Curiosity Unbound

Curiosity is the pursuit of knowledge by empirical means. And, while curiosity killed the cat and got Adam and Eve thrown out of the Garden, curiosity becomes perceived in the entire early modern period as the currency of cultural progress. It led to scientific discoveries and life-changing insights derived from exploration, to massive encyclopedic ventures, to intense self-study, to the surveillance of the Inquisition, to the voyeurism of pornography, and to the tremendous popularity of tabloid journalism.