transcendental

adj

1. Synonym of transcendent (“surpassing usual limits; excelling; extraordinary”).

   “[T]he Deity himſelf, tho' he perceiveth neither Pleaſure, nor Pain, nor any thing elſe, as vve do: yet muſt needs have a Perfect and Tranſcendental Perception, both of Pleaſure, and Pain, and of all other things.”

   “All theſe conſiderations hovvever vvere belovv the tranſcendental dignity of the Revolution Society.”

2. In the philosophy of Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.): synonym of transcendent (“transcending or extending beyond a single category”); also, synonym of metaphysical (“of or relating to the basic structure of reality”).

   “Thoſe Particles are here ſtiled Tranſcendental, vvhich do circumſtantiate vvords in reſpect of ſome Metaphyſical notion; either by enlarging the acception of them to ſome more general ſignification, then doth belong to the reſtrained ſenſe of their places: or denoting a relation to ſome other Predicament or Genus, under vvhich they are not originally placed.”

   “To be impenetrable, diſcerpible, and unactive, is the nature of all Body and Matter, as ſuch: And the properties of a Spirit are the direct contrary, to be penetrable, indiſcerpible, and ſelf-motive: Yea, ſo different they are in all things, that they ſeem to have nothing but Being, and the Tranſcendental Attributes of that, in common: […]”

   “[T]hey do not aſcend into any Inquiry concerning thoſe Tranſcendental Maxims, vvhich influence all the particular Sciences, each Part vvhereof, Mathematics not excepted, does conſequently participate of the Errors involved in them.”

   “[T]he vviſh for riches; a vviſh indeed prevalent, that it may be conſidered as univerſal and tranſcendental, as the deſire in vvhich all other desires are included, […]”

3. In the philosophy of Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) or similar philosophies: concerned with the a priori or intuitive basis of knowledge, independent of experience.

   “The chief mystics in Germany, it would appear, are the Transcendental Philosophers, [Immanuel] Kant, [Johann Gottlieb] Fichte, and [Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph] Schelling!”

   “The best way to demonstrate the possibility of something is to show its actuality, for actuality implies possibility. At least since [Immanuel] Kant, transcendental philosophies have been on the scene. However, such simple demonstration of the possibility of transcendental philosophy has not been effective and is not likely to be so – so strong is the presumption that transcendental philosophy just could not be possible, or, if it was possible earlier, it is not possible now.”

   “Whilst it was once held that transcendental arguments could provide a direct and straightforward refutation of scepticism, this view now seems over-optimistic. It has proved remarkably difficult to formulate a transcendental argument convincingly, that puts us in a position to make some sort of knowledge-claim regarding how things are, and so see off the spectre of widespread error in our view of reality.”

   “Not only does [Martin] Heidegger's early work stand within the framework of transcendental phenomenology as established by [Edmund] Husserl—even though it also contests and revises that framework—but that thinking also stands in a close relationship to the critical philosophy of Immanuel Kant, and specifically to the transcendental project, and modes of argument, of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason.”

4. In the philosophy associated with Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882): of or relating to transcendentalism (“a philosophy which stresses intuition and spirituality”).

   “Two literary ladies present their compliments to the mother of the modern Gracchi, and claim her kind introduction, as their talented countrywoman, to the honourable (and distinguished) Elijah Pogram, […] It may be another bond of union between the two L.L.'s [literary ladies] and the mother of the M.G. [modern Gracchi] to observe, that the two L.L.'s are Transcendental.”

5. (broadly)Beyond one's ordinary experience; extraordinary.

   “[S]ometimes it is even when your anxiety becomes transcendental, that the soul feels herself able to transcend it; that she rises above it, in fiery victory; and borne on new-found wings of victory, moves so calmly, even because so rapidly, so irresistibly.”

   “This mental materialism makes the value of English transcendental genius; […]”

   “That bust of Plato had been long used to look down on conviviality of a more transcendental sort, for it had been brought from Lorenzo's villa after his death, when the meetings of the Platonic Academy had been transferred to these gardens.”

   “And now, you who have so long been bound to the most narrow and material views, you who have denied the virtue of transcendental medicine, you who have derided your superiors—behold!”

