"Where transcendencies are more allowed."
Bacon.
Tran*scend"ent (?), a. [L. transcendens, -entis, p. pr. of transcendere
to transcend: cf. F. transcendant, G. transcendent.] 1. Very excellent;
superior or supreme in excellence; surpassing others; as, transcendent
worth; transcendent valor.
Clothed with transcendent brightness.
Milton.
2. (Kantian Philos.) Transcending, or reaching beyond, the limits of
human knowledge; — applied to affirmations and speculations concerning
what lies beyond the reach of the human intellect.
Tran*scend"ent, n. That which surpasses or is supereminent; that which
is very excellent.
Tran`scen*den"tal (?), a. [Cf. F. transcendantal, G. transcendental.]
1. Supereminent; surpassing others; as, transcendental being or
qualities.
2. (Philos.) In the Kantian system, of or pertaining to that which can
be determined a priori in regard to the fundamental principles of all
human knowledge. What is transcendental, therefore, transcends
empiricism; but is does not transcend all human knowledge, or become
transcendent. It simply signifies the a priori or necessary conditions
of experience which, though affording the conditions of experience,
transcend the sphere of that contingent knowledge which is acquired by
experience.
3. Vaguely and ambitiously extravagant in speculation, imagery, or
diction.
In mathematics, a quantity is said to be transcendental relative to
another quantity when it is expressed as a transcendental function of
the latter; thus, ax, 102x, log x, sin x, tan x, etc., are
transcendental relative to x.
Transcendental curve (Math.), a curve in which one ordinate is a
transcendental function of the other. — Transcendental equation
(Math.), an equation into which a transcendental function of one of the
unknown or variable quantities enters. — Transcendental function.
(Math.) See under Function.
Syn. — Transcendental, Empirical. These terms, with the corresponding
nouns, transcendentalism and empiricism, are of comparatively recent
origin. Empirical refers to knowledge which is gained by the experience
of actual phenomena, without reference to the principles or laws to
which they are to be referred, or by which they are to be explained.
Transcendental has reference to those beliefs or principles which are
not derived from experience, and yet are absolutely necessary to make
experience possible or useful. Such, in the better sense of the term,
is the transcendental philosophy, or transcendentalism. Each of these
words is also used in a bad sense, empiricism applying to that
one-sided view of knowledge which neglects or loses sight of the truths
or principles referred to above, and trusts to experience alone;
transcendentalism, to the opposite extreme, which, in its deprecation
of experience, loses sight of the relations which facts and phenomena
sustain to principles, and hence to a kind of philosophy, or a use of
language, which is vague, obscure, fantastic, or extravagant.