混乱和宇宙

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Chaos and Cosmos
::混乱和宇宙

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People prefer order to chaos and it appears they are willing to pay quite a price for that order. Humans are faced with a large number of important questions, such as: What is life all about? Where do we come from? What is the meaning of it all? How did the world come from? What is the right thing to do? Rather than figure out answers to these questions for themselves, most humans appear willing to accept those answers provided through their culture. They learn them through their language, their religious belief systems, their educational system, and other major social institutions. Most humans appear ill suited to reject the answers of their culture or even to subject them to careful scrutiny. Rather than live without answers and instead face the chaos, most humans accept the order as it is given to them.
::人们更喜欢混乱,似乎愿意为此秩序付出相当大代价。人类面临着许多重要问题,比如:生命是什么?我们来自哪里?我们来自哪里?它的意义是什么?世界从何而来?世界从何而来?什么是正确的事情?多数人似乎愿意接受这些问题的答案,而不是为自己找到答案,而是愿意接受通过自己的文化提供的答案。他们通过自己的语言、宗教信仰体系、教育体系和其他主要社会机构学习这些答案。多数人似乎不适合拒绝自己的文化的答案,甚至不愿意仔细审查这些答案。而不是在没有答案的情况下生活,而是面对混乱,多数人接受给自己的秩序。

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Cosmos Is Better Than Chaos!
::宇宙比混乱好!

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Over time there often develops serious questioning of the order, the foundation of the order, and what is dependent upon it. In order to maintain that order people need to turn aside from the criticisms and reaffirm their basic beliefs. The reward for continuing in that belief is order. The price they pay is to halt the questioning process. Many do so because they fear the result of displacing or surrendering the beliefs, they lose the safety and calm of the order.
::随着时间的推移,人们往往对秩序、秩序的基础和依赖秩序的事物产生严重的质疑。为了维持这种秩序,人们必须放弃批评,重申他们的基本信仰。继续这种信念的奖励是秩序的。他们付出的代价是停止审讯过程。许多人这样做,因为他们害怕由于迁移或放弃信仰的结果,他们失去了秩序的安全和平静。

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Here is a story that many of you might find quite illustrative , entertaining , and educational .
::这是一个故事,你们许多人可能会发现 相当有说明性、娱乐性和教育性。

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Santa Claus
::圣诞老人

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Now when I was growing up I learned about good old Santa Claus. For many years I received gifts from Santa at Christmas time. However, I came to ask questions about the fat guy with the red suit with white piping and the reindeer and the North Pole house and factory, the elves, Mrs. Claus, the whole deal! Whenever I asked questions such as, “but how does Santa get in here? We don’t have a chimney ” I would be given an answer meant to assure me, to settle my doubts and restore me to the comfortable calm of being certain that there was a Santa and all would be well and work out. “He’ll find a way. He always does. Don’t worry”
::当我长大的时候,我学到了圣诞老人的好东西。多年来,我在圣诞节的时候收到了圣诞老人的礼物。然而,我到这里问了一个问题:那个穿红色西装的胖子,穿着白色管道的红色西装,还有驯鹿和北极的房子和工厂,还有精灵和圣诞夫人,整个交易!每当我问到这样的问题,比如,“但是圣诞老人怎么进来的?我们没有烟囱”我就会得到一个答案,以向我保证,解决我的疑虑,让我恢复平静,确信有一个圣诞老人,一切都会好起来。“他会找到一条出路的,他总是这样。别担心。”

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Well, I did worry. I did have lots of questions. As I grew older the questions grew and the answers became less and less acceptable. “What about the other Santa’s? What about the reindeer? How big was the chimney ? There are a lot of children in the world! How does he get it done in one night?” Now, I had friends my age who were believers and they would tell stories of Santa eating the cookies they left out for him. I thought that those cookies explain how he was so fat, but there were other problems. What about the reindeer? No one ever reported seeing signs of the deer. I am a city kid and I knew from my brief exposure to elephants at the circus, horses at parades and cows at expositions that large mammals were always dropping feces . Where was the reindeer sh..? I wondered. It had to be somewhere. All night long Santa working those deer. There had to be signs somewhere, but there never was.
::我确实担心了。我确实有很多问题。随着我老了,问题逐渐增加,答案越来越难以被接受。 “关于其他圣诞老人的呢?驯鹿呢?驯鹿呢?烟囱有多大?烟囱是多大的?世界上有许多孩子?他如何在一个晚上完成的?”现在,我的同龄朋友中谁是信徒,他们会讲述圣诞老人吃他们留给他的饼干的故事。我想这些饼干解释他怎么这么胖,但还有其他问题。驯鹿呢?没有谁报告看到鹿的痕迹。我是一个城市孩子,我知道我在马戏团与大象的短暂接触中,在游行中,在野马和牛的展览中,大型哺乳动物总是在放粪便。驯鹿在哪里?我想知道,它必须在哪里。整晚,圣诞老人都在做那些鹿。在某处都有迹象,但从没有迹象。

