托尔斯泰笔下的伊万里奇惊讶地发现 Tolstoy's Ivan Ilyich is surprised to discover
自己竟然会死 that he's going to die.
虽然他一直把死亡挂在嘴边 It's the sort of thing he's given lip service to,
毋庸置疑 他这辈子都在说自己会死 no doubt, over the course of his life.
但当他最后病倒 开始真正面对死亡 But when he finally gets ill and comes up to the fact of his mortality,
抱着残弱不堪的躯体等待死神降临时 that his body is going to sicken and eventually die,
即将奔赴黄泉的事实却使他大为震惊 the fact of his mortality seems to shock him,
乃至惊讶万分 seems to surprise him.
也许可以说 We might say,
在某个层面上他相信自己是会死的 on one level he believes that he was mortal.
这点他一直都相信 He's believed it all along.
但在另一个更深的层面上 But at another level, at some deeper level,
死亡却令他惊讶万分 it comes as a surprise to him.
他从未真正相信这一事实 He never really believed it.
现在 我假设伊万里奇的例子真实可信 Now, I take it that we find Ivan Ilyich a perfectly believable example.
即 我们相信的确有人在某种层面上 That is, we think it's conceivable that somebody could, at some level,
从未真正相信自己会死 not really believe they're going to die.
我也认为托尔斯泰 But I also take it that Tolstoy means to be putting forward
并非只想告诉我们真有这样一个人存在 more than just a claim that there could be such a person.
"这个人很古怪的 "Look how bizarre he is.
我来给你说说他有多怪" Let me describe him for you."
而是想将伊万里奇作为一个典型 But rather, the suggestion is meant to be that Ivan Ilyich's case is rather typical.
也许人人都是如此 Maybe all of us are in his situation,
或者说至少大部分人如此 or at least most of us are in his situation.
再或者至少相当一部分人如此 Or, at the very least, many of us are in his situation.
这说法挺给力的 虽然我觉得 That's a stronger claim, though I think it's not the
并非仅托尔斯泰一人抱有这种看法 sort of claim that's unique to Tolstoy,
所有或大多数或相当一部分人在根本上 that all of us or most of us or many of us at the fundamental level
都是从未真正相信自己会死的 don't really believe that we're going to die.
你也许会问 你凭什么这么说 You might ask, what kind of evidence could be offered for that?
伊万里奇这例子 Offering a realistic scenario,
没法让我们信服 a realistic description of such a person --Ivan Ilyich--
还不足以让我们相信 doesn't give us any reason to think
大多数人或者相当一部分人像他那样 that most of us or many of us are in his situation.
那么是否有理由这样想呢 So, is there any reason to think that?
你也许会问 对此 You might ask, what kind of argument could be offered
我们又该如何论证呢 for a claim like that?
我认为 我们应该把它作为 What we'd be looking for, I take it,
某种需要我们解释的行为 would be some kind of behavior on our part that calls out for explanation.
而该论证的最佳解释 And the best explanation is to be had--this is how the argument would go.
就是假设 The best explanation is to be had by supposing
确实有此种行为的人存在 that those people who behave this way.
假设相当一部分人有这种行为 Let's suppose many of us who behave this way.
那么对此行为的最佳解释即为 The best explanation of that behavior is to be
我们在某个层面上 某个基本层面上 found by claiming that at some level, at some fundamental level,
并不相信那些我们口口声声说相信的事物 we don't really believe what we claim to believe.
我们并不相信自己嘴上说的那些话 We don't really believe what we give lip service to.
例如某个强迫症患者 Take somebody who perhaps suffers from some
一直在洗自己的手 sort of compulsion to wash his hands.
有人问他 "你手脏吗" We ask him, "Are your hands dirty?"
他说 "不 当然不脏" He might say, "No, of course not."
说完 他又回到洗手间继续洗他的手 And yet, there he is, going back to bathroom, washing his hands again.
你会说 对此行为的唯一解释 You might say, the only way to explain the behavior is to say
就是在某个层面上 他相信自己手脏 that at some level, he really does believe his hands are dirty,
尽管他嘴上说不脏 despite the fact that he says they're not.
同样 如果我们的某些行为 Well, in the same way, if we could find some behavior on our part
亟待这种解释 that calls out for explanation,
那么对此行为的最佳解释便是 that the best possible explanation would be
在某个层面上我们不相信自己会死 that at some level we don't believe we're going to die,
然后我们就可以说 我们有理由认为 then we might say, look, this gives us some reason to think
我们并非真的相信自己会死 that we don't really believe we're going to die,
即便我们声称自己相信 even though we say we believe it.
假设 如果你真的相信从根本上 Suppose, for example, that if you really did believe, fundamentally,
在潜意识里 不管在哪个层面上 unconsciously, all the way down
如果你真的相信自己会死的话 however we should put it--if you really did believe you were going to die,
死亡的恐惧将令你尖叫不止 the horror of that would lead you to start screaming and just keep screaming.
这个例子又让我们想起伊万里奇 Of course, this example reminds us again of Ivan Ilyich,
一直叫啊叫的 直到死掉 who screams and screams and screams almost till his death.
假设这是真的 Well, suppose this was true.
假设我们极有理由相信 Suppose that if you -suppose we believed--we had good reason to believe--
如果你认真思考你会死这一事实 if you really took seriously the thought that you were going to die,
你就会一直尖叫 you couldn't stop screaming.
但显然 这里没人尖叫 But of course, nobody here is screaming,
于是我们便可以得出结论 from which we can conclude
没人从根本上 none of us really do believe,
潜意识里相信自己真的会死 fundamentally, deep down, that we're going to die.
如果我们有理由相信这个有条件的假设 That would be a good argument if we had good reason to believe
这必将是一个很好的论证 the conditional, the if-then claim.
如果你真的相信自己会死 If only you really truly believed you were going to die,
你就会不断地尖叫 you would scream and scream and scream.
