The philosophical term, accident has been employed throughout the history of philosophy with several distinct meanings.

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 etcetera.

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.

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 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", "electrum" and "Mustafa" are none of them properties, and therefore excluded from accident-hood.

In relation to the second, an accidental property is a specific subset of properties. Some members of the set of properties, it is argued, are essential (or necessary) to the object. In the case of gold, the classical view is that properties such as "Atomic Number 79" are such properties. These sorts of properties do not fall into the category of "accident".

On the other hand, there are some properties which are argued to be non-essential to the object. In the case of gold, the classical view is that properties such as "yellow" and "high value" are examples.

Properties which are also contingent are called accidental properties. Therefore, an accident of gold is "high value."

This philosophical usage is defined more technically in modal logic, and due to an increasing focus on lignusitic rigor in the last century, has been sharply separated from many other senses of the word "accident".

The reader should further note that two different philosophical positions radically effect 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).

See also

• Essence
• Modal logic

Metaphysics | Modal logic | Philosophical concepts | Philosophical terminology

Akzidenz (Philosophie) | Акциденция | Accidens | Aksidente (pilosopiya)