§ 5. Relative and Absolute Terms.--Some words go in couples or groups:
like 'up-down,' 'former-latter,' 'father-mother-children,'
'hunter-prey,' 'cause-effect,' etc. These are called Relative Terms,
and their nature, as explained by Mill, is that the connotations of the
members of such a pair or group are derived from the same set of facts
(the _fundamentum relationis_). There cannot be an 'up' without a
'down,' a 'father' without a 'mother' and 'child'; there cannot be a
'hunter' without something hunted, nor 'prey' without a pursuer. What
makes a man a 'hunter' is his activities in pursuit; and what turns a
chamois into 'prey' is its interest in these activities. The meaning of
both terms, therefore, is derived from the same set of facts; neither
term can be explained without explaining the other, because the relation
between them is connoted by both; and neither can with propriety be used
without reference to the other, or to some equivalent, as 'game' for
'prey.'

In contrast with such Relative Terms, others have been called Absolute
or Non-relative. Whilst 'hunter' and 'prey' are relative, 'man' and
'chamois' have been considered absolute, as we may use them without
thinking of any special connection between their meanings. However, if
we believe in the unity of Nature and in the relativity of knowledge
(that is, that all knowledge depends upon comparison, or a perception of
the resemblances and differences of things), it follows that nothing can
be completely understood except through its agreements or contrasts with
everything else, and that all terms derive their connotation from the
same set of facts, namely, from general experience. Thus both man and
chamois are animals; this fact is an important part of the meaning of
both terms, and to that extent they are relative terms. 'Five yards' and
'five minutes' are very different notions, yet they are profoundly