The unknown vice of curiosity

My wife was reading St. Thomas Aquinas in bed (Catholic nerd alert) when she turned to me and read a passage about the vice of curiosity.

Curiosity is a vice! I thought it was a virtue. As a teacher, I want my students to be curious, and as a father, I want my children to be curious. I am an incredibly curious individual, and I considered it one of my positive traits. And now after being a Catholic for 40 years I find out that it is a vice. Well, my curiosity about “curiosity” was piqued.

The English word “curiosity” means a strong desire to know or learn something, and curiosity is not vice using this definition. Aquinas confirms that everyone has a natural appetite for knowledge and that knowledge is good. The church is not against having a desire for knowledge or learning

The vice of curiositas is knowledge pursued poorly. A bad motive, method, or content in your pursuit of knowledge can result in a vice.

In the age of Aquinas, formal knowledge was accessed through rare and expensive books, found mostly in church-controlled libraries. The limited access to knowledge reduced aspects of the vice, especially what knowledge was accessed and how it was accessed.

The motivation for knowledge in a monastic setting could still lead one to a vice. If the motivation was intellectual pride, then the pursuit is a vice. If someone acquired knowledge intending to perform an evil act, like studying chemistry to build a bomb, then it is a vice.

Curiosity did not carry great importance in medieval texts on virtues, but the modern technological revolution has changed how we access knowledge. The vice of curiosity is thus more present than ever, and it is time to revisit it.

The type of knowledge we pursue can also lead to the vice. Curiosity becomes a problem when we pursue something that we should not or need not know. Aquinas discussed monks who neglect their vocation by immersing themselves in the latest ballad or novel. Monks, I imagine, had limited access to ballads or novels, but think of all the useless distractions we have access to through technology.

Modern culture feeds on curiosity and is widely available on television, phones and the Internet. An individual might be curious about what is on television. For some, this leads to hours of mindless channel surfing, and for others, it leads to scrolling through Netflix offerings. Once a show is selected, the storylines hook you and grab you in. Content creators are effective at tapping into curiosity. At the end of every episode is a cliffhanger, and you want, almost need, to know what happens next. So, you watch one more episode, then another, and another.

Social media is designed around the vice of curiosity. You pick up your phone and open Facebook or Instagram to see what is there, and then you continue scrolling to see what is next. This is not an intentional quest for knowledge. Scrolling is like a slot machine for your mind. You suffer through hours of consuming useless knowledge to get to rewarded with small pieces of worthwhile material. These small rewards are enough to make you come back for more.

If you are like me, you might go aimlessly to a news site or YouTube to find something interesting. Something catches your attention, and you google it. While reading a Wikipedia article on it, you will find something else that is interesting and start the process again.

This wild case of fulfilling your curiosity is hugely problematic. It can lead to sinful and trashy material. After reading several articles about Tiger King, I was curious about the show and decided to watch it. I quickly found out that it was trash, but I kept watching out of curiosity. Many people are drawn into “must watch” shows out of innocent curiosity and then stay through immoral displays of violence and sexuality due to a desire to see what happens next. Internet trails are even more dangerous than television as the next YouTube video in the queue or the website beyond the next click can lead to all sorts of bad material.

The vice of curiosity works with the deadly sin of acedia, often translated as sloth. Acedia is a reluctance to engage in spiritual activities. If you have a free hour in the evening, acedia is the negative influence to not pray or read a spiritual book. The vice of curiosity then steps in and pushes you to see what is on social media or tune into the next television episode.

Father Michael Schmitz from Ascension Presents used a food analogy to explain the vice of curiosity. Food, like knowledge, is a good, but there are bad motives, ways and types of food to eat. Food feeds the body, and knowledge feeds the mind. Curiosity is like only eating junk food for your mind. No one would advocate eating only funk food, but most people seem fine with feeding their mind a steady diet of junk. Our mind is as important or more than our body, but its health is completely neglected.

What is eating a balanced meal for your mind? The church gives as a virtue in opposition to curiosity: studiousness. It sounds a little nerdy but it is knowledge pursued well. You have the right motivation, right method and right content. It is eating a healthy meal for your mind.

Studiousness is intentional instead of aimless, seeks deep learning instead of surface level, has a purpose instead of being useless and elevates your mind bringing it closer to God instead of distracting you from God and bringing your mind down.

The next time curiosity strikes use a test before pursuing it. Should I be doing something else—work, spending time with family, praying—instead of satisfying this urge to know? Is it something worth knowing that will elevate my mind and bring me closer to God? Am I going to pursue it in an intentional manner that leads to deep learning of the content?

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