Word Meanings - TRANSCENDENTAL - Book Publishers vocabulary database

In the Kantian system, of or pertaining to that which can be determined a priori in regard to the fundamental principles of all human knowledge. What is transcendental, therefore, transcends empiricism; but is does not transcend all human knowledge,

Additional info about word: TRANSCENDENTAL

In the Kantian system, of or pertaining to that which can be determined a priori in regard to the fundamental principles of all human knowledge. What is transcendental, therefore, transcends empiricism; but is does not transcend all human knowledge, or become transcendent. It simply signifies the a priori or necessary conditions of experience which, though affording the conditions of experience, transcend the sphere of that contingent knowledge which is acquired by experience. 3. Vaguely and ambitiously extravagant in speculation, imagery, or diction. Note: In mathematics, a quantity is said to be transcendental relative to another quantity when it is expressed as a transcendental function of the latter; thus, ax, 102x, log x, sin x, tan x, etc., are transcendental relative to x. Transcendental curve , a curve in which one ordinate is a transcendental function of the other. -- Transcendental equation , an equation into which a transcendental function of one of the unknown or variable quantities enters. -- Transcendental function. See under Function. Syn. -- Transcendental, Empirical. These terms, with the corresponding nouns, transcendentalism and empiricism, are of comparatively recent origin. Empirical refers to knowledge which is gained by the experience of actual phenomena, without reference to the principles or laws to which they are to be referred, or by which they are to be explained. Transcendental has reference to those beliefs or principles which are not derived from experience, and yet are absolutely necessary to make experience possible or useful. Such, in the better sense of the term, is the transcendental philosophy, or transcendentalism. Each of these words is also used in a bad sense, empiricism applying to that one-sided view of knowledge which neglects or loses sight of the truths or principles referred to above, and trusts to experience alone; transcendentalism, to the opposite extreme, which, in its deprecation of experience, loses sight of the relations which facts and phenomena sustain to principles, and hence to a kind of philosophy, or a use of language, which is vague, obscure, fantastic, or extravagant. (more info) 1. Supereminent; surpassing others; as, transcendental being or qualities.

Related words: (words related to TRANSCENDENTAL)

• TRANSCEND
  1. To rise above; to surmount; as, lights in the heavens transcending the region of the clouds. Howell. 2. To pass over; to go beyond; to exceed. Such popes as shall transcend their limits. Bacon. 8. To surpass; to outgo; to excel; to exceed. How
• SYSTEMATIZE
  To reduce to system or regular method; to arrange methodically; to methodize; as, to systematize a collection of plants or minerals; to systematize one's work; to systematize one's ideas. Diseases were healed, and buildings erected, before medicine
• HUMANIFY
  To make human; to invest with a human personality; to incarnate. The humanifying of the divine Word. H. B. Wilson.
• DETERMINE
  1. To come to an end; to end; to terminate. He who has vented a pernicious doctrine or published an ill book must know that his life determine not together. South. Estates may determine on future contingencies. Blackstone. 2. To come to a decision;
• HUMANIZE
  To convert into something human or belonging to man; as, to humanize vaccine lymph. (more info) 1. To render human or humane; to soften; to make gentle by overcoming cruel dispositions and rude habits; to refine or civilize. Was it the business
• HUMANITARIANISM
  The distinctive tenet of the humanitarians in denying the divinity of Christ; also, the whole system of doctrine based upon this view of Christ.
• HUMANISM
  1. Human nature or disposition; humanity. looked almost like a being who had rejected with indifference the attitude of sex for the loftier quality of abstract humanism. T. Hardy. 2. The study of the humanities; polite learning.
• HUMANISTIC
  1. Of or pertaining to humanity; as, humanistic devotion. Caird. 2. Pertaining to polite kiterature. M. Arnold.
• SYSTEMLESS
  Not agreeing with some artificial system of classification. (more info) 1. Being without system.
• SYSTEMIZATION
  The act or process of systematizing; systematization.
• WHICHEVER; WHICHSOEVER
  Whether one or another; whether one or the other; which; that one which; as, whichever road you take, it will lead you to town.
• SYSTEMATISM
  The reduction of facts or principles to a system. Dunglison.
• FUNDAMENTALLY
  Primarily; originally; essentially; radically; at the foundation; in origin or constituents. "Fundamentally defective." Burke.
• KANTIANISM; KANTISM
  The doctrine or theory of Kant; the Kantian philosophy.
• TRANSCENDENT
  That which surpasses or is supereminent; that which is very excellent.
• FUNDAMENTAL
  A leading or primary principle, rule, law, or article, which serves as the groundwork of a system; essential part, as, the fundamentals of the Christian faith.
• SYSTEMATIST
  1. One who forms a system, or reduces to system. 2. One who adheres to a system.
• HUMANITY
  The branches of polite or elegant learning; as language, rhetoric, poetry, and the ancient classics; belles-letters. Note: The cultivation of the languages, literature, history, and archæology of Greece and Rome, were very commonly called literæ
• HUMANIST
  1. One of the scholars who in the field of literature proper represented the movement of the Renaissance, and early in the 16th century adopted the name Humanist as their distinctive title. Schaff- Herzog. 2. One who purposes the study
• HUMANKIND
  Mankind. Pope.
• DISREGARDFULLY
  Negligently; heedlessly.
• INHUMANITY
  The quality or state of being inhuman; cruelty; barbarity. Man's inhumanity to man Makes countless thousands mourn. Burns.
• PREKNOWLEDGE
  Prior knowledge.
• BERTILLON SYSTEM
  A system for the identification of persons by a physical description based upon anthropometric measurements, notes of markings, deformities, color, impression of thumb lines, etc.
• CONTINENTAL SYSTEM
  The system of commercial blockade aiming to exclude England from commerce with the Continent instituted by the Berlin decree, which Napoleon I. issued from Berlin Nov. 21, 1806, declaring the British Isles to be in a state of blockade, and British
• INDETERMINABLE
  Not determinable; impossible to be determined; not to be definitely known, ascertained, defined, or limited. -- In`de*ter"mi*na*bly, adv.
• CHAUTAUQUA SYSTEM OF EDUCATION
  The system of home study established in connection with the summer schools assembled at Chautauqua, N. Y., by the Methodist Episcopal bishop, J. H. Vincent.
• ACKNOWLEDGE
  1. To of or admit the knowledge of; to recognize as a fact or truth; to declare one's belief in; as, to acknowledge the being of a God. I acknowledge my transgressions. Ps. li. 3. For ends generally acknowledged to be good. Macaulay. 2. To own
• SELF-DETERMINATION
  Determination by one's self; or, determination of one's acts or states without the necessitating force of motives; -- applied to the voluntary or activity.
• UNDETERMINABLE
  Not determinable; indeterminable. Locke.
• PREDETERMINATION
  The act of previous determination; a purpose formed beforehand; as, the predetermination of God's will. Hammond.