Explaining Understanding New Perspectives from Epistemology and Philosophy of Science

What does it mean to understand something? What types of understanding can be distinguished? Is understanding always provided by explanations? And how is it related to knowledge? Such questions have attracted considerable interest in epistemology recently. These discussions, however, have not yet engaged insights about explanations and theories developed in philosophy of science. Conversely, philosophers of science have debated the nature of explanations and theories, while dismissing understanding as a psychological by-product. In this book, epistemologists and philosophers of science together address basic questions about the nature of understanding, providing a new overview of the field. False theories, cognitive bias, transparency, coherency, and other important issues are discussed. Its 15 original chapters are essential reading for researchers and graduate students interested in the current debates about understanding.

List of ContributorsAcknowledgementsGuide to the Essays 1 What is Understanding? An Overview of Recent Debates in Epistemology and Philosophy of ScienceChristoph Baumberger, Claus Beisbart and Georg Brun Part IUnderstanding and the Facts2 How Idealization Provide UnderstandingMichael Strevens3 How False Theories can Yield Genuine UnderstandingHenk W. de Regt and Victor Gijsbers4 Exemplification in UnderstandingCatherine Z. Elgin5 Explaining Understanding, Understanding KnowledgeSabine Ammon6 Enlightening Falsehoods: A Model View of Scientific UnderstandingSoazig Le Bihan Part IIUnderstanding and its Norms7 Must Understanding be Coherent?Kareem Khalifa8 Dimensions of Objectual UnderstandingChristoph Baumberger and Georg Brun9 An Evidentialist Account of Explanatory UnderstandingMark Newman10 Understanding and TransparencyStephen R. Grimm11 Satisfying UnderstandingJohn Greco Part III Understanding and the Epistemic Agent12 Towards a Knowledge-Based Account of UnderstandingChristoph Kelp13 Cognitive Bias, Scepticism and UnderstandingJ. Adam Carter and Duncan Pritchard14 Social Epistemology and the Acquisition of UnderstandingEmma C. Gordon15 Understanding without BelievingDaniel A. Wilkenfeld Index

Stephen R. Grimm is Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame, his B.A. from Williams College, and he works mainly in epistemology, the philosophy of science, and ethics.Christoph Baumberger is Senior Researcher at the Institute for Environmental Decisions at ETH Zurich. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Zurich, and he has published in epistemology, philosophy of science, aesthetics, and philosophy of architecture. Sabine Ammon works at the Berlin University of Technology as a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow, funded by the European Union. She received her Ph.D. from Berlin University of Technology. She works mainly in epistemology, philosophy of engineering sciences and technology, image theory, and design ethics.