ABSTRACT
As previous chapters have shown, flourishing, understood along Aristotelian or quasi-Aristotelian lines as objective well-being, is re-emerging as a paradigm for the aim of education. This chapter ventures radically beyond the current accounts and Aristotle's own, by arguing that both suffer from a kind of ‘flatness’ or ‘disenchantedness’ in failing to pay heed to the satisfaction of certain impulses that have been proven to give fullness to our lives, having to do with awe-struck emotional attachments to transpersonal ideals. This chapter thus argues that although Aristotelian flourishing is a necessary place to begin a study of human flourishing, it is not a sufficient one to conclude that study, either generally or in classroom contexts; it needs to be extended and ‘enchanted’ in order to do so. That venture does not necessitate an embrace of supernaturalism, however. John White sounds warning signals about exposing children to awe. He worries that, given children's penchant for the supernatural and otherworldly, feeding them material on transcendence will nourish religious inclinations and lead them further away from this-worldly explorations. They should be introduced to ‘wonder’ but not to ‘awe’ proper, because the latter has indelible religious connotations. The chapter argues against White's view and offer the outlines of an (essentially secular) awe-filled education.
