Wonder, the Rainbow, and the Aesthetics of Rare Experiences

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by Philip Fisher

Harvard University Press

Due/Published October 2003, 208 pages, paper

ISBN 0674955625

New in paper (F03)

Wonder, which Descartes called the first of the passions, lies at the heart of both art and science. This is a book about the aesthetics of wonder, about wonder as it figures in our relation to the visual world and to rare or new experiences. In three instances -- a pair of paintngs by Cy Twonbly, the famous problem of doubing the square, and the history of attempts to explain rainbows -- Fisher examines the experience of wonder as it draws together pleasure, thinking, and the aesthetic features of thought. 

Contents

The Aesthetics of Rare ExperiencesWonder and the Sublime
Philosophy Begins in Wonder
Visual Experience: Wonder and the Ordinary
The Instant of Wonder and the Instant of Thought

The Rainbow and Cartesian WonderThe Aesthetics of the Rainbow
Noah's Rainbow and Religious Intelligibility
From Wonder to Thought
Descartes and the Scientific Passion of Wonder
Descartes's Definition of Wonder
Pascal's Alternative: Imagination, Terror, Abyss
Wonder Fades with Age

Wonder and the Steps of ThoughtThe Template of Wonder: To Be Human Is to Learn
One and Only One Step
Plato's Meno and Learning by Wonder
Socratic Silence
Explanation and Demystification

Explanation and the Aesthetics of the RainbowFear of Explanation and Explanation by Fear
The Dull Catalogue of Common Things: Genus, or Explanation by Kind
Singularity and the Everyday
Rainbow and Raindrop: Explanation by Substitution
Aristotle's Geometry of the Experience of Rainbows: Explanation by Structure
From Wonder to Explanation

Transition to Aesthetic WonderSeeing What Cannot Be Seen
The Visual, the Visible, and the Intelligible
Ruling Out Memory

Intelligibility, Wonder, and RecognitionRainbow, Explanation, Error
Recognition: Can Only Memory Guide Intelligibility?
The Newness Effect in Modern Art

Thinking through the Work of ArtCy Twombly's "Blackboard Painting"
Blackboards and Temporary Writing
Master Metaphors and Bright Ideas
The Work of Art as a Field of Details
The Return of Recognition and Memory

Notes
Acknowledgments
Index