Ex praecognitis et praeconcessis
Ex praecognitis et praeconcessis ( Latin , literally "from what is already known and confirmed") denotes in scholastic logic the inference from premises that are generally accepted.
The British philosopher John Locke , in his essay concerning Humane Understanding , published in 1690, criticizes the view that all inference must be carried out "ex praecognitis et praeconcessis". According to him, this idea is erroneously derived from the absolutely given necessity to base all knowledge on intuitive knowledge. Intuitive knowledge means beliefs that can be seen directly, immediately and unequivocally by everyone, for example "Every thing is identical to itself" or "A house is a house". Locke does not criticize the concept of intuitive knowledge as such, which he himself advocates in his essay, but the incorrect conclusion from this concept that any argument should be carried out as a conclusion "ex praecognitis et praeconcessis".
The necessity of this intuitive knowledge, in each step of scientifical or demonstrative reasoning, gave occasion, I imagine, to that mistaken axiom that all reasoning was ex praecognitis et praeconcessis.
To German roughly:
The necessity of this intuitive knowledge in every step of scientific or proving thought gave rise, so I imagine, to this erroneous axiom that all thinking [or perhaps better translated: inference] comes from ex pracognitis et praeconcessis.
Locke criticizes this view because it wrongly assumes that only principles and supreme premises have certainty and can thus represent intuitive knowledge. Locke counters this by stating that beliefs that are not principles and are logically derived from premises can also be certain. The certainty of these derived sentences does not only come to them through their relation of derivation, but already in and of themselves (= "intuitive"). According to Locke, the sentence "A house is a house" is completely self-evident, and not just because it can be derived from the sentence "Every thing is identical to itself".
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eisler, Rudolf (1904): "Ex praecognitis et praeconcessis" in: ders .: Dictionary of philosophical terms, online at [1] , accessed in January 2009
- ^ Locke, John (1690): An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Book IV, chap. 2, §8
- ↑ See Locke, John (1690): An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book IV Chapter 7 § 10