Are there actually people who believe there's no such thing as coincidence? What exactly do people mean when they say that?

I think you have to define what you mean by "coincidence" in order to get some spirited discussion here.

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Originally posted by jusork:
Are there actually people who believe there's no such thing as coincidence? What exactly do people mean when they say that?

How exactly is anyone expected to know how exactly! "people" mean when they say something about anything?????

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Originally posted by jusork:
Are there actually people who believe there's no such thing as coincidence?

Yes, I'm sure there are.

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What exactly do people mean when they say that?

I can't say for sure what other people mean, exactly, but I imagine they mean everything happens for a reason, nothing happens by chance, etc., and that no matter how crazy or outlandish a thing is, they believe there is always an explanation.

I think Lexi explained it right...personally I think some things just are a coincidence...The other day I called my pal Margaret..she said wow...we must have esp because she was just about to call me...ESP?? or COINCIDENCE?

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The other day I called my pal Margaret..she said wow...we must have esp because she was just about to call me...ESP?? or COINCIDENCE?

Neither, Kitty.
Margaret's a quick thinker, and knew she owed you a call.

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Originally posted by Elexina:

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Originally posted by jusork:
Are there actually people who believe there's no such thing as coincidence?

Yes, I'm sure there are.

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What exactly do people mean when they say that?

I can't say for sure what other people mean, exactly, but I imagine they mean everything happens for a reason, nothing happens by chance, etc., and that no matter how crazy or outlandish a thing is, they believe there is always an explanation.

The world view that there is a connectedness to everything -- that all events happen for some reason -- is what's commonly known as magical thinking, and it includes the denial of coincidence or purely chance events. Much has been written about this in the literature of skepticism and evolutionary psychology.

It's the nature of coincidence that we notice the hits more than the misses. It's what our wonderful brains do so well. According to Michael Shermer, author of How We Believe, those early hominids who were best at finding patterns (standing upwind of game animals is bad for the hunt, cow manure is good for the crops) left behind the most offspring. We are their descendants. Of course not all patterns are meaningful but discovering a meaningless pattern (painting animals on a cave wall before a hunt) usually does no harm and may even do some good in reducing anxiety in uncertain environments.

Thus magical thinking seems to be hard-wired into our brains as a legacy of our evolution, and goes a long way towards explaining religion.

There is an article on coincidences in the The Skeptic's Dictionary, along with links to other articles.

Yeah, that sounds about right, Prof. Thanks for the link. I also saw a page about coincidences which was also related to what I'm working on. A story about a character thinks he's causing coincidences around him because he seems to be seeing so many. I think most people don't realize how likely coincidences are.

Thanks everyone who responded.