Transcendental Apriori
From Geography
Transcendental Apriori
To explain transcendental aprio the easiest way, this concept will be diveded into two terms; transcendental and a priori.
- Transcendental is a term that derives from transcendentalism, which combines three different types of meaning. The first type of meaning is that one in the physical world. This is the abstract, touchable environment. The second one in the subjective world, more or less what you make of it in your mind. and The third and last type of meaning is the social world. In the social world Alfred Schütz distinguished between social reality that could be experienced directly (umwelt) and a social reality beyond the immediate horizon, which could yet be experienced if sought out (Walsh, 1997). Concerning the content of the meaning of transcendental Immanuel Kant has had an important influence. He gives the following description: ‘all the knowledge that does not concern with the objects itself, but instead with our knowledge about these objects, I refer to as transcendental.’ Transcendental thus has to do with epistemological belief in meta-narratives, which are the basis to any other knowledge (Zierhofer, 2002, p. 1361).
- A priori is a form of knowledge or justification that is independent of experience. For example the knowledge that one that is married is not a bachelor. If you know that person A is married you do not to have to go out and experience or analyze anything to be able to conclude that person A is not a bachelor. A priori refers also to a sort of ‘inner-experience’. The opposite of a priori is a posteriori, a so called ‘outer-experience’. Whereas a priori refers to temporally ´before`, a posteriori hints at a temporal ´after`.
When this concepts are combined in transcendental a priori, it refers to knowledge beyond the present perception and experience. As an example of transcendental a priori thinking we could take Religious or as well Marxist assumptions, which form a higher level frame from which to understand the world
References
Martin,D. Kant’s trancendental idealism Consulted: 17 October 2010 http://www.london-oratory.org/philosophy/philosophies/epistemology/trancendental/body_trancendental.html
Glen Friesen, J. Linked Glossary of Terms, 2009 Consulted: 19 October 2010 http://www.members.shaw.ca/jgfriesen/Definitions/apriori.html
Zierhofer, W. (2002). Speech acts and space(s): Language pragmatics and the discursive constitution of the social. Environment and Planning A, 34, 1355-1372.
Walsh, G. (1997). "Introduction", Alfred Schütz, The Phenomenology of the Social World
Contributors
- Published by Thijs Koolhof (4048385) and Tobias Geerdink (4076923JannaVolpel
- Enhanced by Janna Völpel, s3015041JannaVolpel 15:28, 7 May 2012 (CEST)
- Enhanced by Robert Wursten on october 16th 2012
- Enhanced by Kasper van de Langenberg december 30th 2012
