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Ideas for 'works', 'The Limits of Reason' and 'A Pragmatic Conception of the A Priori'

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2 ideas

12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 1. Nature of the A Priori

11239	The notion of a priori truth is absent in Aristotle [Aristotle, by Politis]
	Full Idea: The notion of a priori truth is conspicuously absent in Aristotle.
	From: report of Aristotle (works [c.330 BCE]) by Vassilis Politis - Aristotle and the Metaphysics 1.5
	A reaction: Cf. Idea 11240.

12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 7. A Priori from Convention

9365	We can maintain a priori principles come what may, but we can also change them [Lewis,CI]
	Full Idea: The a priori contains principles which can be maintained in the face of all experience, representing the initiative of the mind. But they are subject to alteration on pragmatic grounds, if expanding experience shows their intellectual infelicity.
	From: C.I. Lewis (A Pragmatic Conception of the A Priori [1923], p.373)
	A reaction: [compressed] This simply IS Quine's famous 'web of belief' picture, showing how firmly Quine is in the pragmatist tradition. Lewis treats a priori principles as a pragmatic toolkit, which can be refined to be more effective. Not implausible...