这是决定性的前提 That's the crucial premise.
当然 就我所知 And of course,
我们没有足够的理由 we don't have any good--as far as I can see--we don't have any
去相信这个决定性前提 good reason to believe that crucial premise.
你也许会问 有没有其它行为 You might ask though, is there some other behavior,
能就我们是否相信自己真的会死这一问题 something else that should tip us off, could tip us off,
给予我们一点启发呢 as to whether or not we really do or don't believe that we're going to die?
以下是我能想到的最好的行为 Well, here's the best that I can do.
这是我个人认为对此问题最好的论证了 This strikes me as the most plausible contender for an argument like this.
我们知道 有些人曾和死神擦肩而过 As we know, there are people who have brushes with death.
例如在一场事故中差点丧命 They might be, for example, in an accident, and come close to being killed,
最后却毫发无伤 but walk away without a scratch.
又或者心脏病突发不得不立即做手术 Or suffer a heart attack and be on the operating table for some
几小时后 心外科的医生拯救了你 number of hours and then, thanks to cardiac surgery
使你获得重生 or what have you, be resuscitated.
人们一旦有过这种濒死体验 When people have these near brushes with death,
便会相信他们对死亡有了更为真切的认识 it's easy to believe that the fact of their mortality is more vivid.
简直是前所未有的真切 It's more before their mind's eye.
于是现在 他们坚信自己的确会死 It's something that they now really truly do believe.
有趣的是 许多有此经历的人 And the interesting point is many people who have this sort of experience,
那些对死亡有真切认知的人 经常会说 for whom their mortality has become vivid, they often say,
"我要改变我的人生 "I've got to change my life.
我要减少工作时间多陪陪家人 I need to spend less time at the office and more time with my family,
对我爱的人说 我爱他们 telling the people that I love that I love them,
做一些真正重要的事 doing the things that are important to me,
少花些时间去担忧如何超过别人 spend less time worrying about getting ahead,
如何赚钱或是买个等离子电视"等等 making money, getting the plasma TV," whatever it is.
假设所有人或者大部分人都会如此 Let's suppose that this is true of all of us, or at least most of us.
当我们发现死亡是如此真切 When we find the fact of our mortality is made vivid,
当我们真正意识到自己会死时 when we really truly can see that we're mortal,
我们便会调整事情的轻重缓急 then we change our priorities,
不再把时间和精力都花在赢取竞争上 stop giving all the time and attention to trying to get ahead in the rat race
而是把时间用来与爱人一起做有意义的事 and spend more time with our loved ones doing what's important to us.
假如这个说法成立 Suppose that claim were true.
与此同时 我们可能会注意到 Well, armed with that claim, we might notice,
大部分人的确花了很多时间 well look, of course, most of us do spend a lot of time
想要赢取竞争 赚很多钱 trying to get ahead, trying to earn a lot of money,
而非用这些时间来做那些 don't spend the bulk of our time doing the things that
对自己真正重要的事 we really truly think are most important to us,
从未告诉朋友 don't tell our friends,
也从未告诉家人 他们对你有多么重要 don't tell our family members how much they mean to us,
你有多爱他们 how much we love them.
对此我们又该如何解释呢 What are we to make of that fact?
也许答案是 Well, maybe the explanation is,
虽然我们嘴上承认我们会死 although we give lip service to the claim that we're mortal,
但从根本上 我们并不相信这点 at some more fundamental level, we don't truly believe it.
死对我们来说不够鲜明 The belief's not vivid for us.
我们从未完全相信过 We don't believe it all the way down.
这个论证 至少在我看来 Well, this is an argument--at least it seems to me--
这个论证有可能正确 that has some chance of being right.
我无法完全肯定它是对的 I'm not at all convinced that it is right.
但至少它不像那些 But at least it doesn't seem to be the sort of argument,
我上次提到的那些 例如 unlike some of the arguments I've considered last time about oh,
没有人相信自己会死 nobody believes they're going to die because
因为你无法想象死后的场景 诸如此类 you can't picture being dead or what have you.
我认为这个论证至少存在正确的可能性 This argument, I think, has some possibility of being right.
毕竟 那些和死亡擦肩而过的人 It does seem as though people who have brushes with
似乎的确转变了自己的行为模式 death change their behavior in significant ways.
而我们之所以没像那们那样 The fact that we don't behave in those other ways gives us some
也许是因为我们在某个层面上 reason to believe that perhaps at some level we don't completely
或者从根本上并不完全相信我们会死 or fully or fundamentally believe we're going to die.
如我所说 我无法确定这个论证的正误 As I say, I'm not sure whether that argument's right.
但至少它值得我们去认真对待 But at least it's an argument worth taking seriously.
我们再来看看另一种 Let me turn now to a different claim that
关于死亡的观点 sometimes gets made about death.
这个说法 This is the claim--
不是说没有人相信自己会死 not that nobody believes they're going to die;
就像我们上节课最后所说的那样 that's the one we've been talking about for the last lecture or so
而是说 每个人都会孤独地死去 but instead, the claim that everybody dies alone.
听上去像是某种关于死亡本质的深刻见解 This sounds like one of those deep insights into the nature of death.
蕴含某种深奥的哲学思考 It's got that kind of air of profundity about it that
或哲学追求 philosophy's thought to have or aspires to have.
每个人都会孤独地死去 Everyone dies alone.
这话对死亡的本质 This is telling us something deep and
作了深奥有力并颇有意思的挖掘 important and interesting about the nature of death.
然而 我本人对其持全盘否定的态度 Now, as it happens, this is one I'm going to be completely dismissive of.
我认为"我们都会孤独地死去"这个说法 I think, as far as I can see, that the claim "we all die alone,"
无论怎么理解 都是牵强谬误的 however we interpret it, just ends up being implausible or false.
