In this article understanding boils down to situating oneself in one's relations with one's environment. Seeking to know oneself through understanding the world is a response to the epistemophilic impulse, which is rooted in an ontological necessity. The emotional states that accompany the primary relationship with the nourishing and affective breast require a thinking apparatus to process them. Any theory, whether conscious or unconscious, individual or collective, depends on the development of this constraint. The question of origins does not exhaust curiosity; it concerns as much the present environment as it does oneself. The author suggests, however, that it is secondary to the need to create meaning.