![I Wonder](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/I_Wonder.jpg)
Wonder is an emotion comparable to
surprise that people feel when perceiving something rare or unexpected (but not threatening). It has historically been seen as an important aspect of
human nature
Human nature is a concept that denotes the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind, or ...
, specifically being linked with
curiosity
Curiosity (from Latin '' cūriōsitās'', from ''cūriōsus'' "careful, diligent, curious", akin to ''cura'' "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in humans ...
and the drive behind intellectual exploration.
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/ref> Wonder is also often compared to the emotion of awe
Awe is an emotion comparable to wonder but less joyous. On Robert Plutchik's wheel of emotions awe is modeled as a combination of surprise and fear.
One dictionary definition is "an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., ...
but awe implies fear
Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...
or respect
Respect, also called esteem, is a positive feeling or action shown towards someone or something considered important or held in high esteem or regard. It conveys a sense of admiration for good or valuable qualities. It is also the process of ...
rather than joy
The word joy refers to the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune, and is typically associated with feelings of intense, long lasting happiness.
Dictionary definitions
Dictionary definitions of joy typically include a sense of ...
. Science fiction can produce a sense of wonder
A sense of wonder (sometimes jokingly written sensawunda) is an intellectual and emotional state frequently invoked in discussions of science and biology, higher consciousness, science fiction, and philosophy.
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Definitions
This entry f ...
.
Philosophical musings
French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer René Descartes
René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Mathem ...
described admiration as one of the primary emotions because he claimed that emotions, in general, are reactions to unexpected phenomena. He noted that when people first encounter a surprising or new object that is "far different from what we knew before, or from what we supposed it should have been, we admire it, and are astonished at it." But Descartes, unlike the Greek philosophers before him, held a fundamentally negative view of admiration: "Although it is good to be born with some kind of inclination to this passion dmirationbecause it disposes us to the acquisition of sciences, yet we ought afterwards to endeavor as much as we can to be rid of it."
This sentiment is reflected in other early modern authors like Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5/15 April 1588 – 4/14 December 1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book ''Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influent ...
in his discussion about the English words Curiosity
Curiosity (from Latin '' cūriōsitās'', from ''cūriōsus'' "careful, diligent, curious", akin to ''cura'' "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in humans ...
, Joy
The word joy refers to the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune, and is typically associated with feelings of intense, long lasting happiness.
Dictionary definitions
Dictionary definitions of joy typically include a sense of ...
and Admiration
Admiration is a social emotion felt by observing people of competence, talent, or skill exceeding standards.Algoe, S. B., & Haidt, J. (2009). Witnessing excellence in action: The ‘other-praising’ emotions of elevation, gratitude, and admirati ...
. Hobbes argued that since "... whatsoever therefore happeneth new to a man, giveth him hope and matter of knowing somewhat that he knew not before", which creates "...hope and expectation of future knowledge from anything that happeneth new and strange", a "passion which we commonly call ADMIRATION; and the same considered as appetite, is called CURIOSITY, which is appetite for knowledge."
In ''De Homine'' XII, Hobbes discussed the "joy" of "admiration" again contrasting humans to other animals. Hobbes argues that "...this passion is almost peculiar to men." He pointed out that "even if other animals, whenever they behold something new or unusual, admire it as far as they behold something new or unusual" so that they can determine if it dangerous or harmless, men on the other hand, "when they see something new, seek to know whence it came and to what use they can put it."
In ''The History of Astronomy'', Scottish 18th century economist and philosopher Adam Smith
Adam Smith (baptized 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as "The Father of Economics"——— ...
dwells on wonder not to explain the difference between human and animal thinking only, but rather to explain why we study natural science
Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...
. An uncivilized person, or child, is still clearly different from other animals because "it beats the stone that hurts it". The child is concerned with finding an account of cause and effect, but it is limited in its ability to do so: "But when law has established order and security, and subsistence ceases to be precarious, the curiosity of mankind is increased, and their fears are diminished. ... Wonder, therefore, and not any expectation of advantage from its discoveries, is the first principle which prompts mankind to the study of Philosophy, of that science which pretends to lay open the concealed connections that unite the various appearance of nature; and they pursue this study for its own sake, as an original pleasure or good in itself, without regarding its tendency to procure them the means of many other pleasures."
In ''God in Search of Man
''God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism'' is a work on Jewish philosophy by Rabbi Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel. Heschel saw the work's title as a paradoxical formula, rooted in the rabbinic tradition, summarizing human history as seen in t ...
'', Abraham Joshua Heschel
Abraham Joshua Heschel (January 11, 1907 – December 23, 1972) was a Polish-born American rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians and Jewish philosophers of the 20th century. Heschel, a professor of Jewish mysticism at the Jewish T ...
claims that wonder is a key emotion in living a worthy life. The attitude a religious person must take is, "This is the Lord's doing, it is marvelous in our eyes" (Psalms 118:23). Heschel insists that ultimate meaning can be sensed beyond a naturalistic understanding of natural phenomena, and that such meaning is mysterious and awe-inspiring.
In ''The Tangled Wing'', Melvin Konner
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Melvin Joel Konner (born 1946) is an American anthropologist who is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Anthropology and of Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology at Emory University. He studied at Brooklyn College, CUNY (1966), where ...
reviews the biologist's view of this pain and pleasure of learning. He notes that "If the problem is too unfamiliar, it will evoke attention; if it is difficult but doable, it will evoke interest, attention, and arousal and, when solved, it will evoke pleasure, often signalled by a smile" (p. 242). He says that "wonder" is "the hallmark of our species and the central feature of the human spirit".
Notes
Bibliography
*
*Nicola Gess (2017).
Instruments of Wonder - Wondrous Instruments. Optical Devices in the Poetics of the Marvelous of Fontenelle, Rist, Breitinger, and Hoffmann
. ''The German Quarterly'' (90/4): 407–422.
*
External links
* SNSF Sinergia research project
The Power of Wonder. The Instrumentalization of Admiration, Astonishment and Surprise in Discourses of Knowledge, Power and Art
'' led by Prof. Dr. Nicola Gess (University of Basel) and Prof. Dr. Mireille Schnyder (University of Zurich).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wonder
Emotions
Positive mental attitude
Virtue