Single Idea 20298

[catalogued under 12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 1. Nature of the A Priori]

Full Idea

Where Kant and others had traditionally assumed that the a priori concerned beliefs 'justifiable independently of experience', Quine and others of the time came to regard it as beliefs 'unrevisable in the light of experience'.

Gist of Idea

The traditional a priori is justified without experience; post-Quine it became unrevisable by experience

Source

Georges Rey (The Analytic/Synthetic Distinction [2013], 3.7)

Book Reference

'Stanford Online Encyclopaedia of Philosophy', ed/tr. Stanford University [plato.stanford.edu], p.9


A Reaction

That throws a rather striking light on Quine's project. Of course, if the a priori is also necessary, then it has to be unrevisable. But is a bachelor necessarily an unmarried man? It is not necessary that 'bachelor' has a fixed meaning.