CONTINGENT (contingo, to touch).—(1) Occurrences dependent upon events which we cannot forecast; (2) variable possibilities under fixed law. An event, the opposite of which is possible, is contingent; an event, the opposite of which is impossible, is necessary.
| «In popular language, whatever event takes place of which we do not discern the cause why it should have happened in this manner, or at this moment, rather than another, is called a contingent event; as, for example, the falling of a leaf on a particular spot, or the turning up of a certain number when dice are thrown.» All events are, in a sense, necessary, as forming part of the universal causal nexus, but we call those contingent whose necessity we cannot trace (Taylor, Elements of Thought).— V. ARBITRARY. |
