a priori
American Heritage Dictionary:
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a pri·o·ri
(ä' prē-ôr'ē, -ōr'ē, ā' prī-ôr'ī, -ōr'ī') 
adj.
a priority a' pri·or'i·ty (-ôr'ĭ-tē, -ŏr'-) n.
adj.
- Proceeding from a known or assumed cause to a necessarily related effect; deductive.
- Derived by or designating the process of reasoning without reference to particular facts or experience.
- Knowable without appeal to particular experience.
- Made before or without examination; not supported by factual study.
[Medieval Latin ā priōrī : Latin ā, from + Latin priōrī, ablative of prior, former.]
a priori a' pri·o'ri adv.a priority a' pri·or'i·ty (-ôr'ĭ-tē, -ŏr'-) n.
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a priori
Fowler's Modern English Usage:
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a priori
a Latin term meaning 'from what is before', is pronounced with a as in hate and with both is as in eye. It is used to characterize reasoning or arguing from causes to effects, as in the proposition 'Because they were wearing handcuffs it was obvious that they had been taken into custody'. The opposite concept is a posteriori.
| a posteriori, Australian English, Asian, Asiatic | |
| a, an, a.m, abacus |
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:
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a priori
In epistemology, knowledge that is independent of all particular experiences, as opposed to a posteriori (or empirical) knowledge, which derives from experience. The terms have their origins in the medieval Scholastic debate over Aristotelian concepts ( Scholasticism). Immanuel Kant initiated their current usage, pairing the analytic-synthetic distinction with the a prioria posteriori distinction to define his theory of knowledge.
For more information on a priori, visit Britannica.com.
West's Encyclopedia of American Law:
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A Priori
This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.
[Latin, From the cause to the ef- fect.]
This phrase refers to a type of reasoning that examines given general principles to discover what particular facts or real-life observations can be derived from them. Another name for this method is deductive reasoning.
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a priori
IN BRIEF: Based on theory rather than observation.
Logical propositions are such as can be known a priori without study of the actual world.
— Bertrand Russell
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categories related to 'a priori'
- Notions, Ideas, and Methods - a priori: (adj) Latin. lit. from what precedes; independent of and prior to experience; based on reason or inherent logic, independent of empirical data; from a general law to a particular instance
- Latin Words and Phrases - a priori: from what comes before; deduced from what is known
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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A priori
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Look up a priori in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
A priori is Latin for "from the former" or "from before", and may refer to:
- A priori knowledge is justified by arguments of a certain kind
- A priori (languages), a type of constructed language
- Apriori algorithm, a classic algorithm for learning association rules
- A priori estimate of a solutions of a differential equation
See also
- a prior i, an experimental/prog band from Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Priory, a house of men or women under religious vows headed by a prior or prioress
- A'priori, a rock/metal/prog band from Blackpool, Lancashire, UK
- Priori of Seborga, the legislature-court of the Principality of Seborga
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American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
West's Encyclopedia of American Law
West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Copyright © 1998 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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