pretheoretical

pre- +‎ theoretical

pretheoretical (not comparable)

1. (philosophy) Arising before any theoretical considerations
   • 2008 April 23, J. L. Dowell, “Empirical metaphysics: the role of intuitions about possible cases in philosophy”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 140, number 1, →DOI:

     Let’s grant, as seems plausible, that […] knowledge of what it takes to be a T, according to our pretheoretical notion of Ts, has an important role to play in settling metaphysical disputes about the nature of Ts.

• pretheoretically

• pretheory