I don’t understand what understanding means
On the internet we can find several dozen English synonyms of this word. This is the same in the Polish language with the word “rozumienie”. If I am a Polish native speaker then do I absolutely know what every English person feels when he says this word? Look at wiki pages in these languages about understanding/rozumienie. Different point of views, different fields of philosophy, different philosophers and definitions. We can choose and/or create one definition of this term and catch everything from this perspective.
I believe in the universal power of abstractions but do I believe in the universal subtlety of abstraction? Do I catch every sense and any meaning when I define what the understanding is?
I don’t understand what understanding is
The closest definition of understanding which I mean is “having knowledge about any aspect of the Object including: past states, future possibilities, nature, influences, location and other”. It is simple with physical objects. It is less simple with something like (e.g.) language – I suppose that linguists have very deep and wide knowledge about influences, future possibilities and the nature of language, but don’t know every past state and where is “language located”. Location of language is a very hard to understand aspect of neurology, sociology, philosophy and more… Location of understanding is also a very hard to understand aspect of neurology, sociology, philosophy and more…
Uncertainty of understanding
If we take the simplest situation – understanding of some physical object like a chair – we can think that we have knowledge about “this chair”. Is it true in the definition above? We don’t have knowledge about past states – including each stage of production. Nature of “this chair” is more clear but future possibilities are infinite. We can destroy “this chair” or we can use “this chair” even in self-defense.
Delusion of understanding
Do you think you still understand “that chair”? What if I say that it was a joke and “this chair” doesn’t exist and if it is only in my mind? Socrates said “I know that I know nothing”. Plato extends this “knowing nothing” and creates his thesis of an alternative world. But even if I’m sure that “this chair” exists. Even if we simplify a topic of language. Even if I am able to analyze music, parenthood, technology, mathematics, science, engineering, I understand nothing about them.
Conclusion
There has been times, some people in human history, after making their discoveries, thought they had reached the limits of knowledge on a given subject. Many people use the word “understand” when they have only a little knowledge on a given subject, or erroneous knowledge (whatever that means). I undermine the word “understand” as an often overused word.
Why we should undermine understanding anything?
- To gain humility,
- To make progress in feeling and imagining anything,
- Because it is a fun and nice game
I invite you to my undermining the understanding of everything.