REPUBLIC OF BENIN

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UNIVERSITY OF ABOMEY-CALAVI
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TBC AFRICA USA
GENERAL PRESENTATION OF MODULE
COMPLETION
MODULE : I

TOPIC
The sense of randomness in the human
existence

Presented by
Jean Baptiste AHISSOU

Under the supervision of

Jacques DJOSSOUDAN

October 2023

0
 DEDICATION
I dedicate this memory to:

 my late father Basile H.S. AHISSOU in recognition of the efforts made

over the years to provide me with a quality education.

 my mother Martine DANSOU for her love, tenderness and advice which
enabled me to adapt quickly to the realities of life.

i
 AKNOLEDGMENTACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is important to remember that this work would not have been possible
without the considerable involvement and tremendous support of a number
ofseveral individuals and institutions. I would like to express my sincere
gratitude to them allall of them.

Firstly, I would like to express my sincere thanks to God for the life He he
has given to me and for His his unceasing benevolence in my life.

Secondly, I would like to express my gratitude to Misters Julien EDOU

and Clement AGADJA, Coaches at TBC, and the administration of TBC for his
their willingness to lead this research project and for his their invaluable
guidance.

Thirdly, I would like to thank all those who gave me their valuable
support, and all those who agreed to read these pages.

Fourthly, my thanks go to all thoseeveryone who contributed, in one a

way or another, to our demanding training.

Fifthly, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Jeanne d'Arc

AHISSOU, Arnaud AHISSOU, Pélagie AHISSOU, all members of the
AHISSOU family, my nieces and nephews, for their prayers and closeness to
me.

Sixthly, I can't fail to express my gratitude to my classmates at TBC for

these moments spent together.

Finally, I would like to thank all the people whose names I may have
omitted and who helped me in any way.

ii
CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: FOR THE NOTIONAL CLARIFICATION

1.1. Randomness
1.2. Existence
1.3. Related notions of randomness

CHAPTER 2: RANDOMNESS

2.1. As live category

2.2. As action category

CHAPTER 3: THE QUESTION OF THE TIME IN THE RANDOMNESS

EVENT AND THE MEANS OF CONTROL OR REDUCTION

3.1. Randomness and the time

3.2. Means of control of randomness

3.3. Means of reduction of randomness

CHAPTER 4: A FAITH AS A SUBTERFUGE TO REDUCE AND TO

CONTROL RANDOM EVENT

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

iii
 INTRODUCTION

The topic of randomness is one of the interest interests solved discretely

by the thinkers. Any human being acts to achieve his goals. Better, he sets plans
to move from one step to another, one idea to another. Unexpected events come
to disorganize the majority of human desiredesires, either to provide him with
quick satisfaction, or to cancel all his desiredesires. Since human being want
wants to explain every phenomena phenomenon despite his incapacity, he starts
looking for the source of the unexpected without been being able to grab it.
Randomness is therefore seen as a good sign by some and a bad sign by
otherothers. There is a need to know how this randomness that disorganizthe e
some of human projects, contribute efficiently to maintain the humanity in
human being.
CHAPTER 1: FOR THE NOTIONAL CLARIFICATION

1.1. Randomness

Any things are his scientific definition such as randomness. A term

‘‘randomness’’ back to ancient Rome in the craps. In this game, fate is cast by
the bet with the expression “Aleaalea jacta est”. LuckThe luck interfere
interferes in this operation because the bet can success succeed or it can fail. In
all cases, it’s talking about randomness. According to Marcel Conche in his
reference book called L’aléatoire, the term ‘‘randomness’’ is define defined by
the thing. Marcel Conche defines aleatory as "that which will happen, or that
which happens but has not yet happened, in the other words, a future event to be
fulfilled, or a present event being fulfilled but not yet accomplished".
Randomness applies to facts, phenomena, events and things inabout relation to
the living being in its current existence. The notion is used to refer to the result
or aftermath of a thing, to the fact that we don't know exactly how it will turn
out, what will come of it, and what image it will give. Randomness therefore
applies to a present event, or to a future or fulfilling event, the completion of
which is not known in advance. When we speak of randomness, we are not
referring to the past, "because what has been accomplished is no longer
random".

