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Balanced Wonder

Experiential Sources of Imagination, Virtue, and Human Flourishing
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In Balanced Wonder: Experiential Sources of Imagination, Virtue, and Human Flourishing, Jan B. W. Pedersen digs deep into the alluring topic of wonder and argues in a scholarly yet accessible way that the experience of wonder, when balanced, serves as a strong contributor to human flourishing. Along the way, Pedersen describes seven properties of wonder and shows how wonder it is distinct from other altered states, including awe, horror, the sublime, curiosity, amazement, admiration, and astonishment. Examining the contribution of both emotion and imagination in the experience of wonder---filtered through the Neo-Aristotelian work of philosophers Douglas Rasmussen, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Martha Nussbaum---Pedersen also makes it clear that wonder may contribute to human flourishing in various ways, such as the widening of perception, extension of moral scope or sensitivity, a wondrous afterglow, openness, humility, an imaginative attitude, reverence, and gratitude. Importantly, for wonder to act as a strong contributor to human flourishing one needs to wonder at the right thing, in the right amount, in at the right time, in the right way, and for the right purpose.
Jan B. W. Pedersen is lecturer at University College Diakonissestiftelsen.
Chapter 1: The Lure of Wonder Chapter 2: Wonder and Emotion Chapter 3: Wonder and Imagination Chapter 4: Implications of the Role of Imagination in Wonder Chapter 5: Wonder, Human Flourishing, and Virtue Conclusion: Wondering about Wonder
Intellectual luminaries from Socrates to Einstein have believed that wonder is the driving force behind humanity's creative impulses. Jan B. W. Pedersen strengthens this argument by explaining how wonder incites the imagination in ways that help us envision worlds that 'might be.' In doing so, Balanced Wonder demonstrates philosophy's relevance to contemporary investigations of how we might optimally engage life. -- Robert C. Fuller, Bradley University
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