JL wrote
"Is this word really necessary"Quinion, in "World Wide Words" quotes an author of a book on words as wondering, "Is this word really necessary?" (the word in question: jumentous--as applied to urine, "that smells like the urine of a horse".Richie offered 'nun' as another unnecessary word.I proposed Popper on 'soul', to which In a message dated 8/30/2010 3:50:33 P.M., donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx replied:"Soul" and "afterlife" may be beyond the realms of testable/falsifiable claimsSo... Is it or is it NOT necessary?
Their being, as Donal says, possibly beyond the realm of testable/falsifiable claims (i.e., sentences containing them?) would make them neither necessary nor not-necessary.
Something is necessary only given something else. If a rod turns an idle wheel, the rod is unnecessary to the mechanism. In 'The house is green in color,' I'd imagine that 'in,' and 'color'' are not necessary to the sense of the sentence. Or whatever, Nothing is necessary or unnecessary a priori. Although some think that a priori statements are necessary statements. 'Is it necessary to have this word?' is a question for the Académie Francaise. Evolutionary 'spandrels' are, I think, just for show.
Robert Paul
