pretheoretical en · ADJ
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-i Proto-Indo-European *préh₂i? Proto-Italic *prai Proto-Italic *prai- Latin prae-lbor. Middle English pre- English pre- English theoretical English pretheoretical From pre- + theoretical.
Meanings
-
(not-comparable) Arising before any theoretical considerations
Let’s grant, as seems plausible, that […] knowledge of what it takes to be a T, according to our pretheoretical notion of Ts, has an important role to play in settling metaphysical disputes about the nature of Ts.
2008 April 23, J. L. Dowell, “Empirical metaphysics: the role of intuitions about possible cases in philosophy”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 140, number 1, →DOI: