Neuroeconomics

The theory of natural selection was originally rejected by positivists because it does not conform to that model of science (which physics supposedly epitomises.) Various sciences use different methods. Positivists need to rid of their (frankly ridiculous) strait-jacket and move with the times.

Furthermore, I contend that if a priori reasoning exists at all, then it is evolutionarily contingent, a biological trait,

At best, the ability to engage in those forms of justification is. Not the actual possibility of such justification.

and thus is not necessarily sound;

Well then empiricism is in shitloads of trouble, to put it mildly, since it relies on several a priori principles in and of itself.

that is, for us to believe any reasoning whatsoever, it must generally cohere with our empirical knowledge (i.e., confirmation holism). There is no foundation that offers us “irrefutable” truths or “apodictic certainty.”

Pure assertion of an apodeictic nature in and of itself. You need logical reasoning to even establish empirical knowledge to begin with. Frankly, you need to do some reading on this as you are bringing up amateurish arguments.

As Georges Rey states, “Appeals to some special faculty of a priori intuition capable of unproblematically apprehending clear and distinct ideas, or forms in Plato’s heaven, do seem little better than theological claims about the deliverances of revelation.”

Again, pure assertion. How does he make inductive leaps? How does he justify the observation of facts (as opposed to mere sensations)? What if contradictions in this “Holistic” system appear? Why does coherence matter? Why should contradictions be resolved? Why should one holistic system be preferred over another?

The fact that Mises and Rothbard justified their a priori faith differently should suggest something is amiss.

Because you quoted an epistemological theory and some guy who merely makes rather blatant assertions on a priori intuition? Yes, truly gutted.

If you can see how natural selection can be assumed tautologous, then you can understand the criticism. Regardless, both biology and physics demand an empirical metholodogy, so your contrast seems ill-advised.

I do? Are you sure my lack of taking you seriously actually reveals ignorance? Look, ma! I can quote BonJour, “[I]f there is no a priori insight…no prediction will follow any more than any other… any…sort of connection between the parts of the system will become essentially arbitrary”!

Let me be plain: every a priori advocate is lacking a positive characterization of this alleged knowledge–it’s “not empirical”; that’s all you got? I have no idea what this “rational intuition” is; it sounds very much like madmen claiming direct revelation from God.

What is it for a belief to be justified a priori? What is the nature of this nonempirical method of justification? What sort of link could there be between the brain and the external world, other than via experience, that would make states of the brain likely to be true of the world?

P.S. Don’t claim that everyone opposed to your a priori obscurantism is a “positivist”; these terms should not be applied loosely.

Neoclassical you’re trying to refute a priorism?

If you can see how natural selection can be assumed tautologous, then you can understand the criticism. Regardless, both biology and physics demand an empirical metholodogy, so your contrast seems ill-advised.

“Empirical methodology” is so broad a term that it frankly incorporates a variety of methodologies, including the praxeological one. So be more specific. For if you said “positivist” you know it would be incorrect, and it is positivism with its methodological monism I allude to.

I do?

Indeed. You’re regurgitating “criticicism” well known to exponents of a priori reasoning, suggesting you’ve zero familiarity with the literature involved.

Are you sure my lack of taking you seriously actually reveals ignorance?

If you can’t take people who challenge your (flimsy) quote-based arguments seriously, bugger off elsewhere. No one’s got an obligation to cater to you here if you’re merely going to pull assertions out of your rear and whine non-stop. Why should anyone take you seriously?

Look, ma! I can quote BonJour, “[I]f there is no a priori insight…no prediction will follow any more than any other… any…sort of connection between the parts of the system will become essentially arbitrary”!

Indeed. What is objectionable here?

Let me be plain: every a priori advocate is lacking a positive characterization of this alleged knowledge–it’s “not empirical”; that’s all you got? I have no idea what this “rational intuition” is; it sounds very much like madmen claiming direct revelation from God.

