Additional Aristotle Question

The following quote from the article refers to the forms of knowledge.

“In the case of what is to possess sense, the first transition is due to the action of the male parent and takes place before birth so that at birth the living thing is, in respect of sensation, at the stage which corresponds to the possession of knowledge. Actual sensation corresponds to the stage of the exercise of knowledge. But between the two cases compared there is a difference; the objects that excite the sensory powers to activity, the seen, the heard, &c., are outside. The ground of this difference is that what actual sensation apprehends is individuals, while what knowledge apprehends is universals, and these are in a sense within the soul. That is why a man can exercise his knowledge when he wishes, but his sensation does not depend upon himself a sensible object must be there. A similar statement must be made about our knowledge of what is sensible on the same ground, viz. that the sensible objects are individual and external.”

Based on this section (as well as other portions of Aristotle’s work) what does it mean to “know?” How do these concepts define Aristotle as a mechanist or organismic?