每每课程进行到此 我总纠结万分 I give it such a hard time each time I teach this class,
屡屡想着 干脆直接删掉它了事 that I'm often tempted to just drop it from the discussion altogether.
即便如此 Even though,
倘若你读了我指定的阅读材料 if you've done the reading of the Edwards paper
爱德华兹的作品 that I assigned,
你就会看到爱德华兹在其中引用了 you have a series of quotes from Edwards
许多诸如人都会孤独死去这类的话语 in which people say things like, they die alone.
我有时会在下课之后想 I sometimes come away after this discussion thinking,
"我干嘛要浪费大家的时间 "Why am I wasting our time?
根本就没人相信我们会孤独地死去" Nobody really believes this, that we all die alone."
去年我已经打定主意不讲这个问题了 Last year I was virtually ready to drop it and then,
结果某天下午 我看到某个例子 I kid you not, that very afternoon, I came across a quote.
等会我再来谈这个例子 I'll share this with you in a second.
有人说 "我们都会孤独地死去" Somebody saying, "Oh, we all die alone."
然而两天以后 一周以后 And then I think it was two days later, a week later,
我又碰到类似的引用 I came across another quote of somebody saying,
"我们都会孤独地死去" 这使我觉得 "Oh, we all die alone." It made me think,
"也许这是一种普遍想法" "Oh, I guess this is a common enough thought."
这里就有两段引用 So here are the two quotes.
但我想只要你们随便找找 But I think once you start looking for them,
在哪都能看到类似的语言 you find them everyplace.
第一个出自民间歌手劳登·温赖特三世 This first one is from the folk singer Loudon Wainwright III,
他在歌曲《世上最后一人》中唱到 from his song Last Man on Earth.
"我们学会同居 却孤独地死去" "We learn to live together and then we die alone."
我们孤独地死去 这说法挺有趣 We die alone. Interesting claim.
貌似是在探究死亡本质的某个重要课题 It seems to say something important about the nature of death.
接下来是第二段引文 摘自儿童读物 Here's another quote. This is from the children's book,
克里斯托弗·保利的大作《长老》 Eldest by Christopher Paolini, the sequel,
畅销书《龙骑士》的续篇 of course, to the bestseller Eragon.
"太可怕了" 龙骑士说 "How terrible,' said Eragon,
"即便在你至亲的陪伴下 To die alone, separate,
死亡依旧是孤独的" even from the one who is closest to you.'"
有人回答道 The answer given to Eragon,
"每个人都是孤独死去的 龙骑士 "Everyone dies alone, Eragon,
无论是驰骋沙场的国王 whether you are a king on a battlefield
还是身份卑微的农夫 or a lowly peasant
在家人的注视下躺在床上 lying in bed among your family,
没人能陪你奔赴黄泉 no one can accompany you into the void?
每个人都会孤独地死去" Everyone dies alone."
如我所说 这是一种普遍观点 As I say, this is a common enough view.
这只是两个例子 Two quotes.
我还可以再找到其他类似的话 I could certainly produce others.
人都是孤独死去 Everyone dies alone.
关键在于 我们会想问 The trick--the question we're going to ask is,
能否找到一些关于此类说法的解释呢 can we find some interpretation of that claim under which,
首先它能够解释自身成立 其次 first of all it ends up being true, secondly,
也能使这个说法成为有关死亡的必然真理 it ends up being a necessary truth about death?
假如所有人在下周一会死 Suppose everyone happens to die on Monday,
全都丧命于某个宇宙事件之中 due to some cosmic coincidence.
听起来比较有趣 It might be sort of interesting,
但却并没有揭示关于死亡的深刻内涵 but it wouldn't tell us something deep about the nature of death,
如果所有人都在星期二挂了 if people could just as easily die on Tuesday.
如果所有人都在自己房里死去 If it happened to be that everybody dies in a room by themselves,
就比较有趣 that would be interesting.
我们会好奇其中的缘由 We might wonder what causes it.
但这也并未揭示什么死亡的深奥问题 But it wouldn't be some deep insight into the nature of death.
如果人都将孤独死去这一说法是必然真理 We're going to get a deep insight if it's a necessary
那它便揭示了一些深刻的内涵 truth about death that everyone dies alone.
所以它必须成立 也必须成为必然真理 So it's got to be true. It's got to be a necessary truth.
当然 这仍然是一个有趣的说法 And, of course, it's got to be an interesting claim.
假如 当我们解释"人都孤独死去"时 If, when we interpret the claim "everyone dies alone,"
仅仅得出一个略显空洞的说法 that just ends up being a slightly pretentious
即 人都会死 我们也许会说 way of saying everyone dies, we might say, oh yeah,
那的确是真理并且是必然真理 that is true and it is a necessary truth,
但也没什么稀奇的 but it's not especially surprising.
它并没有揭示什么关于死亡的深层次问题 It's not some deep surprising insight into the nature of death.
地球人都知道人会死 We all knew everyone dies.
你只是把这个简单的事实 You take that familiar fact and you
包装成了"人都会孤独死去" wrap it up in the language "everyone dies alone."
如果这就是你要说的 那实在很无聊 If that's all you're saying, you're not saying anything interesting.
当有人说 When people say,
"你知道 人都会孤独死去" "You know, everyone dies alone,"
你期望得到某种对死亡深层次的揭示 you're supposed to be gaining some deep insight into the nature of death.
最终 "人都会孤独死去" 本应揭示 Finally, "everyone dies alone" is supposed to
一些关于死亡的特别寓意 say something special about death.
也不要说什么每个人都在孤独地做事情 It better not be that everyone does everything alone,
因为 不管孤独这个词表达了什么意思 because--in whatever the relevant sense of alone turns out to be-
如果人做所有事都是孤独的 if everyone does everything alone,
那么这显然太滑稽了 then of course that might be interesting.
