title: Understanding beyond grasping propositions: a discussion of chess and fish.
abstract: In this paper, we argue that, contra Strevens (2013), understanding in the sciences is sometimes partially constituted by the possession of abilities; hence, it is not (in such cases) exhausted by the understander's bearing a particular psychological or epistemic relationship to some set of structured propositions. Specifically, the case will be made that one does not really understand why a modeled phenomenon occurred unless one has the ability to actually work through (meaning run and grasp at each step) a model simulation of the underlying dynamic.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. dawilk@gmail.com
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Wilkenfeld
authors.forename: Jennifer K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Hellmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D032882:Comprehension; D005399:Fishes / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011998:Recreation; D012586:Science; D012919:Social Behavior