Transcendentaalsuse

Transcendentaalsuse is a neologistic term used in some strands of contemporary philosophy and cognitive science to describe a framework that analyzes how cognitive and perceptual processes are possible under given conditions of use. It treats transcendental as referring to the a priori conditions that constrain what can be known and experienced, while use points to the social and practical contexts in which meaning and knowledge are employed.

The coinage appears to blend transcendental with use (and sometimes with the sense of operation or usability), signaling a shift from focusing on objects and representations to focusing on the conditions under which explanations, judgments, and actions acquire intelligibility in practice. Because the term is not widely standardized, definitions vary across sources.

Core tenets commonly associated with transcendentaalsuse include: that knowledge arises from transcendental conditions embedded in ordinary use; that language and thought encode these conditions; that social practices, norms, and institutions shape what counts as evidence and justification; and that the framework aims to be distinct from mere empirical description by foregrounding preconditions for experience rather than phenomena alone.

Relation to other theories: it draws on Kantian transcendental philosophy, phenomenology, and use theories of meaning and pragmatism. It is often positioned as a bridge between a priori analysis and social-constructive accounts. Criticism centers on vagueness, difficulties in operationalization, potential circularity in identifying preconditions, and questions about explanatory adequacy.

See also: transcendentalism, Kant, phenomenology, philosophy of language, pragmatism, use theory.