A Priori Justification and Knowledge
Updated 2026-09-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
A priori justification is justification that does not depend, in a certain sense, on experience, and knowledge based on it is called a priori knowledge. Since Gettier cases led most to accept that justified true belief is insufficient for knowledge, the entry assumes justification is at least necessary and focuses on it. The central questions are what could ground such non-empirical justification and whether intuition supplies it.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Trace the ground: ask whether a belief's justification really depends on experience, in order to know what could overturn it. - Interrogate intuition: test whether intuitive obviousness genuinely gives non-empirical justification or merely reflects a settled mental habit of thought.
Anchor fast decisions
A priori justification is usually pictured as arising from rational capacity itself: by grasping relations among concepts or propositions, a subject is justified without observation, as with if A and B then A. Its fallibility is easy to see: even when justification does not come from experience, psychological limitation or a slip in reasoning still allows error, and a contrary authority can defeat it.
MINIMUM ACTION
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Source support: Explicit
- plato.stanford.eduhttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/apriori/verified
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