Priorist

Priorist is a term with limited and context-dependent usage, and there is no single canonical definition. In practice, the meaning of priorist varies by field, and the term appears more as a descriptor in discussions than as a formal title.

In philosophy and epistemology, a priorist may refer to someone who defends a priori knowledge or rationalist epistemology—the idea that some truths or justifications are accessible independently of sensory experience. A priorist in this sense emphasizes reason, deduction, and the status of a priori principles as foundations for knowledge, and may contrast such views with empiricist or skeptical positions that stress empirical justification.

In statistics and the philosophy of probability, a priorist is more likely to describe someone who foregrounds prior information or prior distributions in Bayesian reasoning. A priorist treats prior beliefs as formal inputs to be updated by evidence, and may advocate careful elicitation of priors or the use of objective priors. This use is informal, and scholars may instead describe themselves as Bayesian or likelihood-based, depending on emphasis.

Historically and in religious contexts, “prior” is a title for a religious superior, and “priorist” could hypothetically denote someone aligned with the authority or policies of priors. This sense is rare in modern English and not a standard usage.

Etymology: from prior, Latin prior, meaning earlier or previous; linked to a priori in philosophy and to prior distribution in statistics.