The Ontology of Randomness

Abstract

This chapter reviews the existence of randomness, focusing on it existing in terms of what it is not, order. Included are a survey of current views and history of randomness, relevant concepts of whether something exists (ontology), how we know (epistemology), entropy, foundations of order, statistics, prediction, time, and scientific methods. Randomness is tied to determinism, and determinism becomes an issue of free will. Thus, discussions of free will cycle back to whether everything is laid out before us, but this is controversial, at best. We may only act as though there is randomness, similar to acting as though there were free will, even after being told that the universe, indeed, may be deterministic. Such a method is comparable to doing a logic proof in drawing an assumption line and displaying the consequences. Alternate worlds are referenced in which randomness may be seen in a different light.