“The Value of Understanding”
Philosophy Compass 7 (2):103-117 (2012)
| Abstract | Over the last several years a number of leading philosophers – including Catherine Elgin, Linda Zagzebski, Jonathan Kvanvig, and Duncan Pritchard – have grown increasingly dissatisfied with the contemporary focus on knowledge in epistemology and have attempted to “recover” the notion of understanding. According to some of these philosophers, in fact, understanding deserves not just to be recovered, but to supplant knowledge as the focus of epistemological inquiry. This entry considers some of the main reasons why philosophers have taken understanding to be more valuable than knowledge, focusing on claims that it is more transparent, that it better reflects or mirrors the world, and that it is a greater intellectual achievement. | |||||||||
| Keywords | Understanding Epistemology | |||||||||
| Categories | No categories specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,664 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesStephen R. Grimm (2006). Is Understanding a Species of Knowledge? British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 57 (3):515-535.
Daniel Whiting (2012). Epistemic Value and Achievement. Ratio 25 (2):216-230.
Jonathan L. Kvanvig (2003). The Value of Knowledge and the Pursuit of Understanding. Cambridge University Press.
Mikael Janvid (2012). Knowledge Versus Understanding: The Cost of Avoiding Gettier. Acta Analytica 27 (2):183-197.
J. Adam Carter & Emma C. Gordon (forthcoming). On Pritchard, Objectual Understanding and the Value Problem. American Philosophical Quarterly.
Stephen Grimm (forthcoming). Understanding. In D. Pritchard S. Berneker (ed.), The Routledge Companion to Epistemology. Routledge.
Ayca Boylu (2010). How Understanding Makes Knowledge Valuable. Canadian Journal of Philosophy 40 (4):591-609.
Duncan Pritchard (2008). Knowing the Answer, Understanding and Epistemic Value. Grazer Philosophische Studien 77 (1):325-339.
Stephen Grimm (2001). Ernest Sosa, Knowledge, and Understanding. Philosophical Studies 106 (3):171--191.
Kevin Morris (2012). A Defense of Lucky Understanding. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 63 (2):357-371.
Ernest Sosa (1985). The Coherence of Virtue and the Virtue of Coherence. Synthese 64 (1):3 - 28.
Moti Mizrahi (2012). Idealizations and Scientific Understanding. Philosophical Studies 160 (2):237-252.
Peter Kosso (2002). The Omniscienter: Beauty and Scientific Understanding. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 16 (1):39 – 48.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2012-02-03Total downloads73 ( #11,360 of 548,999 )Recent downloads (6 months)10 ( #6,725 of 548,999 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