上述说法也许举足轻重且寓意深刻 It might be very important and insightful,
但当你说人都孤独死去的时候 but you're not saying anything especially interesting
其并没有道出关于死亡的任何深刻见地 about death when you say everyone dies alone,
如果人都孤独吃饭这也算是真理的话 if it's also true that everyone eats their lunch alone.
所以 我们问自己 So, all this is, is just, as we begin to ask ourselves,
"人都孤独死去"这种说法 what could it possible mean when people say
到底想要表达什么意思 "everyone dies alone"?
我们一直在寻找一个真实 必然 we're looking for something that's true, necessary,
有趣并且 即使谈不上专属死亡 interesting and, if not unique to death,
但也至少不是一个放之四海而皆准的真理 at least not true of everything.
我之所反对这些是因为 I put these conditions down because, of course,
我认为 尽管 what I want to suggest is although
"人都会孤独死去"这句话 the sentence "everyone dies alone,"
人都孤独死去这个观点 the claim that everyone dies alone,
为许多人所接受 is one of these things that people say,
但其实他们并没有认真思考过 they're not really thinking very hard
他们到底想要通过这句话表达什么意义 about what they mean by it.
因为一旦你向他们追问 Because once you actually push people, to pin them down,
到底要表达什么意思 what do you mean by it,
你只会得到一些不真实 you end up with something that's either just not true,
无聊 或不必要的 or not interesting, or not necessary,
或者并非独属于死亡的答案 or not particularly unique to death.
来看这样一个解释 Take a possible interpretation.
一个最自然的 简单的 The most natural, straightforward,
字面的 直截了当的解释 literal, flat-footed interpretation.
某人孤独做某事的意思是说 To say that somebody does something alone means they
他做这件事时没有其他人在场 do it not in the presence of others.
某个独自生活的人睡觉 Somebody who lives by himself goes to sleep.
如果卧室里没有其他人 If there's nobody else in the bedroom,
那他就是孤独地睡觉 he's sleeping alone.
以这作为人都孤独死去的直接解释 On that straightforward interpretation, to say that everybody dies alone,
即是说 我们所有人死的时候 what we're saying is that it's true of each one of us
都没有其他人在身边 that he or she dies not in the presence of others.
如果这种说法成立 那实在是重大发现 If that was true, it would be sort of surprising, striking.
我们不知道那是不是必然真理 We might wonder whether it's a necessary truth.
但至少很有趣味性 But at least there'd be something interesting there.
当然 那不是真理 我们都很清楚 But of course, it's not true. We all know full well
有人会在他人的陪伴下死去 that sometimes people die in the presence of others.
我们在学期开始时读过柏拉图斐多篇 We read earlier this semester Plato's Phaedo,
其中描述了苏格拉底死亡的场景 which describes the death scene of Socrates.
苏格拉底喝下毒药然后在他的朋友和信徒 Socrates drinks the hemlock and dies in the presence of
陪伴下死去 苏格拉底并非孤独死去 his friends and disciples. Socrates does not die alone.
当然我们知道还有许多这样的例子 And of course, we know that there are many,
许多人在其朋友 many other cases in which people die in the presence of their friends,
家人 爱人的陪伴下死亡 所以那种 family, loved ones. It's just not true,
"所有人都孤独死去"的解释是错误的 given that interpretation, to say we all die alone.
因此如果以上就是它的含义 So if that's what the claim means,
那它就是错的 it's false.
让我们试着找出一些其他的解释 Our challenge is to find some other interpretation of the claim.
好了 存在第二种可能 All right, second possibility.
当人们说"人都孤独死去" When people say "everyone dies alone,"
意思并不是说你死的时候身边没有人 they don't mean to be saying you die, but not in the presence of others.
而是更进一步说 即使你周围有人 They mean to be saying rather, even if there are others around you,
即使有人陪伴着你 even if there are others with you,
死亡却只能由你独自完成 dying is something that you're doing alone.
他们还没死 They aren't dying.
苏格拉底的朋友信徒们都没死 Socrates' friends and disciples are not dying.
只有苏格拉底死了 He's the only one dying.
于是每个人在那种情境中孤独死去 And so everyone dies alone in that sense.
如果它正确 这说法实在挺有趣 Well, that's an interesting claim, if it's true,
但其实不然 but it's not true.
战场上就很容易出现 We could certainly have battlefields in which many
许多人一道就义的情况 people are dying along with others.
琼斯死了 There is Jones dying,
但他不是一个人 but he's not dying alone.
史密斯在他旁边和他一起死了 There's Smith dying at the same time right next to him.
如果这就是人们所说的 If that's what people mean when they say
"人都孤独死去"的意思 "everyone dies alone,"
那显然错了 then that's clearly false as well.
我估计那也不是人们的真实想法 I presume that's not what people meant either.
那他们到底想表达一个什么意思呢 But then what was it that they did mean?
再进一步 我们可以说 Well, we could do better. We could say,
苏格拉底死的时候 look, when Socrates dies,
他孤独承受了自己的死亡 he's dying alone in the sense that he's doing it by himself.
没有人和他一起 He's not doing it in cooperation with anybody else,
没人与他协作 in coordination with anybody else.
在战场上 On the battlefield,
即使史密斯与琼斯同时死亡 even if Smith and Jones are both dying,
他们并没有通过协作 共同完成死亡 it's not like this is some sort of cooperative, joint undertaking.
如果你走过人行横道 You could be walking down the sidewalk and
琳达也走过人行横道 Linda could be walking down the sidewalk
虽然你们都走过人行横道 and even though you're both walking down the sidewalk,
但你们却没有一道走过 you're not walking down the sidewalk together.
相反 你可以与某人一起走人行横道 In contrast, you can walk down the sidewalk with somebody.
然后说 "我们一起去图书馆吧" Say, "Hey, let's go to the library."
随即 你们便一起走过人行横道 And you walk down the sidewalk together.
