What is "a priori"

Regulative \Reg"u*la*tive\ (r?g"?*l?*t?v), a.

1. Tending to regulate; regulating.
   --Whewell.

2. (Metaph.) Necessarily assumed by the mind as fundamental to all other knowledge; furnishing fundamental principles; as, the regulative principles, or principles a priori; the regulative faculty.
   --Sir W. Hamilton.

   Note: These terms are borrowed from Kant, and suggest the thought, allowed by Kant, that possibly these principles are only true for the human mind, the operations and belief of which they regulate.

1710, "from cause to effect" (a logical term, in reference to reasoning), Latin, literally "from what comes first," from priori, ablative of prior "first" (see prior (adj.)). Used loosely for "in accordance with previous knowledge" (1834).

a. 1 (context logic English) Based on hypothesis rather than experiment. 2 self-evident, intuitively obvious 3 presumed without analysis 4 (context linguistics of a constructed language English) Developed entirely from scratch, without deriving it from existing languages.Donald J. Harlow, adv. (context logic English) In a way based on theoretical deduction rather than empirical observation

1. adj: involving deductive reasoning from a general principle to a necessary effect; not supported by fact; "an a priori judgment" [ant: a posteriori]

2. based on hypothesis or theory rather than experiment

3. adv : derived by logic, without observed facts [ant: a posteriori]

A priori may refer to:

• A priori knowledge, a type of deduction justified by arguments of a certain kind
• A priori (languages), a type of constructed language
• A priori estimate, a type of estimate for the size of a solution of a differential equation
• A priori probability, a type of probability derived by deductive reasoning
• Apriori algorithm, an algorithm used with databases.

An a priori language (from Latin a priori, "from the former") is any constructed language of which all or a number of features are not based on existing languages, but rather invented or elaborated as to work in a different way or to allude different purposes. This contrasts to a posteriori constructed languages. Some a priori languages are designed to be international auxiliary languages that remove what could be considered an unfair learning advantage for native speakers of a source language that would otherwise exist for a posteriori languages. Other, known as philosophical or taxonomic languages, try to categorize their vocabulary, either to express an underlying philosophy or to make it easier to recognize new vocabulary.