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Full Idea
A proposition will count as being justified a priori as long as no appeal to experience is needed for the proposition to be justified - once it is understood.
Gist of Idea
A priori justification requires understanding but no experience
Source
Laurence Bonjour (In Defence of Pure Reason [1998], §1.2)
Book Ref
Bonjour,Laurence: 'In Defense of Pure Reason' [CUP 1998], p.10
A Reaction
Could you 'understand' that a square cannot be circular without appeal to experience? I'm losing faith in the pure a priori.
| 21398 | A presentation is true if we judge that no false presentation could appear like it [Zeno of Citium, by Cicero] |
| 5020 | Our thoughts are either dependent, or self-evident. All thoughts seem to end in the self-evident [Leibniz] |
| 16903 | Justifications show the ordering of truths, and the foundation is what is self-evident [Frege, by Jeshion] |
| 8885 | Some features of a thought are known directly, but others must be inferred [Sosa] |
| 3696 | A priori justification requires understanding but no experience [Bonjour] |
| 3703 | You can't explain away a priori justification as analyticity, and you can't totally give it up [Bonjour] |
| 3706 | A priori justification can vary in degree [Bonjour] |
| 6357 | Reason cannot be an ultimate foundation, because rational justification requires prior beliefs [Pollock/Cruz] |