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Understanding does not depend on (causal) explanation
One can find in the literature two sets of views concerning the relationship between understanding and explanation: that one understands only if 1) one has knowledge of causes and 2) that knowledge is provided by an explanation. Taken together, these tenets characterize what I call the narrow knowle...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Springer Netherlands
2019
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6390987/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30881529 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13194-018-0240-6 |
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author | Verreault-Julien, Philippe |
author_facet | Verreault-Julien, Philippe |
author_sort | Verreault-Julien, Philippe |
collection | PubMed |
description | One can find in the literature two sets of views concerning the relationship between understanding and explanation: that one understands only if 1) one has knowledge of causes and 2) that knowledge is provided by an explanation. Taken together, these tenets characterize what I call the narrow knowledge account of understanding (narrow KAU). While the first tenet has recently come under severe attack, the second has been more resistant to change. I argue that we have good reasons to reject it on the basis of theoretical models that provide how-possibly explanations. These models, while they do not explain in the strict (narrow KAU) sense, afford understanding. In response, I propose an alternative epistemology of understanding, broad KAU, that takes cases of theoretical modelling into account. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6390987 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2019 |
publisher | Springer Netherlands |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-63909872019-03-14 Understanding does not depend on (causal) explanation Verreault-Julien, Philippe Eur J Philos Sci Original paper in Philosophy of Science One can find in the literature two sets of views concerning the relationship between understanding and explanation: that one understands only if 1) one has knowledge of causes and 2) that knowledge is provided by an explanation. Taken together, these tenets characterize what I call the narrow knowledge account of understanding (narrow KAU). While the first tenet has recently come under severe attack, the second has been more resistant to change. I argue that we have good reasons to reject it on the basis of theoretical models that provide how-possibly explanations. These models, while they do not explain in the strict (narrow KAU) sense, afford understanding. In response, I propose an alternative epistemology of understanding, broad KAU, that takes cases of theoretical modelling into account. Springer Netherlands 2019-01-04 2019 /pmc/articles/PMC6390987/ /pubmed/30881529 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13194-018-0240-6 Text en © The Author(s) 2018 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. |
spellingShingle | Original paper in Philosophy of Science Verreault-Julien, Philippe Understanding does not depend on (causal) explanation |
title | Understanding does not depend on (causal) explanation |
title_full | Understanding does not depend on (causal) explanation |
title_fullStr | Understanding does not depend on (causal) explanation |
title_full_unstemmed | Understanding does not depend on (causal) explanation |
title_short | Understanding does not depend on (causal) explanation |
title_sort | understanding does not depend on (causal) explanation |
topic | Original paper in Philosophy of Science |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6390987/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30881529 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13194-018-0240-6 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT verreaultjulienphilippe understandingdoesnotdependoncausalexplanation |