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Those of you who are born in this country and those who spend a few years here quickly come to learn about the story of Santa Claus, whether you are a Christian or not, it does not seem to matter. The holiday has been secularized and children from other cultures and religions are often, but not always, given gifts by family and friends so that the children will not feel slighted by the fat guy skipping them possibly making them think that there was something wrong with them or their family or making them feel marked as different from the other children. Children also come to learn that there is no Santa Claus. Oops, sorry if some of you didn’t know that already. Sometimes a child discovers the truth. Sometimes parents reveal the truth. Sometimes older brothers or sisters tease their younger siblings with the truth. Occasionally it is an older friend or friend of a friend who, for any one of a number of motives, may reveal the truth. And now we get to the point. As long as we believe we get gifts. We do not want to stop getting the gifts and so sometimes, we go on believing or pretending to believe so that the gifts will continue. This can go on for some time but not forever, in the case of the Santa Claus story.
::你们中在这个国家出生的人和在这个国家出生的人,以及在这里待了几年的人,很快来了解圣诞老人的故事,不管你们是基督徒还是基督徒,这似乎并不重要。节日是世俗化的,来自其他文化和宗教的儿童往往但并非总是由家人和朋友赠送礼物,以便孩子们不会因为胖子跳过他们而感到轻视,也许让他们以为他们或他们的家庭有问题,或者让他们觉得他们与其他孩子不同。孩子们也开始了解到没有圣诞老人。哦,对不起,如果你们中有些人已经不知道这一点的话。有时一个孩子发现真相。有时,父母揭露真相。有时,年长的兄弟姐妹们用真理来挑逗他们年幼的兄弟姐妹。偶尔,这是朋友的老朋友或朋友,为了一些动机之一,可以透露真相。现在我们到了这一点。只要我们相信我们得到礼物,我们就不想停止得到礼物,有时,我们继续相信或假装相信礼物会继续下去。这可以持续一段时间,但永远不能在圣诞老人的故事中发生。

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Now, despite the fact that people know that the story is not true many people in this country go on telling the story to children. They act as if it were true in the presence of small children. They tease small children with warnings about being good or else they won’t get their gifts nor asking children what did Santa bring you? Why do people go on telling a story that they know isn’t true? In this case the answer lies in what it is of value that people derive from the telling of the tale. People who tell the tale to small children and bring them gifts in the name of Santa do so because it is fun. They enjoy doing so. They enjoy making small children happy. And so the tale goes on because people experience values in doings so. The telling of the tale assists children to learn the lesson that there is joy in giving, for Santa is joyful. The moral: it is better to give than to receive.
::现在,尽管人们知道故事不是真实的,但这个国家许多人会继续向儿童讲述故事。他们表现得好像在小孩子面前是真实的。他们以善恶的警告来嘲弄幼儿,或者说他们不会得到礼物,或者问孩子们圣诞老人给你带来了什么?为什么人们会继续讲述他们知道的故事是不真实的?在这种情况下,答案在于人们从故事的讲述中得到什么价值。向小孩子讲述故事,并以圣诞老人的名义给他们送礼物的人这样做,因为他们喜欢这样做。他们喜欢让小孩子快乐。故事之所以继续,是因为人们在做这些事情时有价值。故事的讲述有助于孩子们学到有乐趣的教训,因为圣诞老人是快乐的。道德是:给孩子故事比给礼物更好,而不是接受礼物。

