Apriorism

Apriorism in modern times, refers to epistemological positions that assume that certain knowledge can be justified without reference to experience,^[1] or, in a narrower sense, that knowledge is entirely possible without any experience. The truth of statements is to be proven by logical deduction from true premises. Only those presuppositions come into question that can be regarded as necessities of reason independent of any experience. Critics accuse apriorism of committing a “petitio principii”, i.e. proving something that is already assumed to be true. Johann August Heinrich Ulrich - a contemporary of Kant and professor of philosophy in Jena - criticized Kant's a priorism in this sense. Kant maintained that his philosophy was firmly based on a priori categories and concepts.^[2]