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coincidence versus luck.

might not have anything to do with philosophy atall, but i was really curious as to whether somebody could define the difference between luck and coincidence for me? :smile:

Reply 1

cpj1987

dictionary.com

Luck - the force that seems to operate for good or ill in a person's life, as in shaping circumstances, events, or opportunities.

Coincidence- a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance.

So luck is a more general thing, coincidence has to involve two variables.

Reply 2

OneThreeThreeSeven

if so, then how do you tell when something is luck, or coincidence?

Reply 3

cpj1987

I don't know. I don't think you can - from those definitions at least.

Reply 4

mashw

Luck is probability taken personally, and coincidence is acknowledgement of that.

Reply 5

jaw

luck is just a word used when fortunate or desirable events occur - eg winning the lottery with a ticket you found.

coincidence is when multiple events just happen to occur, sometimes in a way that could be percieved as intentional, but in reality are unrelated.. eg a woman's bag breaking and someone randomly finding the ticket later on..

you can argue that it's luck in that 'you always find things like that', or coincidence 'it just happened to break and you just happened to be passing'

you can't differenciate between luck and coincidence imo, to be able to do so would probably answer some of mankind's greatest questions..

Reply 6

Dadeyemi

coincidence only refers to when multiple occurrences that are unlikely to both happen occur, luck corresponds to any chance of something or things happening.