CFP: [SPECIAL ISSUE: WONDER] American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly

AMERICAN CATHOLIC PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY

Special Issue on Wonder

Guest Editor: Kevin M. Kambo (https://udallas.edu/academics/programs/philosophy/faculty/kambo-kevin.php)

This special issue brings the attention of contemporary philosophers and scholars to the phenomenon of wonder.

Plato’s Socrates states that “the feeling of wonder belongs very much to the philosopher, since there is no other source of philosophy than this.” Aristotle concurs, observing that “it is owing to wonder that men both now begin, and at first began, to philosophize. … Even the lover of myth in a sense is a lover of wisdom or a philosopher, for the myth, too, is composed of wonders.” Aquinas identifies wonder partly as a hopeful desire or longing for scientific knowledge that causes pleasure. Descartes classifies it among the passions of the soul, noticing that “those without any natural inclination to this passion are ordinarily very ignorant.” Adam Smith for his part describes wonder as a sentiment attended by “that staring, and sometimes that rolling of the eyes, that suspension of the breath, and that swelling of the heart.” For Josef Pieper, “the capacity to wonder is among man’s greatest gifts.” To Martha Nussbaum, “Wonder is the basis of respect. Without wonder, we become morally numb.” Reflecting on artificial intelligence, Pope Leo XIV draws attention to “repercussions on humanity’s openness to truth and beauty, and capacity for wonder and contemplation.” And for Jesse Prinz, “wonder is the accidental impetus behind our greatest achievements. Art, science and religion are inventions for feeding the appetite that wonder excites in us. They also become sources of wonder in their own right, generating epicycles of boundless creativity and enduring inquiry. Each of these institutions allows us to transcend our animality by transporting us to hidden worlds. In harvesting the fruits of wonder, we came into our own as a species.”

The above quotations demonstrate that wonder has been a phenomenon of interest throughout the history of philosophy. Wonder has variously been invoked as a root or source of philosophy, as a critical part of interpersonal or political life, and as a key to understanding the human being’s vocation to enjoy realities that transcend the world of things that pass away. In the present day, wonder is often invoked in discussions exploring the nature and value liberal education as well as the relationship between the intellectual life and the good life. At the same time, the phenomenon has not received many sustained treatments, even into the present day. This special issue aims to be one such sustained—and creative—treatment.

Possible questions and areas of interest for the present study include but are not limited to:

1. Wonder as a verb

• What does it mean to wonder? How many senses of wonder might there be?

• What is the relationship between (i) wonder as aporetic or desiring and (ii) wonder as affirmative and contemplative? As these senses entirely distinct? Is there priority of one sense over the rest?

• What provokes wonder? What makes wonder an appropriate response?

• What is the capacity to wonder? How does one cultivate the capacity to wonder?

• What is the place of wonder in (liberal) education or human formation?

• Is there mutual wonder in friendship?

• Can a community wonder corporately (e.g., in a sacred or civic liturgy)? Is communal wonder a shared act, or an aggregate of many individual acts?

• Does wonder play a role in healthy politics?

• Does wonder play a role in religion?

• What is the role of wonder in the arts and/or sciences?

• What is the anthropology of wonder? Is it cognitive, appetitive, affective, psychosomatic? Is it limited to humans? Do humans wonder in a distinctive manner?

• How does wonder relate to other mental, emotional, or psychological activities or states (e.g., pain, pleasure, hope, fear, joy, sorrow)?

• Are artificial or simulated intelligences capable of wonder? What does wonder reveal about these simulated intelligences?

• What activities or dispositions are allied with wonder? What activities or dispositions are opposed to wonder?

• What is the moral or ethical significance of wonder?

• How does wonder contribute to the intellectual life and/or the good life?

• How are wonder and concupiscence of the eyes related?

• How do different philosophical movements treat wonder?

2. Wonder as a noun

• What makes something a wonder?

• What makes for a natural wonder? A supernatural wonder? A wonder produced by human art?

• Are there counterfeit wonders? What distinguishes wonders from their counterfeits? How does one distinguish between wonders and their counterfeits?

• How are phenomena like wonders, anomalies, marvels, monsters, and spectacles similar or different?

• How are what is wondrous, marvelous, startling, surprising, terrible, awful, fell, or sublime similar or different?

3. Miscellany

• How does wonder relate to comedy? Or to humor?

• How does wonder relate to tragedy?

• How does wonder relate to death?

• What is the relationship between the wonderful and the grotesque?

• Is wonder relevant to discussions of the world’s enchantment, disenchantment, or re-enchantment?

• What does it mean for Plato’s Phaedo to wonder at Socrates especially when Socrates admired his critics and responded to them?

• What does it mean for Jesus of Nazareth to wonder at the faith of the Centurion?

• What does it mean for Shakespeare’s Hamlet to say, “What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable.”

Any of the above questions—or others—may be addressed with reference to or in dialogue with any significant figures in the history of philosophy.

This special issue invites work from philosophers across traditions and approaches. In doing so, it seeks to occasion a dialogue on the theme by philosophers working in different contexts and thereby to facilitate, in the present day, more philosophical conversations about wonder.

Submissions must be written in English and prepared for peer review. Articles may be up to a maximum of 12,000 words (inclusive of abstract and notes). Full style guidelines may be found on the ACPQ website (https://www.pdcnet.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/format_ACPQ-article.pdf).

Article submission will be made on a rolling basis until the special issue is complete. Review of submissions begins 29th September, 2026. Final deadline for submission is 1st April, 2027.

Please submit your original manuscript electronically at acpqwonder[at]gmail[dot]com.

For any questions on this special issue, please direct your queries to the guest editor, Kevin M. Kambo (kkambo[at]udallas[dot]edu).