1.2. Existence

Every human being comes into existence to exist and to leave existence.
Existence" is defined as the period from birth to death. Man is born, grows and
realizes himself. In the end, he dies. This entire period is defined as existence.

1.3. Related notions of randomness

 Many concepts are related of to the term of randomness. They are:
uncertainty, chance, the possible and the probable.

Indeed, uncertainty refers to that which is not fixed, that which is not
determined in advance, and that whose accuracy or value is not established in
advance. An accomplished fact takes place on the margins of certainty and
uncertainty. As in the case of randomness, a difficulty in predicting can be
observed in the uncertain. If the finality of an event is random, it's because we
don't know what the outcome will be. The outcome of a competition is also
uncertain, because it is not a foregone conclusion. For example, the result of
multiplying 123456 by 78 is not random, since it is a given and invariable from
all eternity, and, according to Conche, "there is no randomness in the eternal".
It's certain that this result existsThis result certainly exists. However, Conche
finds that this result is random. For him, the notions "certain" and "uncertain"
are evoked by allusion to a fact. But "random" can be evoked by reference to the
result of such a fact. So, the “certain” or the “uncertain” is pronounced in a
discussion where the outcome of the fact is not known in advance. Conche
evokes this by saying that "we say of a discourse that it is certain or uncertain,
we do not say of a discourse that it is random". It's what the discourse refers to
that is random.

The randomness of an event depends absolutely on its possibility. Conche

puts it this way: "to To be random, an event must first be possible, in the sense
of a physical possibility". Thus, an event that does not have the potential to
occur cannot be qualified as random. Jean-Pierre Fortin espouses this content of
possibility as a condition for the occurrence of randomness in events, when he
states: "For an event to be random, it must also be possible in the physical sense
of the term”. It is therefore the possibility of the fact that makes an event
random. The bergsonian perspective that "the possible is the combined effect of
reality once it has appeared and of a device that throws it back" further explains
this Conchean conception. From impossibility to possibility, there's a good
margin of degrees of randomness, not of possibilities: more or more random,
less or less random. We're not talking in terms of: less possible, very
impossible. Possibility expresses a kind of limit. For example, it is highly
random that the 5 side sides of the dice will come up after a throw; this is not
impossible. It's possible because there's a side marked "5" on the dice. If there
wasn't, there's no chance of this face appearing. The certainty of the non-
appearance of this face would already be established.
CHAPTER 2: RANDOMNESS

2.1. As live category

Randomness is always present at every level of human experience. Not

only does randomness mark the end of all human action, but it also figures
prominently at the beginning and in the course ofthroughout all human action.
This is why, in the conchean perspective, "action bears the character of
randomness not only in its outcome, but in each of its moments". This is because
uncertainty is present at every moment of life. The person who begins a project
is never entirely certain of continuing it, let alone seeing it through to
completion. In short, randomness is the category of life because it rhymes with
life. It is present at the very beginning of life. It follows the course of life. At the
end of life, it is still present.

2.3. As action category

Anyone who begins a project can never be sure of continuing it, let alone
seeing it through to completion. Since the fragility of life is inherent in all
existence, every undertaking bears within itself and within its author a real mark
of randomness. Sitting down and thinking about standing up, for example, the
certainty of being able to stand up is seen after the act. In this way, "the act
teaches potency", and allows randomness to emerge absolutely as the "category
of action", according to Conche. In the same way, many unapprehendable
factors can be observed in the experience of every human being. The
renunciation of undertaking at the risk of succeeding or failing does not prevent
us from always depending on random events.
CHAPTER 3: THE QUESTION OF THE TIME IN THE RANDOMNESS
EVENT AND THE MEANS OF CONTROL OR REDUCTION

