A portrait of understanding as a non-factive state

Abstract Often, inquirers who do not know the right answer to a question they are inquiring into are nevertheless in a position to grasp a range of possible answers to it. This article proposes that such inquirers are in a position to have a particular form of understanding: non-factive objectual understanding. The state differs from non-factive states discussed in the extant understanding literature by focusing on grasping of multiple accounts that are all live possibilities . Non-factive objectual understanding is an epistemic improvement that primarily enriches the subject’s grasp on the target phenomenon. Once the contours and the value of this state are made clearer, its importance in accounting for nuances of epistemic progress in many different contexts also emerges—including, but not limited to, progress made in inquiries where knowledge and factive understanding is, practically or as a matter of principle, out of reach.