Friday, December 30, 2011

Metaphysics: A Priori and A Posteriori

Time for some basic definitions which will help in metaphysical discussion.

A Priori and A Posteriori:
Terms used to distinguish between two types of knowledge

A Priori: Knowledge or justification which you know to be true independent of observation or experience. According to Galen Strawson, an a priori argument is an argument in which "you can see that it is true just lying on your couch. You don't have to get up off your couch and go outside and examine the way things are in the physical world. You don't have to do any science." An example would be "All bachelors are unmarried."

A Posteriori: Knowledge or justification which you know based upon observation or experimental data. You go out, look at the world, make observations, and come to some sort of conclusion based off of what you see.

No comments:

Post a Comment