Regulative

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Regulative \Reg"u*la*tive\ (r?g"?*l?*t?v), a.
     1. Tending to regulate; regulating. --Whewell.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Metaph.) Necessarily assumed by the mind as fundamental
        to all other knowledge; furnishing fundamental principles;


        as, the regulative principles, or principles {a priori};
        the regulative faculty. --Sir W. Hamilton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: These terms are borrowed from Kant, and suggest the
           thought, allowed by Kant, that possibly these
           principles are only true for the human mind, the
           operations and belief of which they regulate.
           [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  regulative
       adj : restricting according to rules or principles; "a regulatory
             gene" [syn: {regulatory}]