Accident (philosophy)
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The philosophical term, accident has been employed throughout the history of philosophy with several distinct meanings.
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[edit] Aristotelian Substance Theory
In Aristotle's theory of the substance of objects, the concept of accident plays an important role in clarifying what he does not mean by substance. For Aristotle, accidents are the perceptible qualities of an object such as its color, texture, size, shape, et cetera. As Aristotle states things which are not substance are accidents.[1]
[edit] Christian Theology
St. Thomas Aquinas employed the Aristotelian concepts of substance and accident in articulating the theology of the Eucharist, particularly Transubstantiation. In summary, the accidents (appearances) of the bread and wine do not change, but their substance changes from bread and wine to the Body and Blood of Christ.
[edit] Modern philosophy
In modern philosophy, an accident (or accidental property) is the union of two concepts: property and contingency.
In relation to the first, an (accidental property in Greek call sumbebekos[2]) is at its most basic level a property. The color "yellow", "high value", "Atomic Number 79" are all properties, and are therefore candidates for being accidental. On the other hand, "gold", "platinum", and "electrum" are not properties, and are therefore not classified as accidents.
In relation to the second, an accidental property is a specific subset of properties. Some members of the set of properties are argued to be essential (or necessary) to the object and are not categorized as accidental, such as "Atomic Number 79", while other properties are non-essential (or contingent) to the object and are categorized as accidental, such as "yellow" and "high value".
This philosophical usage is defined more technically in modal logic, and due to an increasing focus on linguistic rigor in the last century, has been sharply separated from many other senses of the word "accident".
There are two opposed philosophical positions that also impact the meaning of this term:
Anti-Essentialism (associated with Willard Van Orman Quine) argues that there are no essential properties at all, and therefore every property is an accident.
Modal Necessitarianism (associated with Saul Kripke), argues for the veracity of the modal system "Triv" (If P is true, then P must be true). The consequence of this theory is that all properties are essential (and no property is an accident).
