1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910812116403321

Autore

Mason Richard <1948-2006.>

Titolo

Understanding understanding / / Richard Mason

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Albany, : State University of New York Press, c2003

ISBN

0-7914-8612-5

1-4175-3774-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (141 p.)

Collana

SUNY series in philosophy

Disciplina

121

Soggetti

Comprehension (Theory of knowledge)

Knowledge, Theory of

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-130) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Intro -- Understanding Understanding -- Contents -- Introduction -- 1. What we Understand -- 2. How we Understand -- 3. Understanding and Knowledge -- 4. Intelligibility -- 5. Failures of Understanding -- 6. Beyond Understanding -- 7. Wisdom -- Notes -- INTRODUCTION -- CHAPTER 1 -- CHAPTER 2 -- CHAPTER 3 -- CHAPTER 4 -- CHAPTER 5 -- CHAPTER 6 -- CHAPTER 7 -- Bibliography -- Index of Names -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- V -- W -- Z.

Sommario/riassunto

How is understanding to be understood? Are there limits to understanding? What of importance, if anything, could lie beyond understanding? And do we need to understand knowledge before we can know about understanding? Richard Mason's argument is that a critical theory of under¬standing, modeled on past theories of knowledge, cannot be workable.Understanding may bring wisdom: an uncomfort¬able thought for many philosophers in the twentieth century. Yet philosophy aims at expanding understanding at least as much as knowledge. How we understand understanding affects how we understand philosophy. If we put aside a narrow view of under¬standing based upon a Cartesian model of knowledge, we may gain a more liberal, open understanding of philosophy.Mason's treatment of these fascinating problems offers a clear and lucid dialogue with a number of contemporary philosophical schools and



with philosophy's past. His discussions include the thought of Hume, Henry James, Heidegger, Frege, Charles Taylor, Michael Oakeshott, Wittgenstein, Gadamer, James Joyce, and the Guyaki Indians. This fascinating book contributes to the work of many of these traditions as well as to the nature of understanding in areas as diverse as physics, music, and linguistics.