The Philosophy of Chance, with subtitle "Literature in the Light of Empiricism" (Polish: Filozofia przypadku. Literatura w świetle empirii) is an essay by Polish author Stanisław Lem on the literary theory and the influence of literature on the modern culture. However, as literary critic Henryk Markiewicz noted, the subtitle is somewhat misleading:[1] starting with Lem's take on literary theory, the essay turns into the "General Theory of Everything": of the Universe, evolution, and culture,[2] based on a premise that chance, eventuality[3] is the universal factor.[4]
The essay was first published in 1968 by Wydawnictwo Literackie as a book of over 600 pages.
- ^ Markiewicz, p. 90
- ^ From descriptions on book covers: [1], [2]
- ^ The meanings of Polish word "przypadek", in addition to the flavor of randomness and occasion, may also be translated as "eventuality", "contingency". In fact, one of suggested translations of the title was "Philosophy of Contingency" ( Głowiński, p. 330)
- ^ Jerzy Jarzębski, An afterword to the book