知识与理解:何者具有最终的价值--评普理查德的认知价值论

Which One Possesses the FinalValue:Knowledge or Understanding Comment on Richard's Theory of Cognitive Value

普理查德希求用“理解”的概念来解释认知的价值问题。在否定知识具有最终价值,主张只有理解才具有这种价值时,普理查德论证的关键在于否定知识等同于认知成就,断言本质上只有理解才是一种认知成就,因此,知识实际上并不具有独特的价值,只有理解才具有独特的、最终的价值。对普理查德的上述观点,有些学者提出了反对意见,认为有些理解并非具有那种认知成就,主张知识和理解具有相同种类的认识价值。但在普理查德的论证中似乎还存在某些没解释清楚、不能成立乃至有矛盾的地方,如普理查德由存在着认知者具有知识、但却并不展现出相应的认知成就的个别情况,来推出知识不是一种成就的普遍性结论,这属于以偏概全的做法。

Pritchard hopes to use the concept of"understanding"to explain the issue of cognitive value.When he denies that knowledge has the ultimate value and argues that only understanding has this value,the key to his argument is to deny that knowledge is equivalent to cognitive achievement and assert that only understanding is essentially a cognitive achievement.Therefore,knowledge actually does not have unique value;only understanding has the unique and ultimate value.Some scholars have raised objections to Pritchard’s above-mentioned viewpoints,arguing that some understandings do not have that kind of cognitive achievement,or claiming that knowledge and understanding possess the same kind of cognitive value.This paper believes that there seems to be some unexplained,untenable,and even contradictory points in Pritchard's argument.For example,Pritchard draws the general conclusion that knowledge is not a kind of achievement on the basis of the existence of some particular cases in which cognizers have knowledge but do not show the corresponding cognitive achievement.This is a partial generalization,however.