EleutherIA — Defined term

To Endechomenon (The Contingent)

τὸ ἐνδεχόμενον

Classical Greek

Aristotle uses endechomenon and related modal vocabulary in context-dependent ways for what can be or can be otherwise. In De interpretatione 9 he rejects the inference from statements about singular future events to the necessity of those events, but the exact status he gives their present truth values is disputed. Diodorus Cronus's Master Argument supports his restrictive account of possibility; this should not be generalized to every Dialectician or Megarian. Chrysippean modality does not reduce contingency to ignorance, since its categories can treat some fated events as possible and non-necessary. Alexander later defends two-way contingency against determinism, while the Epicurean swerve belongs to a separate and disputed physical argument.

Open this record in Scholar mode

Source snapshot seo-source-sha256-8b9bb3de14dc65f6bcbf950ca64c743a777d32d66c86e94ed1090e3e1332652c · 2026-08-24