Francesco Dimitri opens with a recap of Plato writing in Theaetetus a dialogue between Socrates and his student. Theaetetus admits that he is ‘amazed’ by the day’s lesson and then Socrates declares “You must therefore be a philosopher, as wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.”
In his Words:
“For an ancient Greek, the word ‘philosophy’ (‘love of wisdom’) had a quite different meaning from the one it has for us today. .. ‘philosophy’ could express itself in theories about the cosmos, in poems and in riddles, and often in a mix of all three. So, when Socrates says that philosophy begins in wonder, he is actually saying that everything that makes us human – science, art, religion, you name it – begins in wonder. From practical questions about tool-making and house-building to spiritual ones about the nature and power of the gods, it all stems from there. Socrates’ questions to Theaetetus weren’t intended to be answered, but to awaken the boy’s sense of wonder.”
This passage is indeed an inspiration for me, it is precisely how I see this blog forming over the next period of time. “Questions to awaken wonder”… questions about various fields of science, about art and poetry and story craft, about the gods and God and me.
So join me in this study if you wish, see if you can generate some excess of wonder in your heart and mind.
Thank you for reading. I hope to earn your appreciations.