Definitions HQ

A Priori (n.) has ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠an everyday name — 'already', the word these lectures use more than any other.

A Priori (n.) began ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠as what always already lies at hand before us — from the side of emergence, the earlier.

A Priori (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not what comes first but an addendum — the veil over the fact that being arrives only after the first grab toward beings.

A Priori (n.) was ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠for the Greeks neither "objective" nor "subjective"; after Descartes it is not subjective but merely objective — the objectness of the object.

A Priori (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠an 'earlier' that belongs not to clock time but to the inverted world — which is why popular understanding mistakes it for the later.

A Priori (n.) of ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠use is a perfect tense: whenever we meet a tool, we have already let it be involved — its purpose was released before we arrived.

A Priori (n.) exists ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠only where the idea rules: from Plato on it means the priority of beingness over beings — while the truth of be-ing is neither earlier nor later.

A Priori (n.) of ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠space does not mean a worldless subject emitting space out of itself; it means space has always already been met, as a region, whenever we meet anything at hand.

A Priori (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not about knowing. Rather, it is about 'being'. It is about those things that are given to us if not always clearly and openly.

A Priori (n.) means ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠"the earlier" — a plain time-word that philosophers keep explaining away as timeless: lucus a non lucendo? Believe it if you wish.

A Priori (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not about knowing (as Kant would have it) but about being. The a priori part of a perception is the deeper layer of categories that a phenomenon relies on without openly expressing them. Conscious awareness always skates along a thin icy crust, one that hides countless deeper layers that are also given to us, but not clearly and openly.