{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 202/1920-12-19/p018","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"Abstract thinkers such as Kant also employ an abstract expression. They say: mathematical concepts are *a priori.—A priori, apriority*, means ‘existing in the mind independent of experience’. But why are mathematical concepts *a priori*? Because they stream in from the existence preceding birth, or rather, preceding conception. It is this that constitutes their ‘apriority’. And the reason why they appear real to our consciousness is because they are irradiated by the will. This is what makes them real. Just think how abstract modern thinking has become when it uses abstract words for something which, in its reality, is not understood! Men such as Kant had a dim inkling that we bring mathematics with us from our existence before birth, and therefore they called the findings of mathematics ‘a priori’. But the term ‘a priori’ really tells us nothing, for it points to no reality, it points to something merely formal.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"III. The Path to Freedom and Love and Their Significance in World Happenings","site_heading":null,"date":"1920-12-19","location":null,"word_count":150,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/202/1920-12-19/p018","alignment_confidence":"medium","alignment_reason":"beads:length","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Gerald F. Karnow, M.D","identified_edition":null,"book_title":"Course for Young Doctors","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/YoungDoctors/19201219p02.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line"},"edition_coverage":{"de":["original"],"en":["English"]},"available_versions":[{"lang":"de","edition":"original","edition_basis":null,"is_original":true,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/202/1920-12-19/p018"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/202/1920-12-19/p018","paragraph_aligned":true}],"record":{"record_type":"unknown","scope":"volume","note":"How this text was taken down (shorthand transcript, listeners' notes or manuscript) is not on record here. Unknown is not an assurance of a stenogram: check the edition's own notes before resting an argument on one word.","evidence":null,"evidence_translation":null,"evidence_source":null},"other_renderings":{"loci":[{"locus":"GA 202/1920-12-19_02","ga":"202","lecture":"1920-12-19_02","kind":"renderings","relation":"another translation or transcription of the same lecture"}],"note":"The same lecture is also served at the loci listed, each with how it relates to this one. They are ONE witness, not independent attestations: quote the rendering you fetched, and do not cite another as corroborating it. Wording differs between translations, so a quotation found in one need not occur in the other."},"german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1920-12-19","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 202/1920-12-19/p017","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/202/1920-12-19/p017"}],"bead_confidence":"medium","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":147,"en_words":150,"ratio":1.02,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. The German original passage(s) above are the edition-invariant anchor — fetch them (lang='de') to verify wording before quoting across editions."},"paired_german":{"status":"paired","german":[{"locus":"GA 202/1920-12-19/p017","passage_number":17,"text":"Abstraktlinge wie Kant gebrauchen auch ein abstraktes Wort. Sie sagen: Die mathematischen Vorstellungen sind a priori. — A priori, das heißt: bevor etwas anderes da ist. Aber warum sind mathematische Vorstellungen a priori? Weil sie hereinstrahlen aus dem vorgeburtlichen beziehungsweise vor der Empfängnis liegenden Dasein; das macht ihre Apriorität aus. Und daß sie uns für unser Bewußtsein als real erscheinen, das rührt davon her, daß sie vom Willen durchstrahlt sind. Diese Durchstrahlung des Willens macht sie real. Bedenken Sie einmal, wie abstrakt das moderne Denken geworden ist, indem es abstrakte Worte gebraucht für etwas, was man seiner Realität nach eben nicht durchschaut. Daß wir uns die Mathematik mitbringen aus unserem vorgeburtlichen Dasein, das spürte gewissermaßen ein Kant und nannte deshalb die mathematischen Urteile a priori. Aber mit a priori ist weiter nichts gesagt, denn es ist auf keine Realität hingedeutet, es ist auf etwas bloß Formales hingedeutet.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":147,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/202/1920-12-19/p017"}],"english":["GA 202/1920-12-19/p018"],"method":"length","confidence":"medium","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":147,"en_words":150,"ratio":1.02,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":1.04,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":4665,"original_word_count":4496,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Gerald F. Karnow, M.D","identified_edition":null,"book_title":"Course for Young Doctors","publisher":null,"publisher_inferred":false,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/YoungDoctors/19201219p02.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line"},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 202/1920-12-19/p017"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":[],"bead_confidence":"medium","note":"Every load-bearing name in the German counterpart appears in this English passage. That is a check on NAMES only: a translation can keep every name and still reverse who acts on whom, change a number, or soften a claim. Read the German for anything you intend to rest an argument on."},"note":"quote_safe certifies the bytes of this text. This block is about the translation as a WITNESS: who made it, and whether it carries the same names as the original. See witness_completeness for how much of the original this witness holds."}}