你可以与他人一道完成走路 Walking is something you can do with others,
这项联合活动 或叫联合作业 in the sense that it can be a joint activity, a joint undertaking.
也许接下来 这个说法就会表示 Perhaps the claim then is that dying is not something
死亡不属于联合作业 that can be done in that way as a joint undertaking.
即使你们共处一室或者共赴战场 Even if you're in a room or a battlefield where people
同时死去 肩并肩地死去 are dying at the same time as you, to your left and your right,
死亡也不是并且无法成为联合作业 dying is not and cannot be something that is a joint undertaking.
这也许为那些声称 Well, that might be a proposal about what people
"人都会孤独死去"的人们提出了建议 mean when they say "everybody dies alone."
如果真是这样 我要说 And if it is, all I can say is, again,
它仍然是错的 it just seems to be false.
不可否认 联合赴死 Now admittedly, dying as a joint undertaking
比孤独死去的情形要少见 即便是这样 is far rarer than dying alone. But for all that,
我们探寻的 we were looking for
也应是某个死亡的深刻见解 some deep insight into the nature of death.
人都会孤独死去 人必定孤独死去 Everyone dies alone. Everyone must die alone.
唯有当死亡无法成为 That's only going to be true
联合任务时这点才能成立 if dying as a joint undertaking is impossible.
但死亡其实是可以联合完成 But it's not impossible.
你可以举出集体自杀的例子 You could have, for example, some sort of suicide pact.
这种恐怖的例子的确存在 There have been cases, gruesome as they may be,
某组织成员一起服毒自尽 in which entire groups of people drink poison together
与其孤独死去 so as to die not alone,
不如步调一致 协作死亡 but die together, die as part of jointly dying, dying as a group.
或者你也许听过这种事件 Or you could have, once told that this sort of thing happens,
一对情侣跳崖殉情 a couple in love who together jump off the cliff,
共赴黄泉 committing suicide together,
通过联合协作而非孤独的方式结果彼此 dying not alone but with each other as part of a joint undertaking.
那当然可能 这些都是真实案例 It certainly seems possible. I take it cases like this actually do occur.
所以如果有人说 So if somebody comes along and says
"不不 人只能孤独死去 "No, no, everybody dies alone,
联合协作赴死是不可能的" and dying as part of a joint undertaking is impossible,"
那他就错了 they're just saying something false.
你可以把这种联合协作 These joint undertakings are like, well, you
想象成一种音乐四重奏 might think of them analogous to playing chamber music with a string quartet.
你与其他人通力完成 It's something you're doing with others.
这些旋律并非由巧合拼凑而成 It's not just a coincidence that they're doing it at the same time.
各人随机演奏小提琴 All these people happen to be playing the violin,
中提琴或其它乐器 viola, or what have you next to you.
不是这样 我们彼此通力协作 No, no, we deliberately coordinated with one
才谱写出动人的旋律来 another so as to together produce this music.
四重奏乐曲是这样 It seems possible in the case of string quartets.
集体自杀事件也是如此 It seems possible in the case of joint suicide pacts as well.
然而那个说法的拥趸仍会反驳 Well, a fan of the claim that we all die alone might come back and say,
"在四重奏的例子中 "Well, in the case of the string quartet,
虽然我的确与别人协作演奏 although it's true that I am playing with others,
但总有人能够代替我 总有人 somebody could take my part. Somebody else could
能够代替我演奏小提琴 play the second violin part for me.
相比之下 当我死时 Whereas, in contrast, when I die,
即便我同别人一起死 even if I'm dying with others,
却是没有人能够代替我的" nobody can take my part."
也许这才是那个说法的含义 So perhaps that's what the claim is meant to be when people say,
"人都会孤独死去" "everybody dies alone."
没人能够经历你的死亡 Nobody can die your death for you.
没人能代替你死 Nobody can take your part.
如果他们是这意思 那么 注意 Now if that's what they mean, then--a small observation--
他们还表达得不够清楚 they didn't express themselves very clearly.
我认为"没有人能代替我死" It seems to me rather a long distance from the thought,
很难与那个 "nobody can die for me, nobody can take my part," to the claim,
"人都会孤独死去"的说法挂钩 "everybody dies alone."
前者似乎是一个误解 That seems a rather misleading, unhelpful
而无法证明你的观点 way of making your point.
不过我们先不考虑这点 But let's just bracket that complaint.
真的没有人能代替我吗 It is true that nobody can take my part?
的确有人能够在四重奏中取代我的位置 Certainly people can take my part in the string quartet.
然而真的就没有人能代替我死吗 Is it true that nobody can take my part in terms of my death?
似乎不是这样 Not so clear it is true.
不知道你们当中有多少人 I don't know how many of
读过《双城记》 you have read Tale of Two Cities.
还没读过的同学 我马上要剧透了 If not, i'm about to spoil the plot for you.
其中有个情节是这样的 Here's at least a strand of the story.
英雄爱上了一个女人 悲剧的是 The hero of the story is in love with a woman who--alas
这个女人不爱他 她爱着另一个人 and alack--does not love him. She loves another man.
悲剧的是 这个人在法国革命中 This other man--alas and alack--has been condemned to
被宣判死罪 death during the French Revolution.
而碰巧的是 这是小说 碰巧的是 Now as it happens--this is a novel--as it happens,
我们的英雄跟那个男人长得很像 our hero looks rather like the other man.
当那个男人被拉到断头台行刑时 And so as the other man is being carted off to the guillotine to be killed,
我们的英雄代替了他 并留此名句 our hero takes his place. Hence, the famous speech,
"这是我今天做的最好的一件事" "This a far, far better thing I do today."
英雄牺牲自己成全了 Our hero sacrifices himself so that the woman he loves
他心爱的女人与她爱的人 can have the man that she loves.
我们的目的不在于浪漫的故事情节 Well, for our purposes, the romance isn't crucial.