3.1. Randomness and the time

Time is a remarkable reality in which randomness is identified and
positioned. Everything that is, unfolds at a given moment. In his book named
Being and Time, Martin Heidegger states that time is "the highest power of all
that is [...] and the true way to consider any being is to consider it in its time,
that is, as a vanishing moment". Time is in all being, and all being is also in
time. In an indefinite frame appears the irreversible unfolding of existences in
their change, of events and phenomena in their succession. Marcel Conche
refers to time as the succession of "nows". The unique unfolding and ultimate
end of all phenomena can only be observed within a duration. Time never
repeats itself, and everything that takes place in it manifests itself in a unique
wayuniquely manifests itself. If there were a phenomenon of non-repetition, it
would be time. Although there were days before the days of our existence, and
there will be days after, the moment is never the same. Conche asserts that "if
there are repetitions, they are never identical repetitions. The moment will never
return". Time is therefore not unique, and every event, fact, action or
phenomenon related to iuniquelyt unfolds in a unique way. After this moment,
another will follow, and no one can predict the reality it will bring. It's in time
that the randomness of events becomes apparent, and the very course of time is
random.

3.2. Means of reduction of randomness

If everything has a solution, then randomness can be mastered, according
to Marcel Conche. There are three methods for this operation. Although it's
impossible to eradicate, neanitize or definitively eliminate it from existence, it is
nevertheless possible to act on the randomness of events. The first method of
reducing risk involves renouncing long-term actions. This facilitates risk
minimization. Unlike long-term actions, which, as Conche puts it, "involve the
most risk-taking", short-term actions allow us to massively distance ourselves
from eventualities. Short-term programs minimize uncertain events. Even if you
act repeatedly over a short period of timeperiod, you end up increasing your
actions. Still, in the vein of reducing the randomness of events in life, another
method is deep contemplation before making a decisiondeciding. This consists
in concentrating oneself entirely on a thought in order toto mature it. This
withdrawal into oneself, this isolation from all external factors, enables us to
think through facts and events, to come up with the right decisions that will lead
to less risky actions. Conche speaks of "living in seclusion, hidden away,
silently, just living". A third method of reducing randomness is the "personal
ethic" of risking, if and only if this is the condition for achieving one's good
ends. According to the author of L'aléatoire, it is not necessary to take a risk that
does not promise.

3.3. Means of mastering of randomness

There are six steps to reducing the randomness of life's events. The
mastery of randomness consists in of living the a deep life rather than the a life
of action. In other words, we need to place "the center centre of our existence
elsewhere than in action and the results of an action or the small satisfactions of
life". The first is "immediacy", in which the contemplative experiencer is
directly connected to the world. Global Intuition" is the second state, enabling
the experiencer to unify with the cosmos. It's a stage in which the human being
brings together all his components to form a unity with the universe. This is
followed by the "contemplative, non-active attitude", a way of welcoming the
world in which we live. It's not a question of turning towards divine reality, but
rather a moment when concern for the cosmos takes precedence. The fourth
state is that of "extra-rational intuition", which consists of misology, the
voluntary abandonment of reason. This means not rationalizing everything in
thought, but adopting a phenomenological attitude that allows the contemplated
object to be discovered, since "any rational explanation misses what it explains".
The fifth state is essentially that of "ecstasy", a disposition to be outside oneself
to let the world express itself in all its absoluteness. The sixth and final state of
this mystical experience of the world, unconnected to the transcendent, is
"silence". Indeed, this silence enables us to remain outside writing, which is an
action, and therefore far from the world of randomness. All these states are
experienced in time and space, but in an authentic present, in the "mystical
reduction" that keeps us in the present so as toto be entirely at the offering of the
present, in ignorance of the past and the future, and thus in the beyond of
randomness.
CHAPTER 4: A FAITH AS A SUBTERFUGE TO REDUCE AND TO
CONTROL RANDOMNESS EVENT

