評論
打印
Groundless Beliefs
無根據的信念
Alfred Ernest Monder
艾爾弗雷德·歐內斯特·曼德
In the future we are going to follow the practice—until it becomes a habit—of classifying propositions according to their grounds. Of every statement we come across, we shall ask: "HOW DO WE KNOW THAT? WHAT REASON HAVE WE FOR BELIEVING THAT? ON WHAT 'GROUND' IS THAT STATEMENT BASED?" Probably we shall be astonished at the number of propositions met with in everyday life which we shall find it necessary to class as groundless. They rest upon mere tradition, or on somebody's bare assertion unsupported by even a shadow of proof...
今后，我們將按依據來劃分各種觀點--直至這種做法成為一種習慣。對于我們所遇到的每一種觀點，我們都應該問：“我們是如何知道的？我們有什么理由相信它？這種說法有什么‘根據’？我們可能會吃驚地發現，日常生活中我們所見到的大量說法有必要歸類為毫無根據的說法。這些說法或是僅僅基于傳統，或是僅僅基于某人毫無證據的斷言……
It may be a belief which we originally accepted as a result of simple "suggestion," and we have continued to hold it ever since. It has now become one of our regular habits of thought. Perhaps somebody-somewhere-sometime told us a certain thing, and quite uncritically we accepted and believed it. Perhaps it was way back in our early childhood—before we had even developed the power of questioning anything that might be told to us. Many of our strongest convictions were established then; and now, in adult life, we find it most difficult even to question their truth. They seem to us "obviously" true.
情況很可能是這樣的：我們最初僅僅因為別人的“暗示”而接受了這樣的觀點，并且此后我們繼續堅持這種觀點。這種觀點現在已成為我們不變的思維習慣。也許某人于某時、某地告訴我們某件事，我們就不加評判地接受并相信了。這種做法或許可以追溯到我們早期的童年時代--在我們有能力質疑別人可能告訴我們的任何事情之前。我們的許多根深蒂固的信念都是那時建立起來的；而現在長大了，我們卻發現甚至很難對這些信念的真實性提出質疑。這些信念在我們看來“顯然”是正確無疑的。
