chaos

Abstract

The term “chaos” has scientific relevance particularly in antiquity and in modern chaos theory. Whereas in ancient mythology and philosophy it was supposed to answer the question of the origin of the well-ordered cosmos within the framework of cosmogonies and cosmologies, the meaning of “chaos” changed significantly in modernity. In scientific and mathematical theories in particular, chaos is no longer understood as a complete disorder, but as the unpredictability of processes. This unpredictability does not mean, however, that chaotic events do not take place within the framework of the basic categories of causality and determination, but that the slightest change in the initial data leads to unpredictable changes in the further course of the process – which is why one can speak of deterministic chaos.