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What makes us curious?

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I wonder what makes us so curious?

@onehorn,

Hi there onehorn,

This could be the beginning of it all. We are curious about each other and the universe is curious about itself. Observe a baby in a crib with a mirror trying to figure out who he/she is? We are interested in learning who we are - both the microcosm and macrocosm. It may be the prime motivator.

Rich

@onehorn,

Aristotle begins the Metaphysics with the following: "All men by nature desire to know." The key phrase is "by nature" or naturally or cannot help but to. Things puzzle us, we want to make serious plans for the future, we comport ourselves in and fashion a great part of the world in which we live. All of these, and many more activities, bring us face-to-face with questions which demand explanations and answers.

@richrf,

Yes, there's a point in saying its a prime motivator. And its one of the influential factor that distinguishes us from animals. We never take a full stop.
But what on earth makes us curious? What makes me ask this question?

@onehorn,

onehorn;89993 wrote:

Yes, there's a point in saying its a prime motivator. And its one of the influential factor that distinguishes us from animals. We never take a full stop.
But what on earth makes us curious? What makes me ask this question?

I can provide two ideas:

Observe yourself peering out of your eyes. You can see everything around you. You can see your body. But you cannot see your face. You want to see your face. So you go to water to look at your face. You want to see your face.

Here is another idea: One gets bored doing nothing.

Both work for me. How do they work for you?

Rich

@onehorn,

I think I remember Nietzsche writing something along this topic in "The Birth of Tragedy" when talking about the Socratic love of knowledge. I don't have enough time to type everything into the computer, but you can find the rest of the book online (I don't think you can Walter Kaufmann's translation though):
"[...] The type of theoretical man whose significance and aim it is our next task to try to understand. Like the artist, the theoretical man finds an infinite delight in whatever exists, and this satisfaction protects him against the practical ethics of pessimism with its Lynceus eyes that shine only in the dark. Whenever the truth is uncovered, the artist will always cling with rapt gaze to what still ramins covering even after such uncovering; but the theoretical man ejoys and finds satisfaction in the discarded covering and finds the highest object of his pleasure in the process of an ever happy encovering that suceeds through his own efforts." - Birth of Tragedy, Section 15

The rest of the section talks about the socratic love of knoweldge and uncovering of knoweldge, so it is worth looking into that (if you can get Walter Kaufmann's translation and footnotes then even better), because I am not willing to retype pages.

@Octal,

A perceived lack of knowledge seems to be required. When I first acknowledged the gaping black hole in my knowledge, I became insatiably curious. When I thought I knew everything there was to know, I wasn't curious about a damn thing.

Astonishment is another element commonly there. Spinoza tells of our sight amassing the whole field of vision together as we cannot focus particularly on every little thing we see. Something that breaks from the ordinary pattern to which we are accustomed awakens our curiosity.

One can also definitely argue that it is within us inherently. Think of the child asking a question to seek an answer from the oh-so enlightened adult only to respond to the answer with the next question, "why?" This childlike exploratory thirst is thwarted in varying degrees in everyone as we have all done this and been told to shut up.

@jgweed,

jgweed;89992 wrote:

Aristotle begins the Metaphysics with the following: "All men by nature desire to know." The key phrase is "by nature" or naturally or cannot help but to. Things puzzle us, we want to make serious plans for the future, we comport ourselves in and fashion a great part of the world in which we live. All of these, and many more activities, bring us face-to-face with questions which demand explanations and answers.

'By nature' is some comfort. We cannot help it, right?

---------- Post added 09-14-2009 at 10:46 AM ----------

Labyrinth;90105 wrote:

A perceived lack of knowledge seems to be required.

Astonishment is another element commonly there.

One can also definitely argue that it is within us inherently.

Yes, perceived lack of knowledge!! I remember Socrates now-'The only thing I know is I know nothing' . May be that's why he used to ask persistent questions until he shows others too know nothing better. Smile

And when something goes beyond regular pattern, it creates a change in our regular neural path. And this change might have been represented by different reactions like astonishment.

Thanks!

---------- Post added 09-14-2009 at 10:49 AM ----------

richrf;90005 wrote:

I can provide two ideas:

Observe yourself peering out of your eyes. You can see everything around you. You can see your body. But you cannot see your face. You want to see your face. So you go to water to look at your face. You want to see your face.

Here is another idea: One gets bored doing nothing.

Both work for me. How do they work for you?

Rich

I go with second one. One gets bored doing nothing.When i do nothing, i am acutely thinking. Smile

@onehorn,

To learn and grow.

@onehorn,

onehorn;90131 wrote:

I go with second one. One gets bored doing nothing.When i do nothing, i am acutely thinking.

Yep, I agree. Sometimes the simplest thought is the one that makes most sense.

Rich

@onehorn,

onehorn;89948 wrote:

I wonder what makes us so curious?

Many different things.

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