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The telling of a tale that isn’t true and the desire to promulgate it is part of what is known as a broken myth : a story we know is not true but we repeat anyway because of the values derived from doing so.
::我们所知道的故事是不真实的, 宣传它的愿望是所谓破碎的神话的一部分:我们所知道的故事是不真实的,

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In this course you will be challenged to consider many questions, many issues. Some of the issues deal with matters concerning which you share in a belief system with many other people. You will be challenged to consider the possibility that the ideas you take as given truths may not be true at all. You will be challenged to consider looking at matters from another point of view. It could just be that some of the ideas you have are stories, which may not be true. Perhaps, people believe in some of these stories because, as with the Santa story, they receive gifts for believing. They receive the gift of an order for their lives and they avoid chaos. People cannot live with chaos and so they may on believing in a story that provides order in their lives even if it, like the Santa tale, has a lot of holes in it. They may believe even if the stories have contradictions or are filled with many mysteries.
::在这个过程中,你会遇到很多问题,很多问题。有些问题涉及你们在信仰体系中与许多其他人共有的问题。你会遇到挑战,以考虑你所认为的真理可能根本不真实的可能性。你会遇到挑战,从另一个角度来审视问题。也许你拥有的一些想法是故事,也许不是真的。也许人们相信其中一些故事,因为像圣诞老人的故事一样,他们接受礼物供他们相信。他们收到命令他们的生活礼物,避免混乱。人们不能生活在混乱之中,因此他们可以相信一个能维持生活秩序的故事,即使它像圣诞老人的故事一样,在其中有许多漏洞。他们可能相信,即使故事有矛盾,或充满许多迷惑。

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Now we learn from our culture a number of things and a way to look at all things. We inherit through our culture a worldview . Now what philosophers do is examine with a critical eye all things. It may just be that elements of that worldview are not correct or true. It could just be that some of our most cherished beliefs have flaws in them, such as in the Santa story, and we just don’t see them as yet.
::现在,我们从我们的文化中学习了许多东西和观察所有事物的方法。我们通过我们的文化继承了一种世界观。现在,哲学家们所做的就是用批判性的眼睛来检查所有事物。可能只是这种世界观中的某些元素不正确或不真实。 可能只是我们最珍视的信仰中有一些缺陷,比如圣诞老人的故事,而我们只是还没有看到它们。

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Philosophy examines the most basic ideas with which humans think. It takes as little for granted as is possible. In fact it aims at taking nothing for granted and subjecting all ideas and beliefs to the examination of reason. Here is the best definition of Philosophy that I have ever come across:
::哲学研究人类认为的最基本思想。它尽可能不认为是理所当然的。事实上,它的目的是不把任何思想和信仰视为理所当然,而将所有思想和信仰置于理性的审视之下。 这是我所见过的关于哲学的最佳定义:

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  Philosophy is the most critical and comprehensive thought process devised by humans.
::哲学是人类设计的最关键和最全面的思想过程。

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Philosophy is not the means by which humans have erected systems of beliefs to help them answer the most perplexing and important issues but it is the means by which those answers are evaluated, examined and found to be acceptable or else rejected.
::哲学不是人类建立信仰体系帮助他们解决最令人困惑和重要的问题的手段,而是评价、审查和发现这些答案可以接受或遭到拒绝的手段。

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Some of the earliest forms for the answers to life’s most basic questions have been found in the form of stories that were told long, long ago. These stories were passed on from generation to generation. The stories were told in the hope that those who heard them would believe them and be guided by them. Such stories are called myths. Myths may or may not be true. The point about a myth is that those who pass them on hope that those who hear them will believe them and be guided by them. In this manner you can think of the Santa Story as a myth, and a broken myth at that because most who tell the tales know that they are not true. It doesn’t matter whether they are true or not. The teller of the myth- intends for the audience to believe.
::对于生命中最基本的问题,有些最早的解答形式是很久以前很久以前就已讲过的故事,这些故事是代代相传的。这些故事是希望那些听到他们的故事的人相信他们,并且以他们为引导者。这些故事被称为神话。神话或许是真实的,神话或许不是真实的。神话的意义在于,那些传他们的人希望那些听到他们的人相信他们,并遵循他们。这样,你就可以把《圣殿故事》看作是一个神话,而一个破碎的神话,因为大多数讲故事的人知道他们不是真实的。他们是否真实并不重要。传神话的人想让观众相信这些神话。

