CHAPTER 4
NECESSARY AND SUFFICIENT CONDITIONS
Necessary and sufficient conditions help us understand and explain the connections between concepts, and how different situations are related to each other.
4.1 NECESSARY CONDITIONS
To say that X is a necessary condition for Y is to say that the occurrence of X is required for the occurrence of Y (sometimes also called an essential condition). In other words, if there is no X, Y would not exist. Examples:
- Having four sides is necessary for being a square.
- Infection by HIV is necessary for developing AIDS.
- Having the intention to kill someone or to cause grievous bodily harm is necessary for murder.
To show that X is not a necessary condition for Y, we simply find a situation where Y is present but X is not. Examples:
- Eating meat is not necessary for living a healthy life. There are plenty of healthy vegetarians.
- Being a land animal is not necessary for being a mammal. Whales are mammals, but they live in the sea.
In daily life, we often talk about necessary conditions, maybe not explicitly. When we say combustion requires oxygen, this is equivalent to saying that the presence of oxygen is a necessary condition for combustion.
Note that a single situation can have more than one necessary condition. To be a good pianist, it is necessary to have good finger technique. But this is not enough. Another necessary condition is being good at interpreting piano pieces.
4.2 SUFFICIENT CONDITIONS
If X is a sufficient condition for Y, this ...
