"He... argues against those who hold Chance to be a cause of phenomena. "What, it has been said, is to prevent nature from acting without an aim, and without any reference to the Best? Why should not Zeus rain from necessity, and not to make the corn grow? Since the vapour, rising upwards, must become cold, and vapour chilled is water, which would descend as rain; and, because this has happened, the corn has grown. Again, if the corn in a granary is ruined by the rain, we cannot say that the final cause of the rain was the ruin of the corn, but that this ruin was accidental. ...What then prevents the organs of animals from being formed in a similar way [above]? Those things which happen to be constituted as if they were made for an express purpose persist, and are preserved because the conditions permit; but those of which this is not the case have perished, or will perish." ...he proceeds to answer it as follows:—"That this should be the case is impossible, and for this reason: these things and all things naturally generated, are always, or mostly, so generated. On the contrary, this is never seen in spontaneous or accidental cases."
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on Physics, Book II.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aristotle%3A_a_Chapter_from_the_History_of_Science
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Aristotle: a Chapter from the History of Science
Aristotle: a Chapter from the History of Science, including Analyses of Aristotle's Scientific Writings was written by George Henry Lewes and published in 1864.
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