ABSTRACT
The imperative to wonder is everywhere in the West. It is there in the sermonizing of those who speak on behalf of religion, and no less is it present in the pronouncements of the most determinedly secular advocates of science. Philosophers and artists alike seek to provoke our wondering, seeing in this capacity for wonder the birth of new possibilities for thought and expression. The advocates of self-help books remind us that if we are oppressed by injustice, all we need to do is to stop, look around and wonder at the world of which we are a part, and we will nd our burdens are eased. Educationalists talk about how it might be possible to inspire wonder in children, so that they might not grow up to be dullards. It seems, in other words, that wherever one goes, the imperative to wonder is inescapable, and the insufciency of wonder a moral aw that needs to be overcome, whether by better education, more art, a deeper understanding of science, the purchase of further self-help tracts, or the devout undertaking of religious disciplines.