6. (broadly)Existing in the imagination; abstract, conceptual.

   “[T]hese sprightly Frenchmen have relished the mystical doctrines mightily; and having watched the Germans, with their sanctified looks, and quaint imitations of the old times, and mysterious transcendental talk, are aping many of their fashions, as well and solemnly as they can; […]”

   “If he made transcendental distinctions, he fortified himself by drawing all his illustrations from sources disdained by orators and polite conversers; from mares and puppies; from pitchers and soup-ladles; from cooks and criers; the shops of potters, horse-doctors, butchers, and fishmongers.”

   “To such length can transcendental moonshine, cast by some morbidly radiating [Samuel Taylor] Coleridge into the chaos of a fermenting life, act magically there, and produce divulsions and convulsions and diseased developments.”

7. (broadly)Mystical, superhuman, supernatural.

   “Everard pursued his investigation; for he was struck with the manner in which Harrison evaded his questions, and the dexterity with which he threw his transcendental and fanatical notions, like a sort of veil, over the darker visions excited by remorse and conscious guilt.”

   “And it chanced that the direction of my scientific studies, which led wholly towards the mystic and the transcendental, rëacted and shed a strong light on this consciousness of the perennial war among my members.”

8. Of an element of an extension field: not algebraic, that is, not the root of any polynomial that has positive degree and rational coefficients; also, of an extension field: that contains elements which are not algebraic.

   “Suppose that Flt;E is purely transcendental. Show that any simple extension of F contained in E (but not equal to F) is transcendental over F.”

9. Of a function or number: not algebraic.

   “The numbers e and #92;pi are transcendental—written as decimals, the numbers after the decimal point continue infinitely and do not enter a permanently repeating pattern.”

   “Tranſcendental Curves, (in Mathem[atics]) are ſuch Curves, as vvhen their Nature or Property comes to be expreſs'd by an Equation, one of the variable or flovving Quantities there, denotes a Curve or crooked Line; and vvhen ſuch Curve Line is a Geometrick one, or one of the firſt Degree or Kind, then the Tranſcendental Curve is ſaid To be of the Second Degree or Kind, &c.”

   “The theory of transcendental numbers was originated by [Joseph] Liouville in his famous memoir of 1844 in which he obtained, for the first time, a class, très-étendue, as it was described in the title of the paper, of numbers that satisfy no algebraic equation with integer coefficients.”

noun

1. A thing which is transcendental (all adjective senses).

   “The Learning of this People is very defective, conſiſting only in Morality, Hiſtory, Poetry, and Mathematicks, vvherein they muſt be allovved to excel. […] And as to Ideas, Entities, Abſtraction and Tranſcendentals, I could never drive the leaſt Conception into their Heads.”

   “The transcendental is a key notion in [Martin] Heidegger's thought. […] [This collection of essays] makes a case for the continuing significance of the transcendental in philosophy more broadly.”

2. (Christian, in-plural)A thing which is transcendental (all adjective senses).

   “In another sense, God is the creator of a world that might have some transcendental properties common to all things, for instance as expressed in the theory of determinateness. […] In deference to Christian usage we can say that the transcendentals constitute the Logos within which everything has its being and according to which everything is made.”

   “The medieval doctrine of the transcendentals is closely connected with a metaphysical conception of reality, but is there a science of being in William of Ockham (ca. 1285-1347)?”

   “These predicates of Being are what the Medievals called, using a term that will have a fertile future, "transcendentals" (often called the "universals") because they transcend all particular genera, following the example of Being. A quarrel over these transcendentals even shook the later Middle Ages. The quarrel stemmed from the question of whether the existence of these transcendentals was real or intellectual (also called nominal).”

   “Another fascinating thing about the transcendentals is that each is fully contained in the others. When you appreciate beauty, for example, you recognise the presence of goodness and truth. When you grasp the truth about something you experience a moment of beauty in, perhaps, the simplicity or power of the insight. When you observe goodness in the actions of another person you are seeing truth and beauty in operation.”

3. A thing which is transcendental (all adjective senses).
4. (obsolete)Synonym of transcendentalist (“one who believes in transcendentalism; a philosopher who asserts that true knowledge is obtained by faculties of the mind that transcend sensory experience”).