Abstract
The basic theory of scientific understanding presented in Sections 1–2 exploits three main ideas.First, that to understand a phenomenonP (for a given agent) is to be able to fitP into the cognitive background corpusC (of the agent).Second, that to fitP intoC is to connectP with parts ofC (via “arguments” in a very broad sense) such that the unification ofC increases.Third, that the cognitive changes involved in unification can be treated as sequences of shifts of phenomena inC. How the theory fits typical examples of understanding and how it excludes spurious unifications is explained in detail. Section 3 gives a formal description of the structure of cognitive corpuses which contain descriptive as well as inferential components. The theory of unification is then refined in the light of so called “puzzling phenomena”, to enable important distinctions, such as that between consonant and dissonant understanding. In Section 4, the refined theory is applied to several examples, among them a case study of the development of the atomic model. The final part contains a classification of kinds of understanding and a discussion of the relation between understanding and explanation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Achinstein, P.: 1983,The Nature of Explanation, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Alston, W. P.: 1971, ‘The Place of the Explanation of Particular Facts in Science’,Philosophy of Science 38, 13–34.
Belnap, N. and Steel, T.: 1976,The Logic of Questions and Answers. Yale University Press, New Haven.
Bromberger, S.: 1965, ‘An Approach to Explanation’, in R. Butler (ed.),Analytical Philosophy, Second Series. Basil Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 72–105.
Eberle, R., Kaplan, D. and Montague, R.: 1961, ‘Hempel and Oppenheim on Explanation’,Philosophy of Science 28, 418–28.
Fetzer, J.: 1981, ‘Probability and Explanation’,Synthese 48, 371–408.
Friedman, M.: 1974, ‘Explanation and Scientific Understanding’,Journal of Philosophy 71, 5–19.
Friedman, M.: 1983,Foundations of Space-Time Theories. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Gärdenfors, P.: 1988,Knowledge in Flux, MIT, Cambridge, MA.
Harman, G.: 1965, ‘The Inference to the Best Explanation’,Philosophical Review 74, 88–95.
Hempel, C. G.: 1977, ‘Nachwort 1976: Neuere Ideen zu den Problemen der statistischen Erklärung’, in C. G. Hempel (ed.),Aspekte wissenschaftlicher Erklärung, W. de Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 98–123.
Hempel, C. G.: 1965,Aspects of Scientific Explanation (and Other Essays), Free Press, New York.
Hempel, C. G.: 1968, ‘Maximal Specificity and Lawlikeness in Probabilistic Explanation’,Philosophy of Science 35, 116–133.
Hooker, C. A.: 1981, ‘Towards a General Theory of Reduction’,Dialogue 20, Part I, 38–59, Part II, 201–36, Part III, 497–529.
Jeffrey, R. C.: 1971, ‘Statistical Explanation vs. Statistical Relevance’, in W. Salmon (1971), pp. 19–28.
Kim, J.: 1963, ‘On the Logical Conditions of Deductive Explanation’,Philosophy of Science 30, 286–91.
Kitcher, P.: 1981, ‘Explanatory Unification’,Philosophy of Science 48, 507–31.
Kitcher, P.: 1989, ‘Explanatory Unification and the Causal Structure of the World’, in P. Kitcher and W. Salmon (eds.), pp. 410–505.
Kitcher, P. and Salmon, W. (eds.): 1989,Scientific Explanation (Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science Vol. XIII), University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Kuhn, W. and Stöckler, M.: 1988, ‘Deduktionen und Interpretationen. Erklärungen der Planckschen Strahlungsformel in physikinterner, wissenschaftstheoretischer und didaktischer Perspektive”, in W. Kuhn (ed.),Didaktik der Physik (Tagungsband der DGP 1987), FA Didaktik, Giessen.
Lambert, K.: 1988, ‘Prolegomenon zu einer Theorie des Verstehens’, in G. Schurz (ed.), pp. 299–319.
Lambert, K.: 1990, ‘On Whether an Answer to a Why-Question Is an Explanation if and only if it Yields Scientific Understanding’, forthcoming.
Lambert, K. and Brittan, G. Jr.: 1987,An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, 3rd ed, Ridgeview, Atascadero.
Lehrer, K.: 1974,Knowledge. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
McDermott D. and Doyle, J.: 1980, ‘Non-Monotonic Logic I’,Artificial Intelligence 13, 41–72.
