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UnderstandingWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Understanding
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Understanding(alsocalledintellection)isapsychologicalprocessrelatedtoanabstractorphysicalobject,such
asaperson,situation,ormessagewherebyoneisabletothinkaboutitanduseconceptstodealadequatelywith
thatobject.Understandingisarelationbetweentheknowerandanobjectofunderstanding.Understandingimplies
abilitiesanddispositionswithrespecttoanobjectofknowledgesufficienttosupportintelligentbehavior.[1]
Anunderstandingisthelimitofaconceptualization.Tounderstandsomethingistohaveconceptualizedittoagiven
measure.

Contents
1Examples
2Understandingasamodel
3Componentsofunderstanding
3.1Cognitionandaffect
4Religiousperspectives
5Seealso
6References
7Externallinks

Examples
1. Oneunderstandstheweatherifoneisabletopredictandtogiveanexplanationofsomeofitsfeatures,etc.
2. Apsychiatristunderstandsanotherperson'sanxietiesifhe/sheknowsthatperson'sanxieties,theircauses,
andcangiveusefuladviceonhowtocopewiththeanxiety.
3. Apersonunderstandsacommandifhe/sheknowswhogaveit,whatisexpectedbytheissuer,andwhether
thecommandislegitimate,andwhetheroneunderstandsthespeaker(see4).
4. Oneunderstandsareasoning,anargument,oralanguageifonecanconsciouslyreproducetheinformation
contentconveyedbythemessage.
5. Oneunderstandsamathematicalconceptifonecansolveproblemsusingit,especiallyproblemsthatarenot
similartowhatonehasseenbefore.

Understandingasamodel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding

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GregoryChaitin,anotedcomputerscientist,propoundsaviewthatcomprehensionisakindofdata
compression.[2]Inhisessay"TheLimitsofReason",hearguesthatunderstandingsomethingmeansbeingableto
figureoutasimplesetofrulesthatexplainsit.Forexample,weunderstandwhydayandnightexistbecausewe
haveasimplemodeltherotationoftheearththatexplainsatremendousamountofdatachangesinbrightness,
temperature,andatmosphericcompositionoftheearth.Wehavecompressedalargeamountofinformationby
usingasimplemodelthatpredictsit.Similarly,weunderstandthenumber0.33333...bythinkingofitasonethird.
Thefirstwayofrepresentingthenumberrequiresaninfiniteamountofmemorybutthesecondwaycanproduceall
thedataofthefirstrepresentation,butusesmuchlessinformation.Chaitinarguesthatcomprehensionisthisability
tocompressdata.

Componentsofunderstanding
Cognitionandaffect
Cognitionistheprocessbywhichsensoryinputsaretransformed.Affectreferstotheexperienceoffeelingsor
emotions.Cognitionandaffectconstituteunderstanding.

Religiousperspectives
InCatholicismandAnglicanism,understandingisoneoftheSevengiftsoftheHolySpirit.

Seealso
Activelistening
Awareness
Binah(Kabbalah)
Chineseroom
Communication
Epistemology
Hermeneuticcircle
Informationallistening
Ishindenshin
Listoflanguagedisorders
Meaning(linguistics)
Naturallanguageunderstanding
Nous
Perception
Thought

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding

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1. Bereiter,Carl."EducationandmindintheKnowledgeAge"(http://www.cocon.com/observetory/carlbereiter/).
2. Chaitin,Gregory(2006),TheLimitsOfReason(http://www.umcs.maine.edu/~chaitin/sciamer3.pdf)

Externallinks
Understanding(http://philpapers.org/browse/understanding)at
PhilPapers

Lookupunderstandingin
Wiktionary,thefree
dictionary.

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