Abstract
Although wonder has been the subject of much discussion within the philosophy and cognitive science of emotions concerning its perceptual and spiritual aspects, its cognitive aspects are not as clear. The main effort has been to clarify the effects this emotion has on cognition, notably aa broadening of its structures to accommodate a perceptual content marked by beauty, vastness, and complexity of detail. However, emotions can have the same effect on cognition without thereby being cognitive emotions themselves. In an attempt to demarcate the emotion of wonder, we will advance a thesis that aims at specifying its cognitive dimension, namely: wonder is an emotion that is a constitutive part of a metacognitive process by which the agent becomes sensitive to the limits of her conceptual apparatus. What results from this process are precisely the typical sensations which accompany this emotion, such as belonging and reverence. The paper is structured as follows. First, we will bring to the fore the problems inherent in understanding the cognitive emotion of wonder. Second, we will evince a pertinent case of metacognition and show in what way that capacity can be constituted by emotions. Third, we will elucidate the metacognitive character of wonder. Finally, we will offer a case to make clear the explanatory potential of our analysis, namely, the role of wonder in the formation and maintenance of religious belief.
Highlights
Wonder has been the subject of much discussion within the philosophy and cognitive science of emotions concerning its perceptual and spiritual aspects, its cognitive aspects are not as clear
The main effort has been to clarify the effects this emotion has on cognition, notably aa broadening of its structures to accommodate a perceptual content marked by beauty, vastness, and complexity of detail
Emotions can have the same effect on cognition without thereby being cognitive emotions themselves
Summary
In the last few years, the emotion of wonder has received a lot of attention from philosophers and cognitive scientists. Wonder typically involves a violation of cognitive expectations through the experience of a perceptual content marked by beauty, vastness, and complexity of detail It mobilizes attention and interest in the experienced content, which causes the agent to engage in exploratory activities concerning the relevant objects. Is the problem: experiences which induce wonder, as we mentioned, are characterized by violating the agent’s cognitive expectations It does not seem as though wonder belongs to the domain of propositional attitudes. One way to understand this flexibility is precisely by pointing to the impact of wonder in cognition Note that this does not change when one takes these behaviors to be appraisals or evaluative judgments since one might say that these are cognitive appraisals concerning the content that impresses us by its beauty, vastness, the complexity of detail, and so on. It is necessary to show, precisely, in which way wonder is a cognitive emotion
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