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 ]

☞ 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 ]

a. Tending or serving to regulate one's self or itself. Whewell. [ 1913 Webster ]