We explain what a contingency is, its types, examples and differences with necessity and possibility. Also, what is a contingency plan.
What is a contingency?
When we talk about a contingency, in general, we refer to the possibility of something happening, that is, to the possibility of something happening, or not happening. It is a very commonly used term in areas such as prevention and insurance, in which it is also used as a synonym for risk.
The word contingency comes from Latin, from the voices with- (prefix that denotes junction or convergence), the verb tanger (“touch”) and -entia (suffix indicating agent quality). In Latin, the verb contingere It can be translated as “happen”, “concern” or “affect”. However, the general meaning that the term has in our language is that which comes from logic, a discipline that understands it as “that which may or may not be, depending on the case.”
Formally, the logic differentiates between:
- Need: What is necessary is what, given certain circumstances, occurs in all cases.
- Possibility: The possible is what is feasible to become reality.
- Contingency: The contingent is that which may or may not be, if the conditions of one thing or the other come to pass.
In this way, everything that is contingent is at the same time possible (since there is the possibility of it coming to be), but not everything possible is contingent, since everything necessary is possible, but not contingent (since it could not to become). The impossible, for its part, is neither contingent nor necessary. A tongue twister.
In any case, we are talking about a key concept for certain formal philosophical debates, and that throughout history has accompanied human beings in their notions of destiny, necessity and divine will.
See also: Environmental contingency
Examples of contingency
In general, anything can serve as an example of contingency, as long as it is something whose materialization is or is not possible: something that can or cannot happen, depending on whether the conditions are met or not.
For example, an insured car can reach have an accident and suffer damage that require repairs, if the conditions are met: that the driver is driving drunk, or that the drunk driver is another driver who hits him, that is, that he is at the precise moment to receive the blow. There's no way to predict that, so it's something that may or may not happen.
Types of contingency
In the view of insurers and risk prevention companies, contingencies are, precisely, the risks, the things that are likely to happen and force them to invest money. For this reason, they are understood according to three possible types, based on the type of damage they cause and that the company must cover:
- Mild or minor. Those that cause the least amount of damage and therefore require minor repairs. Therefore, it has repercussions on daily operation and can be recovered in less than 8 hours.
- Serious or severe. Those that cause more severe damage, and that merit more significant investments. In general, its consequences can be recovered within 24 hours.
- Critical or catastrophic. Those that cause very severe damage and enormous impact. Its consequences are not repairable in the short term.
Contingency plan
A planning of technical, human and organizational measures aimed at dealing with some type of inconvenience, accident or unforeseen eventthat is, with some type of contingency.
There are different types of contingency plans, depending on the assets that you want to safeguard or what is considered a priority. They can be, for example, backup plans (especially in IT), emergency plans or recovery plans.
Continue with: Unforeseen
References
- “Contingency” on Wikipedia.
- “Contingency plan” in Wikipedia.
- “Contingency” in the Language Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy.
- “Etymology of Contingency” in the Online Spanish Etymological Dictionary.
- “What is contingency?” in ACUMAR.
