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Niño Rusell A. Hormachuelos Rev. Fr.

Ronaldo Amora

AB Philosophy II Epistemology

REFLECTION ON WONDER

Man by nature is a rational being. This essence of man impelled him to search for

meaning. His rational ability compel him to examine the things around him. As human

beings, we are set apart from other creatures by our rationality. For many years,

philosophers have been trying to comprehend man’s existence and fathom his ability.

And so, they philosophize man and everything that exists using reasons. Plato- one of

the greatest philosophers in history said, philosophy begins in wonder. Accordingly, it is

very essential because knowledge is impossible to attain without first having the act of

wondering.

When man start to wonder he begins to question the existing things before him, in

this state of man his ‘desire to know’ is being compelled. Using his full

knowledge/rationality he seeks for answers in his questions by weighing, contrasting and

analyzing things. Throughout this search, a man who is wise enough will gradually realize

that the things that appeared to him to be what it is as simple becomes complicated, the

ordinary turned into extraordinary and the common turned to be uncommon. The

discovery of man as he initiates wondering manifests his ignorance that such ordinary,

simple and common things which appeared before him are not fully known by him and

these things now turned unusual. Thus, because of this realization of his ignorance

everything that appeared familiar to him will be subjected to doubt.


The existence of God is a critical issue argued among philosophers for the past

thousands of years. As a Christian, we all know that God exist, though God is

extraordinary but in our life He becomes ordinary in the sense that we always hear His

name; we were thought by our parents and has been thought in the Church.

Consequently, can God be an object of wonder? Could we try to know something which

cannot be fully known? Well as what we have discussed in our class, it is very clear that

to wonder is an invitation. We all know that God is mysterious- something that we cannot

grasp in its entirety, and because He is mysterious He could be an object of wonder, and

with that we are invited to know more about Him. Though we cannot really grasp what He

is, at least we gradually made a progress of knowing Him. And since every time we

wonder about Him, it is also a continuous mystery. The more we discern partly of Him the

more we discover His mysteriousness, and because it is a continuous mystery, it is

likewise a continuous invitation for us to know more about God.

The wonder of Plato brought so much changed in the history of philosophy.

Philosophers over time were using the power of “wonder” in order to formulate ideas

which were also used as tools in many fields. For me, because of wonder I arrived in this

kind of reflection. Reflection is just an ordinary thing for me because I used to it but as I

started to reflect on wonder I have found it extraordinary. Lastly, man’s awareness of the

extra ordinaries in the ordinary things liberates him from ignorance. Wonder stretches our

scope of learnings. Hence, man with all his knowledge will search for reality.

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