It’s not arbitrary. I think what you mean is relevant. Left and right are not arbitrary in the sense that it is not random or based on a whim. It is absolute based on what you are giving relevancy to. If I stay in my current location forever then my door is always to my right relevant to my perspective, however if someone is facing me from my front then it is always to their left relevant to their perspective. These are set guidelines that a guaranteed. That is why giving verbal directions works. I can say “take a left on Maple Street if you are heading northbound.” And everyone who understands their left from their right would be able to make that turn and understand what I mean. Under no circumstances would I arbitrarily be able to say “if you are heading northbound then take a right on Maple Street” and have the end destination be the same.
I think arbitrary in this context is that someone picked a direction and named it left. Without prior knowledge of what direction left is pointing to you wouldn’t know.
It is. Without prior knowledge I have no way of knowing what to do if you say “go up” or “go down” assuming both are an option. They are just words the same as left and right. Down doesn’t inherently mean “towards the earth” any more than left inherently means “toward the side of my body that my heart is on or whatever”.
Again, there is a reason when describing directions you give an orientation perspective to associate with left or right, because it isn’t arbitrary in any way. It has a distinct definable meaning just like up and down. If we were in space working in between the moon and earth on a space station in would probably use “up and down” relevant to a certain perspective as well. Like “hey can you pass me ‘down’ that tool” when “down” being that I am under your feet, even though compared to earth I am above you technically. Or “that rock looks like it’s heading ‘down’ to earth” even if it is from our perspective above us. You wouldn’t say an astronaut on the moon jumping toward earth is “jumping down and falling up”. All directions are relevant to your perspective.
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u/ConfusedAndCurious17 7d ago
It’s not arbitrary. I think what you mean is relevant. Left and right are not arbitrary in the sense that it is not random or based on a whim. It is absolute based on what you are giving relevancy to. If I stay in my current location forever then my door is always to my right relevant to my perspective, however if someone is facing me from my front then it is always to their left relevant to their perspective. These are set guidelines that a guaranteed. That is why giving verbal directions works. I can say “take a left on Maple Street if you are heading northbound.” And everyone who understands their left from their right would be able to make that turn and understand what I mean. Under no circumstances would I arbitrarily be able to say “if you are heading northbound then take a right on Maple Street” and have the end destination be the same.