Brewer's: A posteriori

[Latin, from the latter ]. An a posteriori argument is proving the cause from the effect. Thus, if we see a watch, we conclude there was a watchmaker. Robinson Crusoe inferred there was another human being on the desert island, because he saw a human footprint in the wet sand. It is thus the existence and character of Deity is inferred from his works. (See A Priori.)

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