The following was posted by me thIs morning, on our university forum.
Ludwk
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Thank you Amy and David. Your posts helped me to formulate a presumably better (?) description of "understanding."
Stephen Grimm < http://www.varietiesofunderstanding.com/ > wrote that human beings "have a natural desire to understand the world. ... That desire has fueled the development of science, philosophy, and theology across time. But what exactly is understanding?" My tentative answer to this difficult question is shown in blue below.
Understanding, in a given field of knowledge, is the highest level of intellectual mastery of a subject matter.
Those who claim to understand something are expected to be able, among other things, to explain the subject to themselves and to others. Acceptable ways to explain reality are different in different fields of knowledge. Ways to explain historical events, for example, are different from ways of explaining chemical reactions. That is why terms such as "historical understanding, chemical understanding, intuitive understanding," etc. are sometimes used.