What does apriority mean?
Apriority is a philosophical noun denoting the quality of being a priori — that is, the character of knowledge, judgments, or principles that can be known to be true independently of experience or observation. When philosophers speak of the apriority of mathematics or logic, they mean that statements such as '2 + 2 = 4' or 'every effect has a cause' carry their justification within themselves, requiring no appeal to the senses. The term is most closely associated with Immanuel Kant, who argued that certain structures of the mind, such as space and time, are known a priori and make experience possible in the first place. Apriority is rare outside academic writing, appearing mainly in epistemology, metaphysics, and debates about whether moral or mathematical truths are discovered through reason alone or learned from the world. Its opposite is empirically grounded justification, sometimes contrasted as posteriority.
nounThe quality or state of being a priori; the character of knowledge or reasoning that is independent of experience and derived from first principles.
- The epistemological property of being knowable independently of experience; the a priori character of a judgment, concept, or form of reasoning.
"Kant argued that mathematics rests on an apriority that no empirical observation could ever supply."
"Descartes held that our clearest ideas possess an apriority that no sensory doubt can undermine."
"The critic dismissed the theory as resting on mere apriority rather than on any observed data."
Every time you know something without checking — like that 2+2 equals 4 — you're exercising apriority, the philosopher's word for knowledge that needs no evidence.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of apriority
Apriority derives from the Latin phrase a priori, meaning 'from what comes before' or 'from earlier things', combined with the English suffix -ity, which forms nouns expressing a quality or state. The Latin phrase entered European philosophical vocabulary in the medieval period and became central to modern philosophy through Kant's use of it in the eighteenth century. It shares its root with words such as prior, priority, and prime, all tracing back to the Latin comparative prior, 'former, first'.
How apriority is actually used
A rare, abstract term confined almost entirely to academic philosophy, especially epistemology and discussions of Kantian thought. It is typically used in formal scholarly prose rather than everyday language.
Easily confused with apriority
Priority means precedence in importance, rank, or time, whereas apriority refers to knowledge justified independently of experience.