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.

---

Etymology

Origin of speculative philosophy

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

speculative philosophy

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

Scholastic Philosophy Marks a Step in Progress.—There arose in the ninth century a speculative philosophy which sought to harmonize the doctrine of the church with the philosophy of Neo-Platonism and the logic of Aristotle.

From History of Human Society by Frank W. (Frank Wilson) Blackmar

The first of them was the introduction of new systems of speculative philosophy.

From History of Free Thought in Reference to The Christian Religion by Adam Storey Farrar

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 George Woodward Warder