In the process of wondering we lose the ability to wonder'

"It seems as if in the process of growing up we lose the ability to wonder about the world." Alberto Knox

I believe that Knox’s suggestion that we lose our ability to wonder as we get older is an extremely deep and logical explanation of the lack of imagination and questioning in our modern world. However, I do not fully agree that the process of growing up is the true factor that causes us to stop wondering about the world.

Just like the ancient Greeks and the Norse, who wondered about their world and created myths in an attempt to explain their environment, people will naturally attempt to produce their own interpretation of the events and objects that surround them if they do not fully understand them. I think that this desire to search for knowledge and truth is what fuels the ability to wonder, which also means that we can only wonder about things that we lack complete knowledge of.

When we are young, we possess the ability to wonder about everything in our world because we lack the sufficient knowledge to explain our surroundings. As we get older, however, our ability to wonder diminishes because of the greater knowledge and experience that comes with the age. Many small children ask questions which seem foolish to us because we, who have more knowledge and experience, have found the answers long ago and have lost the desire to wonder as younger children do. This point is illustrated on page 87, where Alberto Knox refers to the problem of whether a round pinecone is truly round. We will never know the correct answer, which leads us to wonder about this problem (by arguing in this example). However we cannot wonder how many degrees make up a perfectly round circle because we ‘can say with absolute certainty that the sum of the angles in a circle is 360 degrees’. These two explanations by Alberto Knox reinforce the fact that knowledge impedes our ability to wonder because of the fact that knowledge, which is specific, is the complete opposite of wonder, which is indefinite. Why would we bother to wonder about the things we know to be true?

However, I do not agree with Alberto Knox when he states that aging is the only factor which inhibits our ability to wonder. I believe that we lose the ability to wonder due to the ‘boundaries’ placed by our knowledge. It is because of this reason that I believe wondering is a self-destructive process. Wondering, the desire to search for the truth, leads to the discovery and acquiring of knowledge. Knowledge leads to the creation of boundaries which restrain the will to wonder. From these statements we can deduce that wondering, which generates the knowledge that suppresses the ability to wonder, is a self-destructive cycle.

The existence of philosophers is another example that contradicts Alberto Knox. Philosophers were mainly aged people who wondered about the world more than any other beings, surely this would have been impossible? I believe the answer lies with Socrates and his acceptance that: ‘One thing only I know, and that is I know nothing. Since philosophers like Socrates have no knowledge to impede with their ability to wonder, they are able to stretch their imagination further than any of us, even infants or babies.
In conclusion, I think that in the process of wondering we lose our ability to wonder about the world. It is because we wonder and discover knowledge in the first place that we quench our thirst for knowledge, leading to our lack of necessity for wondering. There is absolutely no point in wondering about things which we are sure of.