And I don’t know what “empirical observation” is without certain logical underpinnings assumed to hold. What is this “induction”? It sounds like direct revelation from God. See? I can do this all day too, and we would get nowhere.

What is it for a belief to be justified a priori? What is the nature of this nonempirical method of justification? What sort of link could there be between the brain and the external world, other than via experience, that would make states f the brain likely to be true of the world?

Do you even know what the nature of empirical methods of justification is considering they are pretty worthless apart from certain a priori principles assumed to hold (principle of induction, constancy principle, LNC, law of identity; without these, empirical observation is 100% groundless as a method for acquiring knowledge)? It refers to knowledge that must be assumed to hold for epistemic pursuits to even get off the ground and as arising from certain methods of justification (a primary one being truths the denial of which results in contradictions.) I care not how this knowledge is possible biologically speaking - it is uninteresting to me. Only that it is epistemically necessary.

P.S. Don’t claim that everyone opposed to your a priori obscurantism is a “positivist”; these terms should not be applied loosely.

I do not. The only obscurantism here is yours, for your refusal to come to terms with how vapid empirical methodologies are without an a priori basis.

You remind me a lot of a certain troll passing for an intellectual called Nathyn.

That’s an entirely empty rebuttal.

I could easily state that your criticisms are “well-known” and hence ineffective; of course, even that doesn’t hold (a criticism being well-known doesn’t lead to its being properly rebutted; of course, maybe your superpowered intuition can prove otherwise).

I would appreciate you or someone else simply answering my questions about justification: “What is it for a belief to be justified a priori? What is the nature of this nonempirical method of justification? What sort of link could there be between the brain and the external world, other than via experience, that would make states of the brain likely to be true of the world?” It’s one thing to claim “nonempirical” knowledge exists; it’s another to explain how it is justified epistemically.

If that is your belief, then we have absolutely no disagreement.

Then you’d do well to address why said “criticism” is still valid. You’ve not. I can only assume ignorance. And I answered you. Until you begin to seriously understand how empiricism itself depends on apriorism (or otherwise is intellectually hollow) there’s little else to say.

filc, I’m not sure what “a priori knowledge” even is.

I claim that all of our knowledge is empirically-rooted and all of our beliefs hold together with confirmation holism; there is no seam in that web.

Jon Irenicus, what came first: does a priorism precede the development of sensory awareness in our evolutionary history?

Who knows, who cares? Did the chicken come before the egg?

I care. And it makes a big difference in regard to one of your previous arguments.

Of course, maybe you should just continue dodging the question…

If I have a coin of symmetrical weight, and even size. By what method of reasoning should I proceed to determine the likely hood of receiving heads or tails? Is it one holistic method of reasoning? Or are there clearly different approaches to this problem?

I’m not sure what you’re driving at. I would claim that you could determine that mathematically.

Elaborate.

I care. And it makes a big difference in regard to one of your previous arguments.

Of course, maybe you should just continue dodging the question…

Which argument? Frankly, it makes no difference to me. Mathematics originally arose on an “empirical” basis (as in, was used to make certain measurements) and later was given a formal foundation. It still makes no difference which came first, but rather in the end which is capable of furnishing it with an epistemic justification. So I could answer “no idea”, but there’s still no reason for it to even matter aside from a historical curiosity.

What qualifies as a priori knowledge?

Anything that hasn’t happened yet.

What qualifies as a priori knowledge?

What qualifies as a posteriori knowledge? Absent a priori knowledge (including the Law of non-contradiction) to make observations possible to begin with.

Okay, that brings me back to my original quesiton: “[W]hat came first: does a priorism precede the development of sensory awareness in our evolutionary history?”

You seem to be implying that, evolutionarily, before any sensory awareness was useful, there had to be a priori knowledge; that is a logical consequence of your assertion.

I suppose my question is this: what is the difference between thinking in general and a priori thinking?

The former includes the latter.