Moore, R. C.: 1985, ‘Semantic Considerations on Nonmonotonic Logic’,Artificial Intelligence 25, 75–94.
Morrison, M.: 1990, ‘Unification, Realism and Inference’,British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 41, 305–32.
Niiniluoto, I.: 1982, ‘Truthlikeness for Quantitative Statements’,PSA 1, 208–16.
Salmon, W.: 1971,Statistical Explanation and Statistical Relevance (with contributions by R. Jeffrey and J. Greeno), University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh.
Salmon, W.: 1978, ‘Why ask ‘Why?’?’,Proc. Adr. Amer. Phil. Assoc. 51, 683–705.
Salmon, W.: 1984,Scientific Explanation and the Causal Structure of the World, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Salmon, W.: 1989,Four Decades of Scientific Explanation, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Salmon, W. and Kitcher, P.: 1987, ‘Van Fraassen on Explanation’,Journal of Philosophy 84, 315–30.
Scheibe, E.: 1981, ‘Eine Fallstudie zur Grenzfallbeziehung in der Quantenmechanik’, in J. Nitsch et al. (eds.),Grundlagenprobleme der modernen Physik. Bl, Wien-Zürich, pp. 257–69.
Schurz, G.: 1982, ‘Ein logisch-pragmatisches Modell von deduktiv-nomologischer Erklärung (Systematisierung)’,Erkenntnis 17, 321–47.
Schurz, G.: 1983,Wissenschaftliche Erklärung. Ansätze zu einer logisch-pragmatischen Wissenschaftstheorie, dbv-Verlag der TU Graz, Graz.
Schurz, G.: 1985, ‘Die wissenschaftstheoretische Diskussion um den Erklärungsbegriff und ihre Bedeutung für die Physikdidaktik’, in W. Kuhn (ed.),Didaktik der Physik (Physikertagung 1984), Gahmig, Giessen, pp. 55–68.
Schurz, G.: 1988, ‘Was ist wissenschaftliches Verstehen? Eine Theorie verstehensbewirkender Erklärungsepisoden’, in G. Schurz (ed.), pp. 235–98.
Schurz, G. (ed.): 1988,Erklären und Verstehen in der Wissenschaft, R. Oldenbourg (Scientia Nova), Munich.
Schurz, G.: 1991, ‘Relevant Deduction. From Solving Paradoxes Towards a General Theory’,Erkenntnis 35, 391–437.
Schurz, G. and Weingartner, P.: 1987, ‘Verisimilitude Defined by Relevant Consequence-Elements. A New Reconstruction of Popper's Original Idea’, in T. A. F. Kuipers (ed.),What Is Closer-To-The-Truth, Rodopi, Amsterdam, pp. 47–77.
Scriven, M.: 1959, ‘Truisms as the Grounds for Historical Explanation’, in P. Gardiner (ed.),Theories of History, New York, pp. 443–68.
Stegmüller, W.: 1986,Probleme und Resultate der Wissenschaftstheorie und Analytischen Philosophie. Band II. Dritter Teilband: Die Entwicklung des neuen Strukturalismus seit 1973, Springer, Berlin.
Thagard, P.: 1978, ‘The Best Explanation: Criteria for Theory Choice’,Journal of Philosophy 75, 76–92.
Thagard, P.: 1989, ‘Explanatory Coherence’,Behavioral and Brain Sciences 12, 435–69.
Thompson, R. F.: 1967,Foundations of Physiological Psychology, Harper & Row, New York.
Toulmin, S.: 1963,Foresight and Understanding, Harper & Row, New York.
Tuomela, R.: 1980, ‘Explaining Explaining’,Erkenntnis 15, 211–43.
Van Fraassen, B.: 1980,The Scientific Image, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Van Fraassen, B.: 1985, ‘Salmon on Explanation’,Journal of Philosophy 11, 639–51.
Wright, L.: 1976,Teleological Explanations, University of California Press, Berkeley.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
We are indebted to Peter Woodruff, Brian Skyrms, Jim Woodward and an unknown referee for helpful comments. Thanks also are due to the Focused Research Program on Scientific Explanation at the University of California, Irvine, who underwrote the expenses of the research.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schurz, G., Lambert, K. Outline of a theory of scientific understanding. Synthese 101, 65–120 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01063969
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01063969