Debating the A Priori, by Paul Boghossian and Timothy Williamson

Abstract

This lively, engaging, and timely book consists of eighteen essays on the a priori, nine of them new and nine previously published. Because positions on the a priori are litmus tests of broader positions on such fundamental issues as the nature of justification, meaning, and understanding, the issues are of intense interest across multiple areas of philosophy. The nine previously published essays have already made important and influential contributions to discussion of the a priori. Each of the new essays responds to a predecessor in the volume. The approach is adversarial, and the book has the strengths and disadvantages of this format. The strengths include thorough and illuminating critical examination of each participant’s position. The disadvantages stem from a rather minimal consideration of the various alternatives to the positions of our two debaters. Boghossian argues for the significance and interest of the a priori / a posteriori distinction,...