 

 sarily excluded. Were there no cause but chance in the 

 universe — even supposing the atoms of matter to exist — 

 everything would rest in a state of immobility, stagnation. 

 There would be no further effect than the birth of matter. 



But suppose the existence of matter and orderly acting 

 forces to be granted, there is much more in the collocations 

 of the atoms of the universe than can be attributed to 

 causes acting without discernment. We are not author- 

 ized to assert that the disposition of the atoms is the result 

 even of blind attractions and repulsions ; since, as can be 

 shown, there are numberless adjustments in which har- 

 mony, beauty, fitness and utility have been the directive 



