[German version] A. Concept The concept of necessity (ἀνάγκη/ anánkē, Latin necessitas) is documented as early as pre-Socratic texts, where it refers both to normative bonds and to physical regularities. In the philosophy of the classical and Hellenistic periods, as well as of Late Antiquity, it was limited to physical, logical and to some degree metaphysical necessity. Detel, Wolfgang (Frankfurt/Main) [German version] B. Pre-Socratics In pre-Socratic texts, the concept of necessity is used without distinction for cosmic regularities and for normative bonds …

[German version] A. Concept The concept of causality does not begin to take shape until the Middle Ages (Lat. causalitas), and is not attested in ancient literature. But, from the beginning, the philosophers and scientists of antiquity reflected on the forms that can be taken by the chain of events (causality in its broadest sense). A particular topic of discussion was the extent to which events in the cosmos are causally linked (principle of causality). Detel, Wolfgang (Frankfurt/Main) [German version] B. Pre-Socratics In early Greek thought, material objects and things are …