The Experience of Enchantment and the Sense of Wonder

Bibliographic Data

ID21722416
AuthorsPatrick Curry (0009-0002-6751-4375, Sophia Centre, UWTSD. [U. of Wales Trinity St David], United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume25
Issue2
Pages115-129
Publication date2021-04-03
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueGreen Letters (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1468-8417 • E-ISSN: 2168-1414
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14688417.2021.1928530
OpenAlexW3163754010
LanguageEN
References cited16

This paper begins by drawing on accounts of enchantment as wonder by three authors (Alain-Fournier, Aldous Huxley and J.R.R. Tolkien) to explore its basic characteristics and dynamics. It then draws a contrast with the disenchantment attending will and the will-to-power, noting the internal affinity of the latter with the project of modernity and its contrast with enchantment as a non-modern experience. It then proceeds to a critique of three influential philosophers’ portrayals of enchantment (Philip Fisher, Jane Bennett and Akeel Bilgrami, as well as Charles Taylor), which it faults for not paying closer attention to the implications of the experience of enchantment. It closes with a plea for philosophy aligned with the humanities rather than sciences

Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Disenchantment · Epistemology · Modernity · Numinous · Plea · Theology · Wonder · Law · Philosophy · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices · Themes in Literature Analysis · Violence, Religion, and Philosophy