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Single Idea 23500

[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 5. A Priori Synthetic ]

Full Idea

The great problem around which everything turns that I write is: is there an order in the world a priori, and if so what does it consist in?

Gist of Idea

My main problem is the order of the world, and whether it is knowable a priori

Source

Ludwig Wittgenstein (Notebooks 1914-1916 [1915], 15.06.01)

Book Ref

Wittgenstein,Ludwig: 'Notebooks 1914-1916 (2nd ed)' [Blackwell 1979], p.53

A Reaction

Morris identifies this as a 'Kantian question'. I trace it back to stoicism. This question has never bothered me. It just seems weird to think that you can infer reality from the examination of your own thinking. Perhaps I should take it more seriously?

Related Ideas

Idea 23485 No pictures are true a priori [Wittgenstein]

Idea 23501 There is no a priori order of things [Wittgenstein]

The 26 ideas with the same theme [a priori knowledge which refers to the external world]:

3342 Seeing that only one parallel can be drawn to a line through a given point is clearly synthetic a priori [Kant, by Benardete,JA]
20943 Kant bases the synthetic a priori on the categories of oneness and manyness [Kant, by Bowie]
5402 Kant showed that we have a priori knowledge which is not purely analytic [Kant, by Russell]
5203 We can think of 7 and 5 without 12, but it is still a contradiction to deny 7+5=12 [Ayer on Kant]
5527 That a straight line is the shortest is synthetic, as straight does not imply any quantity [Kant]
5528 That force and counter-force are equal is necessary, and a priori synthetic [Kant]
5529 The real problem of pure reason is: how are a priori synthetic judgments possible? [Kant]
5537 That two lines cannot enclose a space is an intuitive a priori synthetic proposition [Kant]
5546 Are a priori concepts necessary as a precondition for something to be an object? [Kant]
5558 7+5=12 is not analytic, because 12 is not contained in 7 or 5 or their combination [Kant]
5624 We possess synthetic a priori knowledge in our principles which anticipate experience [Kant]
3726 The categorical imperative is a practical synthetic a priori proposition [Kant]
16916 A priori synthetic knowledge is only of appearances, not of things in themselves [Kant]
9225 Hegel reputedly claimed to know a priori that there are five planets [Hegel, by Field,H]
23500 My main problem is the order of the world, and whether it is knowable a priori [Wittgenstein]
23479 The Tractatus aims to reveal the necessities, without appealing to synthetic a priori truths [Wittgenstein, by Morris,M]
23501 There is no a priori order of things [Wittgenstein]
2619 Whether geometry can be applied to reality is an empirical question outside of geometry [Ayer]
2513 We don't have a clear enough sense of meaning to pronounce some sentences meaningless or just analytic [Katz]
2794 Knowing that a cow is not a horse seems to be a synthetic a priori truth [Dancy,J]
3341 Logical positivism amounts to no more than 'there is no synthetic a priori' [Benardete,JA]
3344 Assertions about existence beyond experience can only be a priori synthetic [Benardete,JA]
3345 Appeals to intuition seem to imply synthetic a priori knowledge [Benardete,JA]
3349 If we know truths about prime numbers, we seem to have synthetic a priori knowledge of Platonic objects [Benardete,JA]
3887 Maybe our knowledge of truth and causation is synthetic a priori [Scruton]
3876 If my team is losing 3-1, I have synthetic a priori knowledge that they need two goals for a draw [PG]