Philosophy Begins in Wonder: An Introduction to Early Modern Philosophy, Theology, and Science - Softcover

Funk Deckard, Michael; Losonczi, Péter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0227173724 ISBN 13: 9780227173725

Publisher: James Clarke & Co, 2011

Synopsis

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.

Table of Contents

List of Figures Preface Michael Funk Deckard Abbreviations Introduction Peter 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 Miklos Vassanyi 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 Tamas 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 Szanto 8. Malebranche on Restlessness and Curiosity Roland Breeur 9. Wonder in the Age of the Saeculum: Spinoza Gabor Boros Part Three: Wonder in Eighteenth-Century Europe 10. Berkeley's Wonderful Divine Language: Apology and Biblical Realism Peter 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

About this title

About the Author

Michael Funk Deckard is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Lenoir-Rhyne College in North Carolina. He has taught History of Ideas, Philosophy, and Ethics at the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), North Central College (Naperville, Illinois) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, Illinois). He also has published articles and reviews in journals such as The Heythrop Journal; British Journal of Aesthetics; Eighteenth-Century Thought; Bijdragen: International Journal in Philosophy and Theology; Philosophy in Review; Tijdschrift voor Filosofie, and Verbum: Analecta Neolatina.

Edition details

• Publisher: James Clarke & Co
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0227173724
• ISBN 13: 9780227173725
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 390