2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
Recently, aphorisms have become fashionable again. Great words are often quoted on social networks, as an epigraph they are heard at various trainings, used in the media and books. But similarly to the catchphrase "behind every great man there is a great woman," each such statement has its own author, although history does not always preserve his name. After the release of the cult cartoon "Kung Fu Panda", the saying "accidents are not accidental" became very popular. Who said this phrase and who is credited with its authorship, read about it below.
Version one: Kung Fu Panda cartoon
If you ask the question, who said "accidents are not accidental", then the vast majority of respondents will answer: one of the characters in the cartoon "Kung Fu Panda", released in 2008. However, in fact, only a well-known saying is used in the cartoon. And who is the author of the quote "accidents are not accidental"?
Fans of the animated story about the panda warrior not only believe that this phrase was in the cartoon, but also confuse the one who said "accidents are not accidental." For some reason, many believe that these words were spoken by Master Shifu, the mentor of the protagonist, although this is not entirely true. According to the plot of the cartoon, in response to Shifu's words about the appearance of the panda "it's an accident", it was Master Oogway who said "accidents are not accidental." In fact, this popular expression appeared much earlier than the cartoon "Kung Fu Panda" was released.
Version two: great European thinkers
At different times, many great people talked about chance, for example, the Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, the physicist Albert Einstein, Blaise Pascal or the 19th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. In fact, everyone had their own version of the catchphrase about coincidences with similar meanings, but none of them was the one who said "accidents are not random."
There is also a version that this idea belongs to the Chinese philosopher Confucius. She is already closer to the truth - the proverb was really born in China. However, Confucius has nothing to do with it, he lived a couple of centuries earlier than the author of the famous saying.
"Accidents are not accidental" - who actually said this phrase?
The history of topics is remarkable because we cannot recreate events with absolute certainty. We cannot andclaim exactly who said "accidents are not accidental". The search for the author of this aphorism is complicated by the fact that at different times these words were uttered in one form or another by many great minds. However, historical data indicate that the author of the quote "accidents are not accidental" is Chuang Tzu, a great Chinese thinker who lived in the 4th century BC. And although very little information about this philosopher has been preserved, these are rather subjective sources (memoirs and biographies), and there are practically no reliable materials with data about him, some of the sayings of Chuang Tzu have survived to this day. This also applies to the question of who said "accidents are not accidental." This phrase has a deep meaning, which we will talk about later.
What else is the author of the quote "accidents are not accidental" famous for?
Besides this aphorism, Chuang Tzu is the author of many other philosophical statements. These include stories about a master who dreamed that he became a butterfly, as well as a dialogue between Zhuang Tzu and the envoys of the ruler, who brought the order to attract the philosopher to public service. An aphorism that if you steal a hook from a belt, you will be executed, and if you steal a kingdom, you will be crowned. It was first expressed by this Chinese thinker.
Analogues of the famous aphorism
The concept of chance appeared when people made their first attempts to understand the nature of the events and their influence on the fate of a person. It is not surprising that almost every one of the great minds(not only philosophers, but also scientists and artists) of all times and peoples, there will definitely be a statement about this concept.
There are many aphorisms about accidents. Some authors are well-known, while others remain in the shadows. Let us recall the popular expressions about accidents, which are close in meaning to the phrase "accidents are not accidental".
The ancient Greek philosopher Democritus wrote: "Events seem to be random, the causes of which we do not know." These words reflect the basic philosophical concepts: chance and necessity, where chance is considered an unknown necessity.
One of the greatest French philosophers of the 18th century Voltaire expressed a similar idea, saying that it is customary to call any action for which we do not see the root cause or do not understand it.
A similar opinion was shared by Franz Kafka, who called chance only a reflection of the limits of knowledge.
French mathematician Blaise Pascal said that only trained minds make random discoveries.
The famous Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud wrote that nothing is accidental, everything has a root cause.
Leo Tolstoy was sure that there are no accidents, rather, a person creates his own destiny than meets it.
An aphorism about this philosophical concept, belonging to an unknown mathematician, was heard in the Soviet film "The Most Charming and Attractive": "Accident is a special case of regularity."
Each of the above aphorisms has a similar semantic meaningwith the words of the Chinese thinker Chuang Tzu, so there is nothing surprising in the fact that his statement is also attributed to other philosophers, writers and scientists.
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