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11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 2. Understanding

[knowledge of sources, causes and explanations]

42 ideas
Expertise is knowledge of the whole by means of the parts [Plato]
Knowing is having knowledge; understanding is using knowledge [Aristotle]
Understanding is the aim of our nature [Aristotle]
We understand a thing when we know its explanation and its necessity [Aristotle]
We only understand something when we know its explanation [Aristotle]
Some understanding, of immediate items, is indemonstrable [Aristotle]
Reasoning relates to understanding as time does to eternity [Boethius, by Sorabji]
Senses grasp external properties, but the understanding grasps the essential natures of things [Aquinas]
Understanding is the sole aim of reason, and the only profit for the mind [Spinoza]
We understand things when they are distinct, and we can derive necessities from them [Leibniz]
Understanding grasps the agreements and disagreements of ideas [Leibniz]
For Leibniz, divine understanding grasps every conceivable possibility [Leibniz, by Perkins]
Kant showed that the understanding (unlike reason) concerns what is finite and conditioned [Kant, by Hegel]
Understanding essentially involves singular elements [Kant, by Burge]
Reason is distinct from understanding, and is the faculty of rules or principles [Kant]
All understanding is an immediate apprehension of the causal relation [Schopenhauer]
Our whole conception of an object is its possible practical consequences [Peirce]
To understand a thought you must understand its logical structure [Frege, by Burge]
To understand a thought, understand its inferential connections to other thoughts [Frege, by Burge]
Propositions don't provide understanding, because the understanding must come first [Heidegger, by Polt]
Understanding is translation, into action or into other symbols [Wittgenstein]
It is knowing 'why' that gives scientific understanding, not knowing 'that' [Salmon]
Understanding is an extremely vague concept [Salmon]
'Episteme' is better translated as 'understanding' than as 'knowledge' [Nehamas]
Understanding is not mysterious - it is just more knowledge, of causes [Lipton]
In contrast with knowledge, the notion of understanding emphasizes practical engagement [Gulick]
Modern epistemology is too atomistic, and neglects understanding [Zagzebski]
Epistemology is excessively atomic, by focusing on justification instead of understanding [Zagzebski]
Aristotle's proofs give understanding, so it can't be otherwise, so consequence is necessary [Smiley, by Rumfitt]
We understand something by presenting its low-level entities and activities [Machamer/Darden/Craver]
There is intentional, mechanical, teleological, essentialist, vitalist and deontological understanding [Gelman]
It is nonsense that understanding does not involve knowledge; to understand, you must know [Dougherty/Rysiew]
To grasp understanding, we should be more explicit about what needs to be known [Dougherty/Rysiew]
Understanding is seeing coherent relationships in the relevant information [Kvanvig]
Scientific understanding is always the grasping of a correct explanation [Strevens]
We may 'understand that' the cat is on the mat, but not at all 'understand why' it is there [Strevens]
Understanding is a precondition, comes in degrees, is active, and holistic - unlike explanation [Strevens]
'Grasping' a structure seems to be modal, because we must anticipate its behaviour [Grimm]
You may have 'weak' understanding, if by luck you can answer a set of 'why questions' [Grimm]
Unlike knowledge, you can achieve understanding through luck [Grimm]
Medieval logicians said understanding A also involved understanding not-A [Rumfitt]
Can you possess objective understanding without realising it? [Vaidya]