Meaning

• Positing itself and being a principle of its own determination.

Meaning

• In and of itself; by itself; without determination by or involvement of extraneous factors.

  "Some people say that a hangover is caused by impurities in the drink, not by the alcohol per se."

• (chiefly in negative polarity environments) In a true or literal sense; as one would expect from the name or description.

  "It's not a museum per se, but they do have some interesting artefacts."

• Being a thing that posits itself and is a principle of its own determination.

• Not leaving discretion to the judge to take into account additional factors that could rebut the judgment, deriving the qualification from the statute.

  "The law makes drunk driving illegal per se"