Quote:
Originally posted by Mr Mephisto
I didn't ignore what you said. Indeed, I further went to make five distinct suggestions.
"Arbitrary" and "necessary" are mutually exclusive by definition.
When is it necessary to make a decision on whim?
|
You made five suggestions based on this definition:
Quote:
|
If you are looking for a word to describe a choice that seems arbitrary, but is in fact necessary, you could use some of the following suggestions.
|
There is nothing
seemingly arbitrary about this decision. It really doesn't matter if you drive on the left or the right side of the road.
You've already established that "arbitrary" and "necessary" are not being used to describe the same thing in this example so it doesn't really matter if they're mutually exclusive, now does it? The idea still makes sense.
It is often necessary to make a decision where that decision can be made on a whim. Again, what about my example? It makes no difference what side of the road you drive on so that choice is arbitrary. However, it is essential (necessary) to pick some side as your convention. There is a word to describe this and it was as cool as "surreal" or "specious" (some of my favourite words!).
Now, I can understand if you don't know what this word is (no one else seems to) but that's a far cry from saying that this word doesn't exist!
Hmm, not that I want to drag this out any longer but I don't think these two words are any more contradictory than communism and democracy...