Full Idea
Frege famously realised that understanding a thought requires understanding its inferential connections to other thoughts.
Gist of Idea
To understand a thought, understand its inferential connections to other thoughts
Source
report of Gottlob Frege (works [1890]) by Tyler Burge - Frege on Knowing the Foundations 1
Book Reference
Burge,Tyler: 'Truth, Thought, Reason (on Frege)' [OUP 2001], p.337
A Reaction
If true, this is probably our greatest advance in grasping the concept of 'understanding' since Aristotle - but is it true? It is a striking and interesting idea, and central to the importance of Frege in modern analytic philosophy.