The fact that the events that occur in the course of our lives are essentially
of an absolutely random nature is no excuse for us to avoid projecting ourselves
into the future. Seen from the angle of fatality, the randomness inherent in
nature and in all naturalall-natural events can keep us in a state of indecision.
The refusal to take risks or make decisions, or the abstention from designing
projects, can be read in human beings as the fact that their plans may or may not
come to fruition. All these palliatives do help to overcome the randomness that
pervades everything in the universe. But above all, one reality seems
fundamental. This is faith, faith in oneself and faith in one's projects. Jean-Noël
Dumont describes faith as "the passage from the possible to the effective". It's
the conscious, honest trust we place in possibilities, with a view to movingto
move from illusion to reality. With it, any project whose realization is seen to be
possible can become a reality. Although every undertaking is fraught with
uncertainty, faith helps convert doubt into confidence. It's certain that no one
canNo one can certainly be sure of what tomorrow will be like, of what will
happen in the future, of what will happen after this second. But faith gives us
hope in the face of uncertainty. It gives us the self-confidence to see decisions
through to completion. Having faith means leaving the possibilities of reality for
the reality of the possible. The completion of a project, an undertaking or a
human construction necessarily requires self-confidence. Without it, the project
may not be effective. Self-confidence and self-belief are what make things real.
Without belief in one's potential, possibilities can never be made real for a
subject. Faith, then, is the very means that enables us not to see the randomness
of things in terms of fatality, but to convert the way we look at things, leading
them to what they are capable of being. It makes it possible to foresee only in
terms of one's own capacities, and to frame one's own intuitions.
 CONCLUSION

Randomness is ontological to all life and events in the universe. It

constitutes the category of life and that of action. It rhymes with time. As
nothing is insurmountable in existence, randomness can be reduced or mastered
in events. The fact that every phenomenon and event in the universe has its own
character of achievement and non-achievement means that randomness can be
seen as a real fact. Its intervention in the world of human beings, and its
individual variant perception, allow us to see it, after all, as a psychological
property. In order toTo prevent it from being regarded as inevitable, faith is
offered as a subterfuge for its mastery and reduction to facts and phenomena.
Not everything in the universe is determined.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

- Conche, M. (1992), Time and Destiny. PUF. Paris

- Conche, M. (1999), L’Aléatoire (The Random), PUF, Paris.
- Fortin, J.-P. (1999), M. Conche, L’aléatoire. PUF. Collection Perspectives
Critiques, Paris.
- Heidegger, M. (1986), Being and Time. Gallimard. Paris.
- Bergson, H. (2013), La Pensée et le Mouvant (Thought and motion). PUF,
Paris.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION......................................................................................................i

AKNOLEDGMENT...........................................................................................ii

CONTENTS........................................................................................................iii

INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................1

CHAPTER 1: FOR THE NOTIONAL CLARIFICATION............................2

1.1. Randomness..............................................................................................2

1.2. Existence...................................................................................................2

1.3. Related notions of randomness.................................................................2

CHAPTER 2: RANDOMNESS..........................................................................5

2.1. As live category........................................................................................5

2.3. As action category....................................................................................5

CHAPTER 3: THE QUESTION OF THE TIME IN THE RANDOMNESS

EVENT AND THE MEANS OF CONTROL OR REDUCTION..................6

3.1. Randomness and the time............................................................................6

3.2. Means of reduction of randomness.............................................................6

3.3. Means of mastering of randomness.............................................................7

CHAPTER 4: A FAITH AS A SUBTERFUGE TO REDUCE AND TO

CONTROL RANDOMNESS EVENT...........................................................9

CONCLUSION..................................................................................................10

BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................a

TABLE OF CONTENTS....................................................................................b