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Full Idea
What is known a priori may not be necessary, if we know a priori that we ourselves exist and are actual.
Gist of Idea
Knowing our own existence is a priori, but not necessary
Source
Philip Kitcher (A Priori Knowledge Revisited [2000], §II)
Book Ref
'New Essays on the A Priori', ed/tr. Boghossian,P /Peacocke,C [OUP 2000], p.69
A Reaction
Compare Idea 12428, which challenges the inverse of this relationship. This one looks equally convincing, and Kripke adds other examples of contingent a priori truths, such as those referring to the metre rule in Paris.
Related Idea
Idea 12428 Many necessities are inexpressible, and unknowable a priori [Kitcher]
| 12736 | If we understand God and his choices, we have a priori knowledge of contingent truths [Leibniz, by Garber] |
| 13159 | Only God sees contingent truths a priori [Leibniz] |
| 9386 | The meter is defined necessarily, but the stick being one meter long is contingent a priori [Kripke] |
| 9385 | The very act of designating of an object with properties gives knowledge of a contingent truth [Kripke] |
| 12429 | Knowing our own existence is a priori, but not necessary [Kitcher] |
| 17703 | Light in straight lines is contingent a priori; stipulated as straight, because they happen to be so [Mares] |