The Contingent and the A Priori

Abstract

Abstract: The traditional equating of the a priori and the necessary was challenged by Kripke, who indicated the possibility of a priori knowledge of contingently true sentences, as well as a posteriori knowledge of necessarily true sentences. This note discusses a new species of sentences with such properties. One example of this is (1) This sentence is necessarily false which appears to be a contingently false sentence, known a priori, although it is hard to see when it might be true. Further examples are considered, and it is argued that the notions of being known a priori and aposteriori should be examined further, along with the notions of necessary and contingent truths.