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Single Idea 12366
[filed under theme 11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 2. Understanding
]
Full Idea
We only understand something when we know its explanation.
Gist of Idea
We only understand something when we know its explanation
Source
Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 71b30)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Posterior Analytics (2nd ed)', ed/tr. Barnes,Jonathan [OUP 1993], p.3
A Reaction
If we believe that the whole aim of philosophy is 'understanding' (Idea 543) - and if it isn't then I am not sure what the aim is, and alternative aims seem a lot less interesting - then we should care very much about explanations, as well as reasons.
Related Idea
Idea 543
All men long to understand, as shown by their delight in the senses [Aristotle]
The
43 ideas
with the same theme
[knowledge of sources, causes and explanations]:
16126
|
Expertise is knowledge of the whole by means of the parts
[Plato]
|
22513
|
Knowing is having knowledge; understanding is using knowledge
[Aristotle]
|
22587
|
Understanding is the aim of our nature
[Aristotle]
|
12364
|
We understand a thing when we know its explanation and its necessity
[Aristotle]
|
12366
|
We only understand something when we know its explanation
[Aristotle]
|
12370
|
Some understanding, of immediate items, is indemonstrable
[Aristotle]
|
23308
|
Reasoning relates to understanding as time does to eternity
[Boethius, by Sorabji]
|
22170
|
Senses grasp external properties, but the understanding grasps the essential natures of things
[Aquinas]
|
17211
|
Understanding is the sole aim of reason, and the only profit for the mind
[Spinoza]
|
12960
|
We understand things when they are distinct, and we can derive necessities from them
[Leibniz]
|
12998
|
Understanding grasps the agreements and disagreements of ideas
[Leibniz]
|
19332
|
For Leibniz, divine understanding grasps every conceivable possibility
[Leibniz, by Perkins]
|
16898
|
Understanding essentially involves singular elements
[Kant, by Burge]
|
15627
|
Kant showed that the understanding (unlike reason) concerns what is finite and conditioned
[Kant, by Hegel]
|
5573
|
Reason is distinct from understanding, and is the faculty of rules or principles
[Kant]
|
4190
|
All understanding is an immediate apprehension of the causal relation
[Schopenhauer]
|
19089
|
Our whole conception of an object is its possible practical consequences
[Peirce]
|
24150
|
We can only understand through concepts, which subsume particulars in generalities
[Nietzsche]
|
17623
|
To understand a thought you must understand its logical structure
[Frege, by Burge]
|
16885
|
To understand a thought, understand its inferential connections to other thoughts
[Frege, by Burge]
|
15578
|
Propositions don't provide understanding, because the understanding must come first
[Heidegger, by Polt]
|
18712
|
Understanding is translation, into action or into other symbols
[Wittgenstein]
|
13047
|
It is knowing 'why' that gives scientific understanding, not knowing 'that'
[Salmon]
|
13065
|
Understanding is an extremely vague concept
[Salmon]
|
17944
|
'Episteme' is better translated as 'understanding' than as 'knowledge'
[Nehamas]
|
16814
|
Understanding is not mysterious - it is just more knowledge, of causes
[Lipton]
|
9325
|
In contrast with knowledge, the notion of understanding emphasizes practical engagement
[Gulick]
|
20188
|
Modern epistemology is too atomistic, and neglects understanding
[Zagzebski]
|
20223
|
Epistemology is excessively atomic, by focusing on justification instead of understanding
[Zagzebski]
|
18810
|
Aristotle's proofs give understanding, so it can't be otherwise, so consequence is necessary
[Smiley, by Rumfitt]
|
16562
|
We understand something by presenting its low-level entities and activities
[Machamer/Darden/Craver]
|
15707
|
There is intentional, mechanical, teleological, essentialist, vitalist and deontological understanding
[Gelman]
|
19542
|
It is nonsense that understanding does not involve knowledge; to understand, you must know
[Dougherty/Rysiew]
|
19543
|
To grasp understanding, we should be more explicit about what needs to be known
[Dougherty/Rysiew]
|
19261
|
Understanding is seeing coherent relationships in the relevant information
[Kvanvig]
|
14365
|
Scientific understanding is always the grasping of a correct explanation
[Strevens]
|
14368
|
We may 'understand that' the cat is on the mat, but not at all 'understand why' it is there
[Strevens]
|
14369
|
Understanding is a precondition, comes in degrees, is active, and holistic - unlike explanation
[Strevens]
|
19690
|
'Grasping' a structure seems to be modal, because we must anticipate its behaviour
[Grimm]
|
19692
|
You may have 'weak' understanding, if by luck you can answer a set of 'why questions'
[Grimm]
|
19691
|
Unlike knowledge, you can achieve understanding through luck
[Grimm]
|
18831
|
Medieval logicians said understanding A also involved understanding not-A
[Rumfitt]
|
19265
|
Can you possess objective understanding without realising it?
[Vaidya]
|