synthetic a priori
Informative yet necessary
Synthetic a priori refers to knowledge that is both informative about the world and knowable independent of experience—a category central to Kant's philosophy.
Analytic statements are true by definition (All bachelors are unmarried); synthetic statements add new information.
Most synthetic truths require experience to verify, but Kant argued some don't: mathematical truths and basic principles of causation are knowable through reason alone yet tell us something substantive about reality.
The synthetic a priori remains contested in philosophy.
- rationalismReason as knowledge source
- intuitionInstinctive immediate understanding
- necessityIndispensable requirement
- modalityParticular form or type
- deductionConclusion from premises
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- German IdealismKant, Hegel, Fichte, absolute, dialectic
- KantKant, categorical imperative, thing-in-itself, noumena, phenomena
- Kantian PhilosophyKant, categorical imperative, a priori knowledge, noumena, phenomena
- pure reasonpure reason, self-evident truth, first principles
- ethicsmorality, deontology, dignity, sanctity of life, utilitarianism
- philosophyethics, logic, metaphysics, ontology, epistemology