Challenge of Chance

Klaas Landsman (1963) obtained his PhD in Theoretical High-Energy Physics from the University of Amsterdam in 1989 and was a research fellow at the University of Cambridge from 1989-1997. He has been a Full Professor of Mathematical Physics since 2001, currently holding this chair at Radboud University.Ellen van Wolde (1954) studied in Nijmegen, Rome and Bologna. She was Full Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Tilburg (1992-2008), and since 2009 she has held the chair of Textual Sources of Judaism and Christianity at Radboud University. She is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), and is a member of its Executive Board.

“This collection discusses the nature of chance, randomness, accident, and related concepts from a variety of scientific and humanistic perspectives. … Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; researchers and faculty.” (J. D. Martin, Choice, Vol. 54 (5), January, 2017)

• Introduction (K. Landsman, E. van Wolde, N. ter Berg).- Conceptual and Historical Reflections on Chance (C. Lüthy, C. R. Palmerino).- The Mathematical Foundations of Randomness (S. A. Terwijn).- Randomness and the Madness of Crowds (U. Weitzel, S. Rosenkranz).- Randomness and the Games of Science (J. J. Goeman).- The Fine-Tuning Argument: Exploring the Improbability of our Existence (K. Landsman).- Views on Chance in the Hebrew Bible: Job and Genesis 1 (E. van Wolde).- Happiness and Invulnerability from Chance: Western and Eastern Perspectives (J.M.M.H. Thijssen, D. R. Loy).- The Experience of Coincidence: an Integrated Psychological and Neurocognitive Perspective (M. van Elk, K. Friston, H. Bekkering).- When Chance Strikes: Random Mutational Events as a Cause of Birth Defects and Cancer (H. G. Brunner).- Chance, Variation and the Nature of Causality in Ecological Communities (H. de Kroon, E. Jongejans).- The Size of History: Coincidence, Counterfactuality and Questions of Scale in History (O. Hekster).- Accidental Harm under (Roman) Civil Law (C. Jansen).- Taming Chaos: Chance and Variability in the Language Sciences (R. van Hout, Pieter Muysken).- & nbsp;Biographies.