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A selection of essays that explore the role and importance of wonder in the development in science, philosophy and theology during the early modern era.
Philosophy begins with wonder, according to Plato and Aristotle. Yet Plato and Aristotle did not expand a great deal on what precisely wonder is. Does this fact alone not raise curiosity in us as to why this passion or concept is important? What is wonder's role in science, philosophy, or theology except to end thinking or theorizing as soon as one begins? The primary purpose of this book is to show how seventeenth- and eighteenth-century developments in natural theology, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, and the philosophy of science resulted in a complex history of the passion of wonder-a history in which the elements of continuation, criticism, and reformulation are equally present. Philosophy Begins in Wonder provides the first historical overview of wonder and changes the way we see early modern Europe. It is intended for readers who are curious-who wonder-about how modern philosophy and science were born. The book is for scholars and educated readers alike.
Philosophy begins with wonder, according to Plato and Aristotle. Yet Plato and Aristotle did not expand a great deal on what precisely wonder is. Does this fact alone not raise curiosity in us as to why this passion or concept is important? What is wonder's role in science, philosophy, or theology except to end thinking or theorizing as soon as one begins? The primary purpose of this book is to show how seventeenth- and eighteenth-century developments in natural theology, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, and the philosophy of science resulted in a complex history of the passion of wonder-a history in which the elements of continuation, criticism, and reformulation are equally present. Philosophy Begins in Wonder provides the first historical overview of wonder and changes the way we see early modern Europe. It is intended for readers who are curious-who wonder-about how modern philosophy and science were born. The book is for scholars and educated readers alike.
Price: $39.95
Pages: 390
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Imprint: James Clarke
Publication Date:
27 October 2011
Trim Size: 9.02 X 6.02 in
ISBN: 9780227173725
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, Ethics and moral philosophy
Both Plato and Aristotle have put forward that philosophy begins with wonder, although they didn't take the time to define exactly what wonder is. The authors of this book examine the role of wonder in the science, philosophy and theology of early modernity - the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. First of all, it aims to demonstrate how the evolutions and progressions in natural theology, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics and philosophy during those two centuries finally gave birth to a complex history of the passion of wonder - a history in which can be found as well the elements of continuity, criticism and reformulation. How did modern philosophy and science appear? According to very famous academics, in the Enlightenment and its scientific conception of the world, there is no place for wonder. This book however, as it draws a panorama of the history of wonder, manages to change the way modern Europe is perceived. The myth of wonder's disappearance vanishes as modernity rises.
Deckard and Losonczi demonstrate quite successfully that the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophical developments did not exclude 'wonder' while still maintaining a rigorous scientific position of experimentation and hypothesis, criticism, and reformulation.
— P. H. Brazier
Deckard and Losonczi demonstrate quite successfully that the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophical developments did not exclude 'wonder' while still maintaining a rigorous scientific position of experimentation and hypothesis, criticism, and reformulation.
— P. H. Brazier
List of Figures
Preface / Michael Funk Deckard
Abbreviations
Introduction / Péter Losonczi and Michael Funk Deckard
Part One: Historical, Scientific, and Religious Contexts
1. Wonder and Wondering in the Renaissance / Elisabeth Blum and Paul Richard Blum
2. Wonder, Magic, and Natural Philosophy: The Disenchantment Thesis Revisited / Koen Vermeir
3. Religious Awe at the Origin of Eighteenth-Century Physico-Theology / Miklós Vassányi
Part Two: Wonder in Seventeenth-Century Europe
4. Descartes on the Excellent Use of Admiration / Dorottya Kaposi
5. Admiration, Fear, and Infinity in Pascal's Thinking / Tamás Pavlovits
6. On Thomas Hobbes's Concept of Wonder / Jianhong Chen
7. "Straight toward Heaven": Natural Theology and Politics in Milton's Paradise Lost / Veronika Szántó
8. Malebranche on Restlessness and Curiosity / Roland Breeur
9. Wonder in the Age of the Saeculum: Spinoza / Gábor Boros
Part Three: Wonder in Eighteenth-Century Europe
10. Berkeley's Wonderful Divine Language: Apology and Biblical Realism / Péter Losonczi
11. "Of Curiosity, or the Love of Truth": David Hume on Wonder in A Treatise of Human Nature / Michael Funk Deckard
12. A Risk of Testimony: Astonishment and the Sublime / Baldine Saint Girons
13. Two Sources of Wonder in Early Modern Judaism / Roberta Sabbath
14. Kant and the End of Wonder / Patrick Frierson
15. Ways of Wondering: Beyond the Barbarism of Reflection / William Desmond
List of Contributors
Index of Authors
Index of Subjects
Preface / Michael Funk Deckard
Abbreviations
Introduction / Péter Losonczi and Michael Funk Deckard
Part One: Historical, Scientific, and Religious Contexts
1. Wonder and Wondering in the Renaissance / Elisabeth Blum and Paul Richard Blum
2. Wonder, Magic, and Natural Philosophy: The Disenchantment Thesis Revisited / Koen Vermeir
3. Religious Awe at the Origin of Eighteenth-Century Physico-Theology / Miklós Vassányi
Part Two: Wonder in Seventeenth-Century Europe
4. Descartes on the Excellent Use of Admiration / Dorottya Kaposi
5. Admiration, Fear, and Infinity in Pascal's Thinking / Tamás Pavlovits
6. On Thomas Hobbes's Concept of Wonder / Jianhong Chen
7. "Straight toward Heaven": Natural Theology and Politics in Milton's Paradise Lost / Veronika Szántó
8. Malebranche on Restlessness and Curiosity / Roland Breeur
9. Wonder in the Age of the Saeculum: Spinoza / Gábor Boros
Part Three: Wonder in Eighteenth-Century Europe
10. Berkeley's Wonderful Divine Language: Apology and Biblical Realism / Péter Losonczi
11. "Of Curiosity, or the Love of Truth": David Hume on Wonder in A Treatise of Human Nature / Michael Funk Deckard
12. A Risk of Testimony: Astonishment and the Sublime / Baldine Saint Girons
13. Two Sources of Wonder in Early Modern Judaism / Roberta Sabbath
14. Kant and the End of Wonder / Patrick Frierson
15. Ways of Wondering: Beyond the Barbarism of Reflection / William Desmond
List of Contributors
Index of Authors
Index of Subjects