By saying "It seems as if in the process of growing up we lose the ability to wonder about the world", I think Albert Knox probably means that as we get older and learn more about the world, we seem to have accepted that the answers to some questions are unknown and we have given up on finding out the answers. We got so used to how the world functions and took it for granted so we don't 'wonder' about how come it existed, who are we and other unanswered questions like those. People seem to be too involved in doing other stuff as they grow up such as school and work and lost interest in actually finding out these answers.
However, I do not agree with what Albert Knox said. We might not 'wonder about the world' as much as we did when we were infants because we already learned about a lot of things that would make an infant 'wonder', so it only makes sense that we wonder less. An example of this would be the part in the book about the Father flying and the Mother being shocked while the child just stares delightedly. I definitely don't agree that we lost the ability to wonder altogether because that's just not possible. Humans are born to be curious and by nature, we wonder. To an extent, we lost a small part of our 'wondering abilities' only because there is not need to wonder anymore. We would sometimes still think and wonder about the world. Questions such as how did the world come to exist would drive us mad if we thought about it too much because there isn't an answer and there is no way we can find out. We just sort of stop thinking about it as much because we have come to that realization.
Many people would still wonder. Take me for example, I would wonder "am I doing the right thing?", "should I buy this?", "what should I do after highschool?" and many, many other questions from time to time. So overall, I have to say that I definitely don't agree with Albert Knox.
However, I do not agree with what Albert Knox said. We might not 'wonder about the world' as much as we did when we were infants because we already learned about a lot of things that would make an infant 'wonder', so it only makes sense that we wonder less. An example of this would be the part in the book about the Father flying and the Mother being shocked while the child just stares delightedly. I definitely don't agree that we lost the ability to wonder altogether because that's just not possible. Humans are born to be curious and by nature, we wonder. To an extent, we lost a small part of our 'wondering abilities' only because there is not need to wonder anymore. We would sometimes still think and wonder about the world. Questions such as how did the world come to exist would drive us mad if we thought about it too much because there isn't an answer and there is no way we can find out. We just sort of stop thinking about it as much because we have come to that realization.
Many people would still wonder. Take me for example, I would wonder "am I doing the right thing?", "should I buy this?", "what should I do after highschool?" and many, many other questions from time to time. So overall, I have to say that I definitely don't agree with Albert Knox.
2 comments:
Exactly! Pondering over unanswerable questions such as 'how did the world come to exist?' would "drive us mad" indeed. But I wonder how philosophers maintain their persistent determination in search for the answer. Yes, there is the Big Bang explanation and the theory of how God created the world, but they are only theories -- unproven theories that are flawed, contradicting each other. There will never be an absolute answer with all these discrepancies.
Perhaps philosophers are simply...'mentally deranged' people who cannot accept that there is just no Truth. Hmm, I wonder.
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