Aquinas on wonder as a desire for knowledge

This is the difference between premodern and modern philosophy: the premoderns, following Aristotle, say philosophy begins with wonder; the moderns, following Descartes, say philosophy begins with doubt. One is a search for truth; the other is a search for certainty.

'Wonder [admiratio astonishment, marvel] is a kind of desire for knowledge. The situation arises when one sees an effect and does not know its cause, or when the cause of the particular effect is one that exceeds his power of understanding. Hence, wonder is a cause of pleasure insofar as there is annexed the hope of attaining understanding of that which one wants to know. ... For desire is especially aroused by the awareness of ignorance, and consequently a man takes the greatest pleasure in those things which he discovers for himself or learns from the ground up.' Thomas Aquinas, 'Summa Theologiae'

Thomas Aquinas quotes, wonder, knowledge, empiricism