Wikipedia defines accidentalism as “the belief that human action is governed by chance or randomness, and that there are no significant patterns in reality”. According to Wikipedia: “accidentalism (in philosophy), a position that history can happen by chance or randomness.” This sounds like a pretty good definition of what accidentalism is.
The most common philosophy of accidentalism, and therefore its most common philosophical definition, is the view that human action is governed by purely chance or randomness. It is necessary conditions, such as social contact, that allow us to define our actions and motivations, and thus give rise to culture and civilization. For philosophers such as Aristotle, chance and necessity are necessary for societies to function as they do. The necessary conditions for such a society would be a political economy based on public goods produced for the general welfare of all citizens, and an infrastructure capable of supporting the needs of all its citizens, as well as a distribution system based on equal opportunity and free enterprise.
Some philosophers such as Leo Tolstoy rejected any real need for a supreme being. He claimed that philosophy could provide answers to important questions through the use of inductive argumentation. He further claimed that this argument could be used to demonstrate that all necessary conditions for a society to function perfectly are already present in a society and are hence not necessary to be altered. Wikipedia, however, provides several citations to support the idea that teleology has a place in ethical theories, as well as quoting several philosophers who support the viability of teleology. Teleology is therefore not a fringe idea and its role in ethics and sociology cannot be ignored.