Author: Xu Jiaxin
Link: http://www.zhihu.com/question/20877279/answer/82534198
Why is a concept so difficult to understand? How do people understand it?
1. Mr. Zhao Yiheng gave a very incisive explanation on understanding in "Cultural Semiotics":
if part of it is separated from the system, it will no longer have meaning. It cannot be stored or transmitted.
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the simplest example: traffic lights are red, yellow, and green, and it doesn't make sense to analyze why a red light is a stop signal in isolation. A red light makes sense because it's in the signal system. There are yellow and green lights with their respective meanings as the background. The whole system makes it meaningful.
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A Nanjing native can say: "I am a Lanjing native", or "I am a Nanjing native". ...so the "correctness" of this sound depends on its relative position in the system, and as long as its pronunciation is within the variation of that phoneme in that system, it is permissible and understandable.
Therefore, what matters is not the individual characteristics of each unit, but its relationship to other components in the system, its position in the system. In research, what is important is not to have an empirical general understanding of the characteristics of things, but to understand how it is dynamically related to the system network. Otherwise, as far as the thing itself is concerned, no matter how thoroughly we understand it, we still fail to grasp its essence.
It can be said that the essential meaning of things does not lie in things, but outside things.
Take another natural science example. Darwin first studied individual species. His research was traditional and descriptive. No matter how subtle and rich his research was, it was an isolated contribution to biology. But later he discovered that the rise and fall of individual species should be linked to their living environment, that is, not to study individual species, but to study the system of the biosphere. This change in perspective has revolutionized biology as we know it,
Sukhomlinsky pointed out in "Advice to Teachers" that children's weak understanding is largely caused by weak background knowledge, which he calls "intellectual background".
The more complex the material that must be memorized, the more generalizations, conclusions, and rules must be kept in memory, the broader the "intellectual background" of the learning process should be. In other words, for a student to memorize formulas, rules, conclusions, and other generalizations firmly, he must read and think through a lot of material that does not require memorization. Reading should be closely linked with learning. Reading contributes to memorization if one can think deeply about facts, phenomena, and things that are the basis for those generalizations that should be kept in memory. This kind of reading can be called reading that creates the necessary intellectual background for learning and memorization. The more a student reads from interest in the material itself, from a desire to know, think, and understand, the easier it is for him to memorize material that must be memorized and kept in memory.
For example, when learning English, the hardest part is not reciting the meaning of Chinese, but the nuances of Chinese meaning and English meaning: many words may have exactly the same meaning in Chinese, but when you are actually writing, why use this instead of that? It can't be understood.
An important concept is "situation" or "context". The essence of the situation is actually the system—the birthplace of meaning. All meaning is not isolated, it must be in a system. Once the connection between the opposite and the front and back cannot be found, the meaning seems to lose its direction and shoots indiscriminately. The decoding of meaning is inseparable from the orientation, and the system provides a large scope and context, and provides the possibility of positioning.
It's a very shocking revelation: when we find a piece of knowledge difficult to understand, it's not that we have a bad mind, it's just that we got lost in the search for meaning. We need to know where exactly the knowledge we seek is in the system. For example, the red light in the front is at the position of the signal light system, and finding the position means understanding, which is a more visual way of thinking.
2. If "system" is likened to a map, "relative" is like road signs pointing to each other.
For example, to understand the two words "war" and "battle", both of which mean "war" in Chinese, it would be very difficult to understand the two in isolation, but it would be very easy to understand them in comparison: large and small "battle" Constitute "war (such as "World War II")", war is a larger-scale war, and battle is a small battle.
To understand everything in the world, we cannot do without the frame of reference, which is actually a relative concept. For example, 0 is not nothing but a reference - zero Celsius is not the absence of temperature, but only the freezing point of water as a reference for the convenience of life. A good choice of reference frame can greatly optimize our perception and computation. The concept of radian (rad) is a concept that was difficult for me to understand when I was in high school. To be precise, I actually have no concept of why the ordinary angle system or the radian system is used.
Why use the radian system
We estimate everything in the world without the unit of measurement, which is also a relative concept. Without contrast, humans cannot comprehend the world, even in basic sizes. The units of measurement we are accustomed to, such as "grams", "meters", and "seconds" are also artificially defined results, and there is an assumed absolute standard unit one. It is only on this established basis that human perception has its place.
Understanding cannot be separated from correction, which is essentially a contrast. For example, when we understand the concept of "apple", you may think that there is no comparison, but it is not. "What is it that distinguishes it from other things and becomes an apple?" This is the most important question in our understanding of apples. In the process of understanding apples, we must go through a lot of fitting and correction processes to finally form our good perception - young children may not be able to distinguish between red apples and green apples, but as long as there is one experience, such as children hearing others Calling green apples also apples, he knew that both belonged to apples. Only by repeating "yes or no" again and again can we approach our final destination, so the question arises: Who defines "right and wrong"? Right and wrong are relative in themselves, and correction is inseparable from the judgment of "understanding right/understanding wrong". This process is so self-conscious that we can't even feel that the contrasting process is completed.
Relativity is something that can only be understood by "human beings". It is precisely because of likes and dislikes that we have thoughts, and as the entity of all things in the world, there is no distinction at all. If humans want to understand, they must understand that "relative" is human beings. Everything to think about.
3. Let's go back to the original question: what makes understanding so difficult?
One is that there is no background and no system, and the other is that there is no relative concept. In fact, the composition of the background and the system cannot be separated from the "relative". The system is not some ethereal thing, but is composed of opposite and related components.
In general, understanding is the process of finding the relative position of things in a system.
4. Practical drills (may be enlightening for financial personnel, and may be a bit difficult for other professionals to read)
Let's understand a more complex concept: accounting.
Accounting: With currency as the main unit of measurement, vouchers as the main basis, and with the help of special technical methods, comprehensive, comprehensive, continuous and systematic accounting and supervision of the capital movement of a certain unit, providing accounting information to relevant parties, participating Operation and management, an economic management activity aimed at improving economic benefits.
Are you dizzy? To understand the concept of super long, we must remember "deconstruction": understand it bit by bit and correct it bit by bit.
step 1. First look at the attribute: large-scale - economic management activities.
The essence of accounting is an information system. Enterprises need to know how the enterprise is running in order to make decisions. Therefore, someone needs to record the daily production and operation in digital form. By looking at the larger background of business management, you can have a basic perception that accounting is just a small part of managing this big machine.
Step 2. Decompose and find relative concepts: contrast perception and positioning
5. In our learning process, there are often long descriptions, and the most essential things are often not so complicated. The ability to find essential differences is a very important ability, which is a key step in understanding.
I secretly think that the role of a teacher is nothing more than being lazy. The main role of a teacher is to tell you the key points, so that you can find the essential difference for the first time. If you teach yourself, you may also be able to find the essential difference. stuff, but it takes a lot more work.