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OK, let’s take a look at where we are. Humans have a sense of wonder. They ask all sorts of questions. Humans want answers to the most important questions. Humans want and need order in their lives. They abhor chaos. Humans can’t abide a mental chaos. The earliest sets of answers to life’s most pressing questions appear to have been contained in and passed ion through stories. People like stories. They learn a lot from stories. People gravitate to the story, the gossip, and the tales about the professor more than they focus on the lesson. Some of the earliest stories meant to be instructive, answer questions, and provide order are myths. As time goes on within every culture there arise so many myths, so many stories that some people start to wonder about the stories themselves. Some people even question the tales.
::让我们看看我们身处何方。 人类有一种奇异感。 他们问了各种问题。 人类希望回答最重要的问题。 人类渴望和需要生活秩序。 人类憎恶混乱。 人类不能忍受精神混乱。 生命最紧迫问题的最早答案似乎被包含在故事中,并通过故事传递。 人们喜欢故事。 他们从故事中学到了很多东西。 人们对故事、流言和教授故事的兴趣超过他们所关注的教训。 一些最早的故事意味着具有启发性、回答问题和提供秩序,这些是神话。 随着每个文化中出现如此多的神话,许多故事开始让人对故事本身感到疑惑。 有些人甚至质疑故事本身。

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• Are they true? They can’t all be true at once! Which are true? How do we know?
  ::是否真实? 他们不可能同时都真实! 哪些是真实的? 我们怎么知道?

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Philosophy Arises Out of Wonder
::奇迹的哲学出世

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Philosophy arises out of a cultural background. Philosophy arises out of a questioning of the myths, the accepted truths, the beliefs, and tales of a culture. We will start the course by examining how Philosophy arose in the West out of the questioning of the Greek myths and ideas current in the time of Socrates. We shall learn how Socrates struggled to find truth and wisdom and was put to death for his efforts to find true virtue and the G ood . We shall learn how Plato, Socrates student, changed his life around after the execution and took up the quest of Socrates and how Plato found answers to the questions that perplexed  Socrates. Plato found not only answers but also a method for humans everywhere to work out answers without needing to rely on memorizing the official answers of previous generations and to repeat them over and over again, despite obvious problems with them. Before we get to these Greeks and the origins of Philosophy I think you may want to know why it is important to look at them. In the next section we shall draw a number of parallels between our own time and that of the Greeks so that you can apply what we learn about them to our own times. You might also learn a few things that you could apply to your own life now! That wouldn’t be at all undesirable.
::哲学产生于文化背景。哲学产生于对神话、公认的真理、信仰和文化故事的质询。我们将首先研究哲学如何在西方产生,这是在苏格拉底时代希腊神话和思想的质询中产生的。我们应该知道苏格拉底是如何为寻求真理和智慧而奋斗的,并且为了他找到真正的美德和善良而被处死。我们应该了解柏拉图(Socrates学生)如何在处决后改变他的生活,并开始研究苏格拉底的探究,以及普拉托如何找到对困惑苏格拉底的问题的答案。柏拉图不仅找到了答案,而且还找到了一种方法,让世界各地的人可以找到答案,而不必依赖记忆前几代人的官方答案,并反复重复这些答案,尽管他们存在明显的问题。在我们找到这些希腊人和哲学的起源之前,我想你可能想知道为什么必须看他们。在下一节中,我们也可以在自己的时间里学到一些我们自己的东西。我们也可以在自己的时间里学到一些东西。

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View : Video
::视图: 视频

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Philosophy Applications  
::哲学应用

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  Your friend has failed an exam and blames their failure on the difference between them and their professor's astrological signs.
::你朋友没有通过考试 把他们的失败归咎于他们的区别 以及教授的占星符号

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1. Are astrological signs connected to passing or failing an exam? Explain.
   ::是否与考试通过或失败有关?解释一下。
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2. Is your friend's remark logical? Why or why not.
   ::你的朋友的说法合乎逻辑吗?
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3. In your opinion is the belief in zodiac signs a myth, a tale or a broken myth? Explain.
   ::在你看来 对黄道氏菌的信仰 是神话 故事还是破碎的神话?

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Vocabulary
::词汇表