 Wonder is also often compared to the emotion of awe but awe implies fear or respect rather than joy.French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer René Descartes described admiration as one of the primary emotions because he claimed that emotions, in general, are reactions to unexpected phenomena.He noted that when people first encounter a surprising or new object that is "far different from what we knew before, or from what we supposed it should have been, we admire it, and are astonished at it."