Wonderment: A Philosophical Analysis of Its Nature and Its Attending Virtue

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dc.contributor.advisorSchroeder, Timothyen_US
dc.contributor.advisorBradford, Gwenen_US
dc.contributor.advisorFanger, Claireen_US
dc.creatorSmith, Joshua Tyleren_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-21T21:57:02Zen_US
dc.date.available2024-05-21T21:57:02Zen_US
dc.date.created2024-05en_US
dc.date.issued2024-04-18en_US
dc.date.submittedMay 2024en_US
dc.date.updated2024-05-21T21:57:02Zen_US
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation delves into the emotion of wonderment and proposes that it serves as a foundation for a neglected virtue: openness to wonderment. I divide this work into two parts. In the initial part, Chapters 2 and 3, I present my account of wonderment and its close connection with the perception of a beautiful mystery. In order to motivate this account, I provide sketches of what beauty and mystery are and how responding to them constitutes wonderment. This account nicely captures the cognitive and emotional engagement that is recognizable in wonderment and how wonderment is both inviting and daunting. In the second part of this work, detailed in Chapters 4 and 5, I transition to consider the virtue of openness to wonderment. In this second part, I have two broad aims. First, to show that this neglected virtue is, in fact, a virtue. Second, to show that this virtue is valuable for human life. Openness to wonderment is characterized not simply by passive receptivity but also equally by active cultivation of our attention and appreciation for wonder-inducing experiences. I consider several features of familiar virtues, like being a dispositional state, involving emotion and deliberate choice, and orienting actions to a noble end and I show that openness to wonderment has all of these familiar features of virtues. I highlight that not only is this virtue’s value grounded in it being a virtue, but it is also valuable in that it enhances one's capacity for transformative contemplation of the world. I end by discussing further avenues for future research that explore its connection to contemplation and one's worldview.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.citationSmith, Joshua. Wonderment: A Philosophical Analysis of Its Nature and Its Attending Virtue. (2024). PhD diss., Rice University. https://hdl.handle.net/1911/116145en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/116145en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.subjectWonderen_US
dc.subjectwondermenten_US
dc.subjectbeautyen_US
dc.subjectmysteryen_US
dc.subjectvirtueen_US
dc.subjectcontemplationen_US
dc.subjectvirtue theoryen_US
dc.subjectAristotelianen_US
dc.subjectmoral psychologyen_US
dc.subjectphilosophical psychologyen_US
dc.subjectphilosophy of emotionen_US
dc.titleWonderment: A Philosophical Analysis of Its Nature and Its Attending Virtueen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentPhilosophyen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineHumanitiesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen_US
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