Apriori

"We cannot cognize things as they are in themselves, but only as they appear to us — through the a priori forms of intuition and understanding."

• Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason

Apriori is the transcendental optics of systematic cognition — the definition of forms and modes through which a system can order and comprehend phenomena.

De Aprioritate (On A Priori Nature)

According to Kant, we do not perceive the world immediately, but always through a priori forms of our intuition and understanding. Space and time are forms of sensibility; categories (unity, plurality, causality) are forms of understanding. Without these forms, cognition is impossible.

Apriori applies this philosophy to systematic cognition: it defines transcendental categories without which a system cannot cognize phenomena.

Tres Elementa (Three Elements)

• Apriori.Phaenomenon — quod apparet (what appears)
  The event before interpretation. Analog of sensation: pure datum, not yet formed.

• Apriori.Forma — in qua forma significatio tenetur (in what form meaning is held)
  Analog of forms of intuition: Essentia (unity), Collectio (plurality), Absentia (negation), Sententia (judgment).

• Apriori.Modus — genus actus cognitionis (kind of cognitive act)
  Analog of functions of judgment: Quaestio (theory), Intentio (praxis), Notificatio (reception).

Fundamentum Ecosystematis (Foundation of the Ecosystem)

Apriori has no executable code — it is pure ontology, a type system.

Yet it is the foundation of the Umwelt ecosystem: every system that operates with phenomena must interpret them through Apriori forms. Otherwise, chaos: no Ding (thing) without Form, no Actus (act) without Modus.

Aussenwelt (external protocol) may vary — but it is always translated through Apriori forms. As with Kant: although sensations vary, a priori forms remain the same.

Dependentia Transcendentalis (Transcendental Dependence)

Why is Apriori the center?

Not because "everything depends on it" (technical causal dependence), but because everything is understood through it (transcendental logical dependence).

Just as space is the condition of possibility for external vision, and time the condition of possibility for internal experience — so Forma and Modus are the conditions of possibility for systematic cognition.

A cogitative system without Apriori is not an imperfect system, but an impossible one: no cogitatio (thinking) without categories through which thought is ordered.

Installation

Package available in Hex. Add apriori to your dependencies in mix.exs:

def deps do
  [
    {:apriori, "~> 0.1.0"}
  ]
end

Documentation

Full documentation available at HexDocs.

Source

GitHub: github.com/sovetnik/apriori

Vide Etiam (See Also)

• Skull — MCP server framework using Apriori forms
• Kant, I. (1781). Critique of Pure Reason (Kritik der reinen Vernunft)