speculative philosophy

American  

noun

1. philosophy embodying beliefs insusceptible of proof and attempting to gain insight into the nature of the ultimate by intuitive or a priori means.

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Etymology

Origin of speculative philosophy

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

The Abbasid rulers also faced religious divisions and criticism, even as the cosmopolitan nature of the caliphate sparked the growth of speculative philosophy and rationalizing thought.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

If “Clarissa” is an epistolary novel, then so, really, is “The Post Card” — and then half of “Tristram Shandy” is speculative philosophy.

From New York Times • Jan. 20, 2022

We are told that a certain sect amongst them “believed in a great cycle of time in which certain epochs of the world's history recurred”—an idea akin to ancient Mexican speculative philosophy.

From The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations by Nuttall, Zelia

First in the order of development comes the knowledge of things through the direct experience of physical sense, then comes imagination, reasoning, theoretic science and speculative philosophy.

From The Universe a Vast Electric Organism by Warder, George Woodward

It is not the product of philosophic meditation or of speculative philosophy.

From The Arena Volume 18, No. 93, August, 1897 by Various