Chapter 3

As I was reading, I was especially struck by Augustine's pessimistic view of curiosity. He likened it to lust, which also has been perceived in a negative light. As Cameron commented, it is amazing to see exactly how thoughts on certain things have changed in current times. Curiosity is now a positive, sought-after quality, one which employers look for in potential candidates and one which children are praised for having. However, lust is still seen as negative. Similarly, Augustine associated curiosity with pride, as he believed that only learned individuals sought new information about the wonders in nature. He believed that this was wasteful and distracting from the things that actually matter. In a similar situation, pride has a mixed reputation of sorts today. It is simply interesting to see how attitudes and general opinions change over significant periods of time.