Friday, 22 October 2010
Understanding and Explanatory Value
Visiting Scholar (CPS)
12:05 pm, 817R Cathedral of Learning
Abstract: Recently, philosophers of science have claimed that: (1) there is a concept of understanding that is not reducible to explanation, and (2) this concept illuminates what is valuable about explanation. These proposals include that understanding is a goal of explanation; that understanding is a benefit of explanation; and that understanding is a necessary means to explanation. I argue that none of these three proposals satisfy the two aforementioned conditions. Nevertheless, their failures are instructive in telling us what understanding is—and is not.