而应将注意力集中于 For our purposes, the crucial point is to see that
怎样看待英雄舍身代替 what seems to be going on there is our hero is taking the
另外一个人去死这个问题 place of somebody else who's about to die.
就像有人能替我演奏小提琴 Just like somebody could take my place in the string quartet,
似乎也有人能够代替我上断头台 it seems that somebody could take my place at the guillotine.
美国内战时期 举国征兵 In the American Civil War, there was a draft,
如果你足够富有 but you could avoid it by hiring somebody to take your place,
你大可以雇个人代替你参军 if you were rich enough.
假如你在某场战役中 Well, you're in some battle,
或者你的部队处于某场战役中 or rather, your troop is in some battle,
你身边的人都死了 and people are being killed left and right.
因此也许可以说 Well, I suppose it doesn't strike me as an implausible thing to
如果你所在部队的所有人都牺牲了 say that if everybody in the troop got killed and you
你要在队里的话就死定了 然而 would have gotten killed had you been there, but instead,
实际上是你雇佣的那个人死了 the person you hired to take your place gets killed,
他代替了你 替你牺牲了 then he took your place. He substituted for you in the death.
因此我们并不能说 So again, we don't have any clear,
没有人能够代替我 true interpretation of the claim that nobody can take
即便是代替我死 my place, even with regard to dying.
很容易想到 Well, easy to imagine the fan of this view
那些粉丝又跑来说 coming back yet again and saying,
"就算我们的英雄代替另一个人 "Although it's true that our hero takes the place of the
上了断头台 最后又怎样呢 other man on the guillotine, what ends up happening,
我们的英雄仍然经历了他自己的死亡 of course, is that our hero dies his own death.
他没有接替另一个人的死亡 He doesn't take over the death of the other man.
那个人的死亡终究 The death of the other man doesn't take place
会在20 30 40年以后才发生 until 20, 30, 40, whatever it is, years later.
没有人能够真正代替我死亡 Nobody can take my place at my death.
因为显然 即使有人代替了我 Because, of course, if they take my place,
他们最终经历的 they end up living or going through, rather,
仍然是他们自己的死亡 their death not my death.
我的死只有我自己能经历 My death is something that only I can undergo.
如果这个说法成立 那的确很有趣 Now again, that's an interesting claim if it's true.
至少听上去挺有趣的 At least it seems to be an interesting claim.
它像是关乎死亡的有趣话题 It seems to say something interesting about death.
但需要指出的事 Again, I want to just notice that
想用"人都会孤独死去"来表达这层含义 it's a rather odd thing to try to
的确挺古怪 express that point in the language "Everyone dies alone."
不过我们还是先不讨论这个 But just bracket that.
我们是否找到某些 Have we at least found something that's
必要且专属于死亡的东西 necessary, unique to death when we say,
"没有人能够真正代替我死去 "Nobody can die my death for me.
只有我才能经历自己的死亡" I am the only one who can undergo my death"?
我们每个人都只能经历自己的死亡 Each of us must undergo his own death
而无法体验别人的死亡 and nobody else's death.
别人也无法经历当事人的死亡 Nobody else can undergo their death for them,
当事人也不能体验别人的死亡 somebody else's death for them.
这么说仿佛是正确的 Well, that does seem to be true
而且看上去也像个必然真相 and it seems to be a necessary truth.
但似乎并不其然 But we're not quite done.
它揭示了某些 Is it saying something deep
关于死亡的深刻道理吗 and interesting about the nature of death?
它又是某些死亡所独有的道理吗 Is it something that's fairly unique to the nature of death?
没有人能够经历我的死亡 That nobody can die my death for me.
事实上 我不认为如此 Actually, I don't think it is.
就像理发师给你理发 Consider getting your hair cut at the barber.
当然 有人能够代替你的位置 Now of course, somebody else can take your slot.
一个人突然跑来说 All right, there's somebody who comes along and says,
"我有个约会 就快迟到了 "Oh, I need to get to a date. I'm going to be late.
你能让我在你前面让我先剪吗" Would you mind my having your appointment, using your appointment?"
你答道"你先吧 没关系的" 对吗 "Oh, I'm willing to wait. It's okay," Right?
因此你可以说 So you might say,
粗略看来 他经历了你的理发 in some loose sense they've gotten your haircut.
当然 最后 But of course, as it ended up,
他并非真的剪了你的头发 they didn't really get your haircut.
他仍然剪了自己的头发 They got their haircut.
想想理发的例子 Think about haircuts.
没有人能够真正经历我的理发 Nobody can get my haircut for me.
只有我能经历我的理发 I'm the only one who can get my haircut.
如果有人试图代替我理发 If somebody else tries to get my haircut,
他实际只能把自己的头理了 they just end up getting their own haircut.
显然 不止理发是这样 Of course, it's not just special about haircuts.
例如你要接受摘除肾结石的手术 Talk about getting your kidney stones removed.
没有人可以代替我移除我的肾结石 Nobody else can get my kidney stones removed for me.
我是唯一能移除我肾结石的人 I'm the only one who can get my kidney stones removed for me.
再例如吃午饭 Think about eating lunch.
没有人能代替我吃午饭 Nobody can eat my lunch for me.
如果有人吃了我的午饭 If somebody else tries to eat my lunch,
最终 会变成他自己的午饭 they end up--it becomes their lunch.
他吃了自己的午饭 They've eaten their lunch for themselves.
除我以外没有人能代替我吃午饭 Nobody can eat my lunch for me except for me.
如果你接着想 If you think about it,
似乎所有事情都是这样 it's true about just about everything.
也许的确可以推广到所有事情 Maybe indeed everything.
当你强调"我"这个词时 If you emphasize the word "My" enough,
没有人能够代替我做 nobody can do much of anything
只有我能做的事 for me and still have it be my such and such.
