Recent Work in the Epistemology of Understanding

Abstract

The philosophical interest in the nature, value, and varieties of human understanding has swelled in recent years. This article will provide an overview of new research in the epistemology of understanding, with a particular focus on the following questions: What is understanding and why should we care about it? Is understanding reducible to knowledge? Does it require truth, belief, or justification? Can there be lucky understanding? Does it require 'grasping' or some kind of 'knowhow'? This cluster of questions has largely set the research agenda for the study of understanding in epistemology. This article will conclude by discussing some varieties of understanding and highlight directions for future research.Humans are naturally inquisitive creatures. As Aristotle observed, "All men by nature desire to know." But knowledge is not the only intellectual achievement at which humans aim, and it might not be the most valuable. As Albert Einstein once said, "Any fool can know; the point is to understand." 1 It is widely assumed that understanding is a valuable intellectual achievement; however, the cognitive state of understanding is itself poorly understood. What is understanding? Why is it valuable? And how do we achieve it? These questions are at the forefront of recent work in the epistemology of understanding. In this article, I will attempt to give a sense of the range and depth of this new research on the nature, value, and varieties of human understanding. I will also critically evaluate some of this work. 1 The Aristotle quote is from the opening line of his Metaphysics. The Einstein quote can be found in Christian (1990, p. 207).

Understanding Is a Process

“…They also have the flexibility to adapt to different contexts for assessing understanding to provide a consistently measured body of evidence. Thus, consistent with Hannon ( 2021 )'s recent argument, we can craft that set of criteria to define understanding through the various degrees and abilities (plural) enabled by the process of understanding.…”

“…One component of this is clearly articulating what researchers should accept as evidence for understanding, including what constitutes the central tests of a system's ability to understand its input. Hannon ( 2021 ) identified a plausible set of criteria for characterizing understanding: understanding is a cognitive achievement, not gained simply by receiving information; understanding comes in degrees; understanding manifests itself through abilities or know-how, especially being able to “grasp” connections. There remains wide disagreement about these basics and even about more fundamental questions, such as whether understanding is a form of knowledge (and thus also subject to questions about the nature of knowledge).…”

“…No single test is sufficient for demonstrating that one agent understands another. Indeed, understanding is not a singular type of knowledge (see also, Hannon, 2021 ). Assessing understanding requires probing the extent of understanding; that is, we need to execute a series of appropriately designed tests that probe the manner and extent to which information has been learned, interpreted, generalized and acted upon.…”

Integrating Philosophy of Understanding With the Cognitive Sciences

“…As several reviews attest ( Baumberger, 2014 ; Baumberger et al, 2016 ; Gordon, 2017 ; Grimm, 2021 ; Hannon, 2021 ), understanding has become a lively topic of philosophical research over the past two decades. While some work has been done to integrate these ideas with relevant findings from computer science, psychology, and neuroscience, these interdisciplinary pursuits are relatively nascent.…”

What is an aesthetic concept?

“…6 Some recent works on the notion of understanding includeKvanvig (2003),Pritchard (2009Pritchard ( , 2010,Sliwa (2015) andHills (2016). SeeHannon (2021) for a recent overview.7 One influential account of phenomenal concepts is proposed in many of Brian Loar's papers:Loar (1997Loar ( /2017Loar ( , 2003. See alsoBalog (1999Balog ( , 2009Balog ( , 2012,Papineau (2002Papineau ( , 2007,Tye (2003),Levin (2007) andDiaz-Leon (2016).…”