147. Curiosity

1. Anselmo so assured of wife’s fidelity, asks friend to try to corrupt her; friend is successful. [Span. Lit.: Don Quixote ]
2. Cupid and Psyche her inquisitiveness almost drives him away forever. [Gk. Myth.: Espy, 27]
3. Curious George inquisitive, mischievous monkey. [Children’s Lit.: Curious George ]
4. Fatima Bluebeard’s 7th and last wife; her inquisitiveness uncovers his murders. [Fr. Fairy Tale: Harvey, 97–98]
5. Faustus, Doctor makes demonic compact to sate thirst for knowledge. [Br. Lit.: Doctor Faustus ]
6. Harker, Jonathan uncovers vampiric and lycanthropic activities at Castle Dracula. [Br. Lit.: Dracula ]
7. Lot’s wife ignores God’s command; turns to salt upon looking back. [O.T.: Genesis 19:26]
8. Lucius his insatiable curiosity involves him in magic and his accidental transformation into an ass. [Rom. Lit.: The Golden Ass ]
9. Nosy Parker after a meddlesome Elizabethan Archbishop of Canterbury. [Br. Hist.: Espy, 169]
10. Odysseus’ companions to determine its contents, they open the bag Aeolus had given Odysseus, thus releasing winds that blow the ship off course. [Gk. Lit.: Odyssey ].
11. Pandora inquisitively opens box of plagues given by Zeus. [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 191]
12. Pry, Paul overly inquisitive journalist. [Br. Lit.: Paul Pry ; Espy, 135]
13. sycamore symbolizes inquisitiveness. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 177]
14. Vathek journeys to Istakhar where world’s secrets are revealed. [Br. Lit.: Vathek ]

CURIOSITY

As here understood, curiosity is a culpably excessive desire to know. When the human mind is confronted with a question, it is naturally moved to make inquiry. Normally the mind does not rest until it is decided that the matter does not merit the trouble of investigation, or that investigation would be fruitless, or until adequate evidence for a judgment is obtained. Moralists consider curiosity as a vice opposed to studiousness. The subject matter for this virtue is not knowledge in itself, but rather the desire to know. This desire is capable of both excess and defect, and hence a particular virtue is required to moderate it according to the norms of right reason. To this virtue curiosity is opposed by way of excess. Though knowledge is a good thing in itself, the desire for it is immoderate and unreasonable when its pursuit involves evil motivation (e.g., pride), or an inordinate waste of time, or injustice to another (e.g., when what one seeks to know is another's rightful secret), or the use of illegitimate means (e.g., divination or traffic with evil spirits), or when the knowledge would be likely to constitute a serious occasion of sin (e.g., for ordinary people and under ordinary circumstances, knowledge of the contents of a truly pornographic book). Curiosity in its common occurrences is not a grave sin, but it can be serious by reason of circumstances, as when it leads to the unjust exploration of the secrets of others or the invasion of their privacy, or when it causes one to commit grave sin of other kinds.

Bibliography: thomas aquinas, Summa Theologiae, 2a2ae, 167. f. l. b. cunningham, ed., The Christian Life (Dubuque 1959).

[t. c. kane]

cu·ri·os·i·ty / ˌkyoŏrēˈäsitē/ • n. (pl. -ties) 1. a strong desire to know or learn something.2. a strange or unusual object or fact.

curiosity curiosity killed the cat often used as a warning against interference in what is not your business; the saying is recorded from the early 20th century.
'satiable curiosity unquenchable desire for information; from Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories (1900), ‘There was one Elephant—an Elephant's Child—who was full of 'satiable curtiosity, and that means he asked ever so many questions.’