3p52sc.md (2463B)
1 This mental modification, or imagination of a 2 particular thing, in so far as it is alone in the mind, is called 3 Wonder; but if it be excited by an object of fear, it is called 4 Consternation, because wonder at an evil keeps a man so engrossed 5 in the simple contemplation thereof, that he has no power to 6 think of anything else whereby he might avoid the evil. If, 7 however, the object of wonder be a man's prudence, industry, or 8 anything of that sort, inasmuch as the said man, is thereby 9 regarded as far surpassing ourselves, wonder is called Veneration; 10 otherwise, if a man's anger, envy, &c., be what we wonder at, 11 the emotion is called Horror. Again, if it be the prudence, 12 industry, or what not, of a man we love, that we wonder at, our 13 love will on this account be the greater (III. xii.), and when 14 joined to wonder or veneration is called Devotion. We may in 15 like manner conceive hatred, hope, confidence, and the other 16 emotions, as associated with wonder; and we should thus be able 17 to deduce more emotions than those which have obtained names in 18 ordinary speech. Whence it is evident, that the names of the 19 emotions have been applied in accordance rather with their 20 ordinary manifestations than with an accurate knowledge of their 21 nature. 22 23 To wonder is opposed Contempt, which generally arises from 24 the fact that, because we see someone wondering at, loving, or 25 fearing something, or because something, at first sight, appears 26 to be like things, which we ourselves wonder at, love, fear, &c., 27 we are, in consequence (III. xv. Coroll. and III. xxvii.), 28 determined to wonder at, love, or fear that thing. But if from 29 the presence, or more accurate contemplation of the said thing, 30 we are compelled to deny concerning it all that can be the cause 31 of wonder, love, fear, &c., the mind then, by the presence of the 32 thing, remains determined to think rather of those qualities 33 which are not in it, than of those which are in it; whereas, on 34 the other hand, the presence of the object would cause it more 35 particularly to regard that which is therein. As devotion 36 springs from wonder at a thing which we love, so does Derision 37 spring from contempt of a thing which we hate or fear, and Scorn 38 from contempt of folly, as veneration from wonder at prudence. 39 Lastly, we can conceive the emotions of love, hope, honour, &c., 40 in association with contempt, and can thence deduce other 41 emotions, which are not distinguished one from another by any 42 recognized name. 43 44