ERC Consolidator Grant · 2025
Affective Aesthetic Cognitivism and Wonder
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…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.