Thread: Does Everything Have an Opposite?

Left/right, up/down, bad/good, just to name a few.

How about a rock? 'Nothing' seems to be a good answer for the opposite of anything you can't think of an opposite to. If everything has an opposite then does it mean that in order to have a reality, this condition must exist?

Opposite of hot?
Cold is a lack of heat, not an opposite.
"Nothing" isn't a good answer for the opposite of anything you can't think of an opposite to, since being the "opposite" to any number of things it's not the opposite to any one of them, i.e. the relationship isn't reversible.

Originally Posted by Dywyddyr

"Nothing" isn't a good answer for the opposite of anything you can't think of an opposite to, since being the "opposite" to any number of things it's not the opposite to any one of them, i.e. the relationship isn't reversible.

How about the terms order/disorder instead?

Well they're opposites, but only for each other.

We had a similar thread on a different forum a while ago (although the OP was considerably less versed in... reality).

I came up with a few to illustrate the faults in his "thinking".

Item/ opposite.

Indian/ Chinese.
White/ yellow.
23/ 58.
Grass/ busted.

Originally Posted by Dywyddyr

Well they're opposites, but only for each other.

How about wave/particle?

Positive/negative, right/wrong, loose/tight are all states of being more or less. Can the same be said for the properties of light and just about everything else?(might as well get some science in the discussion).

I wish I thought of this earlier as it might develop into a good discussion but I'm bagged and off to the fart sack. Pick it up tomorrow.

You'll get yourself all tangled up before much longer.

Sound / silence looks like a good candidate for simple opposites. But opposite for 'noise'? Is it silence, maybe music, maybe conversation?

And what's the opposite for 'musical'? Is it silent or tuneless or cacophonous or just noisy?

I think we're right at the edge of the rabbit-hole here.

up,down,
left,right
hot,cold,
in,out
squirrel,dyw (lol)
nothing exists by itself.
entropy dictates otherwise.

Does Everything Have an Opposite?

No.

Originally Posted by zinjanthropos

Left/right, up/down, bad/good, just to name a few.

Left / Middle / Right / Backwards
Up / Down/ Straight ahead / Slightly up and to the left
Bad / Good / Indifferent / Quite nice on Sundays

The idea of opposites is a human invention. Maybe because we have bilateral symmetry?

Originally Posted by Strange

Does Everything Have an Opposite?

No.

Originally Posted by zinjanthropos

Left/right, up/down, bad/good, just to name a few.

Left / Middle / Right / Backwards
Up / Down/ Straight ahead / Slightly up and to the left
Bad / Good / Indifferent / Quite nice on Sundays

The idea of opposites is a human invention. Maybe because we have bilateral symmetry?

although he can correct me if i am wrong..

this isn't a discussion on whether opposites exist alone..
there are many different degree's of any given situtation, but that doesn't mean there is no such thing as the opposite..

I think the question would have to become, What defines 'opposite'?

from Wiki:
---------------
Opposite may refer to:

• Opposite (semantics), a word that means the opposite of a word
• In botany opposite is a kind of arrangement of leaves
• Additive inverse, in mathematics, taking the negative ("opposite") of a number
• Opposite category or dual category, in category theory
• An opposite hitter, also an opposite, is a position in volleyball
• Opposites (album), by Scottish alternative rock band Biffy Clyro, released on 28 January 2013
• The Opposites, Dutch rap duo

[edit] See also

• Opposition (disambiguation)
• Contrary (disambiguation)

-------------------
so if we are not carfull we can dismiss a thing as not being opposite because of point of reference..ie one person is saying it is opposite when he is thinking catagoricly and the other is saying it is not opposite cause that person is thinking mathmaticly..

<a scottish band singing about leaves?>

Originally Posted by NMSquirrel

this isn't a discussion on whether opposites exist alone..
there are many different degree's of any given situtation, but that doesn't mean there is no such thing as the opposite..

Good point. I didn't think of it that way. I guess some things must have opposites otherwise we wouldn't have the word.

The opposite of "something with an opposite" is "something without an opposite" ...

I'm not taking a stance, just being inquisitive. Could we exist in a world where there was only good (no opposite)? How would we measure it? Just wondering if it means anything to our reality or whether a reality could exist without opposites?

What's the opposite of singularity or does one exist?

I believe that 'opposite' is not a physical concept; its more like mathematics. The ideas of numbers require abstract thinking; you cannot physically define a '1'.
In the same way, the concept of opposite is abstract in that we only use it to associate characteristics that give us meaning.

Using the hot/cold as example: there is neither hot nor cold if we define a materials temperature characteristic in terms of the amount of kinetic energy held by its particles. But we use 'hot' and 'cold' since it gives more meaning to the everyday observation of a temperature characteristic. The idea of 'opposite' indicates that we are talking about the extreme ends of the characteristic we are observing.

The opposite, therefor, only exists if we are observing a quality that has extreme ends; these 'ends' are the opposite pairs you are looking for.

The real question would be whether or not you can define a characteristic, e.g. temperature, in such a way that you can create an opposite pair.

a circle can have opposites

You could say a rock has an opposite, in that it is hard and the opposite is soft. It is jagged and the opposite is smooth etc. Opposites usually come in the form of dualism; that is there is a descriptive narrative behind explaining reality in terms of the human senses and understanding from experience.