简而言之 In short,
即使没有人能够经历我的死亡 even though it's true that nobody can die my death for me,
这也不是一个死亡所独有的深刻见解 this isn't some deep insight into the special nature of death.
"我"这个词只是一个 It's just a trivial grammatical
无聊的语法点而已 point about the meaning of the word "My."
好了 还记得我们现在讨论到哪了吗 All right, remember where we're at.
我们在寻找 We're looking for
"人都会孤独死去"这个说法的解释 interpretations of the claim "Everyone dies alone."
目前我们已经离题太远了 And by now we've gone rather far
偏离了寻找这个解释的主题 afield in the search for an interpretation of that claim.
只是我们仍未找到一个说法 But we have not yet been able to find a claim,
一个解释 an interpretation,
它真实 which is true,
有趣并且为死亡所独有 interesting, fairly special about death,
而非适用于所有事物 as opposed to trivially true about everything,
它同时还能给予我们某种 and giving us some relatively
关于死亡的深刻见解 interesting insight into the nature of death.
我无法从"人都会孤独死去" I can't see it for the claim
这话中得其要义 "Everyone dies alone."
至少在我们试图从字面上 At least not if we try to take these claims fairly literally
或是在形而上学中 or take them to be metaphysical claims
探究有关死亡的本质问题时毫无斩获 about the nature of death.
但也许我太过武断 But maybe I've just been flatfooted here in
觉得这个说法太过强调无关他人 thinking that this is some sort of claim about not being with others,
只着眼于自身 or things I do by myself.
也许"人都会孤独死去" Maybe the claim "We all
是一种隐喻 die alone" is intended as a kind of metaphor.
意思并不是我们都将孤独死亡 It's not that we all really do die alone.
而是说我们死时 It's that when we die,
都会感到孤独 it's as though we were alone.
好像我们只身一人 It's like being alone.
也许这句话是一个心理学上的说法 Maybe the claim "We all die alone" is a psychological claim,
指代一种心理状态 that the psychological state we are in
表达我们死时的孤独心理 when we die is similar to loneliness.
好比许多情况下 It's similar to the feeling of being alone
我们感到孤独一样 that we have in various situations.
如果这说法成立 它便趣味十足 Now, that would be interesting if it was true.
我们死亡时 Is it true that when we die
是否都会感到孤独 we all die having this feeling of loneliness,
或者产生疏离感呢 or perhaps feeling of alienation?
我们很容易想到某人弥留之际 It's easy enough to imagine somebody
许多人伴其左右 who is surrounded by other people as he's dying.
可尽管如此 And yet, for all that,
某人仍会感到分离 隔阂 feels removed, distant,
与他人疏理开来 alienated from the others,
即使置身于人群之中也会感到孤独 feels lonely even in the crowd.
所有人都会这样吗 Is that true of all of us?
记住 我们是寻找一个解释 Remember, we're looking for a claim that says,
使得"每个人都孤独死去" that makes it true,
这句话成立 that everyone dies alone.
所有人临死时都会感到隔阂与疏远吗 Is it true that everyone dies feeling distant and removed?
也许伊万里奇是这样 Maybe it was true of Ivan Ilyich.
伊万里奇感到与他的 Ivan Ilyich progressively grows
朋友和家人越来越有距离 more and more distant from his family and friends who,
甚至在心理上排斥他们 indeed, remove themselves psychologically from him.
面对死亡时他感到孤独寂寞 He faces his death with a feeling of alienation and being alone.
这是个隐喻 It's a metaphor,
也是他内心的深刻剖析 but still an important insight into his psychology.
而我们要问的是 The question we have to ask is,
"所有人都是如此吗 "Is that true of everybody?
是否所有人死前 Is it true that everybody
心理上都会感到孤独" dies alone in this psychological sense?"
似乎并不是这样 It doesn't seem to be true.
首先 请注意 显然 First of all, notice the obvious point
有些人在梦中意外死去 that sometimes people die in their sleep, unexpectedly.
他们不是病死 They weren't ill.
只是睡着时心脏停止跳动 They just die of cardiac arrest while they're sleeping.
可以合理推测 Such a person presumably is
这个人死时没有感到孤独或疏远 not feeling lonely or alienated while he dies.
也许你又说 "那好 Well, you might say, "Okay,
我们是说那些死时依旧清醒的人 what we meant was anybody who's awake while they're dying,
会感到孤独" 那还是错的 dies alone." That's not true either.
例如你正在过马路 You're crossing the street,
跟你的朋友闲聊 talking to your friend,
聊得十分投入 engaged in lively discussion.
你太过投入 So lively,
以至于没注意到一辆卡车正朝你开来 you don't notice the truck that's about to hit you.
卡车撞到你 The truck hits you,
你毫无痛苦立刻就死了 you die, painlessly and immediately.
那么 在最后时刻你感到孤独寂寞了吗 Well, were you feeling alienated and distant during your final moments?
貌似你没有 No, it doesn't seem right either.
因此说所有人死时 So it certainly doesn't seem true to say that
都感到孤独是不对的 everybody dies feeling these psychological feelings of loneliness.
好吧 也许我们应该 Well, maybe what we should
再修改一下这个说法 have to do is revise the claim yet again.
所有在死亡时清醒的人 Everybody who dies awake,
对自己的死亡有所认知 realizing that they're dying,
能够面对自己死亡的事实 facing the fact that they're dying,
如此一番 这个说法就能成立 they all, we all of whom that's true,
人都会孤独地死去 we all die alone,
只要我们能认知自己的死亡 as long as we realize we're dying.
这样就摈弃了睡眠死亡 That would take care of the sleep case.
也排除了卡车事故 That would take care of the truck case.
这回它对了吗 Is the claim true then?
即便我们已经加了如此多的条件 It would still be interesting if it was true,
这说法仍然十分有趣 如果它成立的话 even given those restrictions.
但它还是错的 But it doesn't seem true then either.
