Célia Teixeira on “Rationalism and the A Priori”

Rationalism is criticised for appealing to a “mysterious” faculty of rational intuition to explain how a priori knowledge is possible. Empiricism is typically motivated by opposition to rationalism, by offering a purportedly “non-mysterious” account of the a priori. I defend rationalism. I argue that the rationalist appeal to rational intuition as the source of the a priori is no more mysterious than the empiricist appeal to understanding. I further argue that our best empiricist accounts of the a priori do not provide an alternative to rationalism as the fundamental explanation they offer of the a priori is one that could equally be endorsed by a rationalist – and that they fail for reasons that do not undermine rationalism. I conclude that rationalism still offers the best route to explain the a priori.

Célia Teixeira (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and LanCog – University of Lisbon)

This event is part of the ArgLab Research Colloquium organised by Maria Grazia Rossi, Andrés Soria Ruiz and Nuno Venturinha at the Laboratory of Reasoning and Argumentation of the Nova Institute of Philosophy. For any inquiries, please contact Maria Grazia, Andrés, or Nuno.