Necessity, contingency, possibility | Philosophy Glossary

What do 'Necessity', 'contingency', and 'possibility' mean in philosophy? How can we define them, and how do they relate to one another? You'll know in under 5 minutes of this Philosophy Glossary explainer!

More Philosophy Glossary:

00:00 - Intro
00:20 - Modes of truth
00:39 - Necessary truths
01:00 - Metaphysics & theology
01:53 - Contingency
02:25 - Possibility
03:28 - Inter-definability
04:39 - Wrap-up

If there’s a topic you’d like to see covered, leave me a comment below.

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#Necessity #contingency #possibility

[TheFamousMockingbird]

How does the concept of necessity in a pure philosophical sense in its usage also kind of work into false necessity. Do these ideas overlap? or is one a development from the other (false necessity is derivative from necessity) and also does necessitarian thought follow other lines of logic? that might be worded strangely, I took several philosophy classes in university but was a poli-sci major. Philosophy classes by far made the largest impact on me, I really liked the way the courses were structured and that when writing for it there is more room for inputting your own analysis, questions were never a right or wrong binary and was really the only time I could do what I would consider traditional higher education type learning, where it really is just there for improvement, to understand the world and societies better etc, instead of a job training for 60k. Looking forward to watching more of your videos

[megamatt]

love your videos, they’re a big help!

[augustryden]

If John believes the world is predetermined, does that make you sitting down "necessary" or does his belief of whether you are sitting down voluntarily or involuntarily become contingent on his metaphysical belief of how the world works?

I am assuming the example is mainly just to illustrate what these kinds of truths are, but I wonder if the type of truth you end up believing any particular thing to be is depending on metaphysics and epistemic beliefs?

Also I feel like contingent can be viewed as another way to say "depends on" or something like that.

Thanks for the video!

[marcel]

I still have a little problem to fully understand the idea standing behind "contingency" and the realation between neccesity and contingency. Can i say that something is "necessary" or "necessarily true" for other event to happen and A is "contingent on" B means that the logical value of A is dependant on logical value of B? In this sense i feel as if "contingency" is very similar to "dependancy". BUT in 2:13 You gave an example that made me a little confused. In this meaning contingent truth is almost the same as possible truth. I'm standing but i could have been sitting. I'm standing but its possible for me to sit down. The difference between these two, as i feel it, is i could do something if i want to and it is just possible for me to do it but its not connected with my decission/will.

[purefake]

Great video ☺️ What's your thought on our universe?do you think it's a brute contingent fact or a necessary existence which explains the universe?

[olgacooperman]

Love the energy as much as the content

[felixsanchez]

Hey I was wondering if you could a follow video on this because I find that in the philosophy of religion literature it may apply elsewhere. That notion of metaphysical possibility are at times understood differently. To which I was wondering if you might be able to clear up how it works given that some people take something’s to be metaphysically possible while others don’t. So it seems a bit tricky in establishing what would make something metaphysically possible.

[antoniomoyal]

Useful thank you. But for me metaphysics is about being. So necessity, contingency and possibility of existing. Closely related to truth, yes, as truth is a trascendental, as all being can be said to be true.

I would take your view more as a logical explanation of necessity.

But anyways thank you.

[davsamp]

An important adjustment:
Contingency May only refer to what is Not epistemically necessary, which is to mean, that although my Cat is orange, It could be Black, as all Cats are Not orange necessarily.
But that my Cat is in fact orange (If i Had one:') ), is No Contingent Matter, of which a Truth could be Contingent, because in fact, and Not solely epistemically, Truth can never be Contingent, If understood by that possibly false. As it is true, it is Not false, so never could it be or have been otherwise.
Ontological contingency is Impossible, for it is contradictory.
Epistemic contingency is possible only to the extent of meaning by it the destinction between Universal and particular matters. For of course, no epistemic Matter could be possibly Contingent, as they also are ontological 'objects'.

To illustrate this subtle Point, one must only realize what is possibly meant by saying, that Error and Falsety do both exist and are Made. For of course, one could never mean it ontologically, as Error is nothing other then contradiction, which is the Essence of Impossiblity, and what is Impossible is Not. So, how would one possibly Talk about what is Not? Clearly only, in what might be suggested at as epistemic, as it is our thoughts and judgments, that can 'have' such Qualities.

Considering this, one might reasonably doubt the usefullness of the term contingency at all, for all is necessary, Rendering this Term also redundant, as it only means: What is, is. Therefore, what is true, is true. Nothing above and beyond it, as If Ananke herself holds sway over it.
The retain their use, one might therefore only use them for Analytic purpouses, which i tried with this Message right from the start.
The lengthy walk of words was only necessary, die to the Error in Most peoples thought, which i hopefully have resolved, albight the shortness at Last.

All the best to you.

[muhammadshahedkhanshawon]

Off topic: Do you think contingent facts can be explained by a Necessary existence?