Project description
How wonder and the arts shape knowledge and understanding
Wonder – an epistemic emotion encompassing prolonged interest, fascination and awe – shapes how humans acquire knowledge and gain understanding. It ranges from everyday curiosity to transformative experiences triggered by the arts. The ERC-funded AAC_Wonder project investigates, through both philosophical analysis and empirical research, how such emotions relate to understanding: whether they facilitate or sometimes hinder knowledge acquisition, and how the arts can guide and cultivate them in ways that promote cognitive expansion. The project will also reanalyse data from empirical aesthetics and neuroaesthetics to clarify how such findings contribute to philosophical arguments about engagement with the arts and knowledge. It will further address broader questions about culture, including what attracts people to the arts and how these experiences shape cognition and perception.
Objective
Aristotle famously argued that wonder is the starting point of philosophical inquiry, driving humans to seek knowledge about the world. Similarly, great works of art—from the Sistine Chapel to Jenny Holzer’s concept art—evoke wonder. This emotion, whether in its extreme or subtler forms, prompts widened eyes, dropped jaws, and a sense of awe that urges us to reflect on what we experience. However, a narrow focus on intense forms of wonder may have limited research on its broader, more pervasive impacts. Wonder also manifests in smaller, less dramatic instances. Wonder also uniquely bridges cognitive and aesthetic realms as both an epistemic emotion—expanding our cognitive access—and an aesthetic emotion—reflecting the value of the arts.
Conceptualized as prolonged interest intertwined with surprise, fascination, and awe, wonder belongs to a core cluster of epistemic emotions that uniquely orients human cognition. Affective Aesthetic Cognitivism and Wonder (AAC_Wonder) seeks to explore key philosophical questions about the relationship between such emotions and understanding: Do emotions support or hinder epistemic progress? What role can the arts play in guiding these emotions? For wonder, I argue for its positive impact: It inspires multisensory exploration, fosters shifts in perspective, and leads to understanding. Puzzling questions about art and cultural environments are also addressed, such as why way art draw us in and how it shapes our world.
The project’s aim is to develop a novel theory of wonder by integrating philosophical, psychological, and neuroscientific perspectives (A_THEORY). This theory will draw on Philosophically guided Supplementary Analyses of empirical neuroaesthetics (B_DATA), making these findings accessible to philosophers. AAC_Wonder will also pioneer experiments (C_EXPERIMENTS) to address gaps in understanding how art and culture generate knowledge and transform perspectives, advancing the framework of Affective Aesthetic Cognitivism.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
10623 Berlin
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.