>>13877502Take a spectrum, choose a point anywhere on it, that will be your base point. Then, pick something that falls on that spectrum, and see where it lies relative to the base point. The opposite thing will be a thing that also falls on that spectrum, is at the same distance from the base point as the original thing but on the other side.
For example, here's an adjective: "hot". It lies on the spectrum of adjectives describing temperature, so we'll choose that. Now we choose our base point, something that we will measure "hot" against: for example, "just right". The opposite of "hot" will then be an adjective that describes a temperature at the same distance from "just right" as "hot" is, but instead of being above it, it's below it. "Cold" fits that description, therefore "cold" is the opposite of "hot" (if "cold" didn't exist, you could always invent an adjective that meant the opposite of "hot" and use that)
t. had philosophy lessons a long time ago in uni
