Wondering about Wonder
The title of this newsletter is, unsurprisingly for those who know me, inspired by Aristotle.
In ancient Greek, θαυμαστοσ (thaumastos) means “wonderful, wondrous, marvelous.” Aristotle briefly discusses wonder in his Metaphysics:
“For by way of wondering, people both now and at first began to philosophize, wondering first about the strange things near at hand, then going forward little by little in this way and coming to impasses about greater things, such as about the attributes of the moon and things pertaining to the sun and the stars and the coming into being of the whole” (982b13-18).
Wonder is sparked not only by natural phenomena. The arts also can have this effect on us. Aristotle notes in his Poetics that well-crafted tragedies and epic poetry can be “source[s] of wonder” (1460a11-12) that variously please us or leave us thunderstruck.
Wondering about something is not merely to be curious. As one of the finest and most thought-provoking translators of Aristotle’s works, Joe Sachs, explains in the introduction to his translation of Poetics:
“What is characteristic of wonder is the sudden loss of the sense that we understand what is going on. What it knocks away are all our habitual assumptions and opinions. In the state of wonder we are not fitting what is in front of us into the explanatory structures that normally guide our lives, but are in the rare condition of taking in the things before us just as they are. . . . The state of wonder holds in abeyance for an extended moment the natural flow of our opinions. That is an amazing gift that the world or a poet can sometimes give us, but if anything is to come of it, it will have to be our own doing” (pp. 16-17).
One of the, well, wonderful aspects that Sachs brings out about Aristotle’s account of wonder is that we are not left standing around passively taking in or consuming marvelous things. It’s on us to exercise agency, “if anything is to come of” the gift of wonder. We need to choose actively to be open to, take in, and engage with the wonders on offer by the world and our fellow humans—and then somehow live differently and better for the wondrous encounter.
Great stuff! I just recently re-read Sachs's introduction to the Poetics, and I was struck by his focus on wonder - that (not katharsis) is the ultimate, deeply personal impact of a great work of art. And of course philosophy begins in wonder, so art and philosophy are intimately related. Fascinating.
Wonder-full!