想想苏格拉底 Again, just recall Socrates.
苏格拉底与他的朋友们展开哲学辩论 Socrates is engaged in philosophical discussion with his friends,
他知道自己会死 却还喝下毒药 knows he's about to die. He's drunk the hemlock.
喝完后他坐在那里同所有人告别 He's sitting there saying goodbye to everybody.
他好像并没被疏远 He doesn't seem alienated.
他看起来并没有感到疏离和孤独 He doesn't seem to be feeling distant and alone.
因此说所有知道自己会死的人死前 It just doesn't seem true that everybody who
都会感到孤独也是错的 knows they're going to die and is facing their death feels lonely.
另一个哲学家的例子 Another example of this is another philosopher,
戴维·休姆 David Hume,
我们学期末会读到他的文章 whom we'll be reading at the end of the semester.
关于自杀的论文 We'll be reading his essay on suicide.
休姆罹患重病 Hume died,
即将死去 had an illness.
死前他仍然很随和 He was quite sociable to the end.
他曾经把人们叫到他床前 He used to bring people in to sit
与他们谈论各种问题 around his deathbed talking about various matters with him.
死前他十分愉快 He was cheerful and pleasant to the end. And there's,
我个人认为 as far as I can see,
他没有任何理由会感到孤独 no reason at all to believe that he was feeling lonely,
感到疏远 feeling distant,
感到与他的朋友们疏离 feeling alienated from the people who were keeping him company.
因此我认为心理学读物 So the psychological reading
也无法作出有力的解释 doesn't do any better, as far as I can see.
也许还有另一些解释 Well, maybe there's some other interpretation,
但我请你们回想一下问题 and I invite you to reflect on the question.
我们所有人都会孤独地死去吗 Is it true that we all die alone?
有没有办法能确认这个说法 Is there some way of understanding that claim where it's true,
使其成为必然真理 a necessary truth,
特殊并且独一无二 fairly special and unique,
即便不是独一无二 if not altogether unique,
至少也是为死亡特有 at least fairly special about death,
并揭示某些关于死亡本质的深刻道理 showing us some deep insight into the nature of death
而不是随便抛出一些肤浅的 --as opposed to some trivial insight about
强调"我"这个词的办法呢 the way the possessive first person pronoun "My" Works?
我没找到 I can't find it.
所以尽管人们常说 So despite the fact that the claim "We
"所有人都会孤独死去" all die alone" is one of these things that one hears,
但我觉得这简直就是胡扯 I think it's just nonsense.
我认为人们不假思索 I think it's people talking without giving
就随意脱口而出 a moment's thought to what they meant when they said it.
好了 我们说到哪了 All right, where are we?
课程的前半段 For the first half of the course,
我们粗略地讨论了形而上学 we've been engaged in metaphysics, broadly speaking.
我们试图弄清人的本质是什么 We've been trying to get clear about the nature of the person,
我们到底由什么组成 what we're composed of,
之后我们又试着了解 so that we could then try to get clearer
生存的本质以及人格同一性 about the nature of survival and identity of persons,
以便于我们从形而上学的角度 so that we could think about the nature of death,
思考死亡的本质 metaphysically speaking.
我们死时会怎样 What happens when we die?
你们都知道 And as you know,
我是唯物主义的拥护者 I've defended the physicalist conception,
相信我们都是 according to which all we are
拥有特定功能的肉体 are just bodies capable of doing some fancy tricks,
具有运行人体功能的肉体 capable of P-functioning.
大致上说 And details aside,
死亡就是肉体遭到破坏 death is a matter of the body breaking,
从而无法再执行人体功能的过程 so that it's no longer able to engage in P-functioning.
可以看出 As we saw,
根据人格同一性理论中的 depending on the particular details of which theory of personal identity
肉体理论 大脑理论 you accept -the body view, the brain view,
抑或人格理论 the personality theory of personal identity
我们也许会以下问题抱持不同的看法 --we might have to say slightly different
即 肉体死亡是否意味着我不再存在 things about whether the death of my body means I no longer exist,
是否应该将肉体死亡 whether we should distinguish the death of the body,
与个人死亡区分开 等等 the death of the person, and so forth.
我们先暂且不论细节 粗略说来 But those details aside, roughly speaking,
以下要点皆成立 the following is true.
当肉体消亡时 When the body breaks,
我便不再作为人而存在 I cease to exist as a person.
即使我们认为 And even if we can hold out
复活在逻辑上是成立的 the logical possibility of my being resurrected
或者只要人格不变 --or my continuing to exist with
即使身处另一具肉体中我仍然存在 a different body as long as it's got my personality,
如果你接受人格理论 if you happen to accept the personality theory
即使在逻辑上 --even though there is the logical
长生不老和死而复生皆有可能 possibility of surviving my death or coming back to life,
我也不相信 I see no good reason to believe
这种可能性的确存在 that those logical possibilities are actual.
我认为 As far as I can see,
肉体死亡后 when my body dies,
就都结束了 作为肉体理论的支持者 that's it. As a fan of the body view,
我相信自己些许还能再存在一会儿 I believe I'll still exist for a while.
以尸体的形式存在 I'll exist as a corpse.
但这种存在 But that's not the kind
对我来说简直不值一提 of thing about existence that mattered to me.
我真正关注的 In terms of what mattered to me,
并非只是我存在 what I wanted was not just that I exist,
而是我活着 but that I be alive,
作为一个人活着 indeed be a person,
并且拥有我的人格 indeed be a person with pretty much the same personality.
但事实却是 And the truth of the matter is,
当肉体消亡后 一切都变为过往云烟 when my body dies, that's all history.
关于形而上学 我们就谈到这么多 That's where we're at in terms of the metaphysics.
将以上内容稍作提炼得出 一旦我死了 We could summarize this by saying, when I die,
就不再存在了 I cease to exist.
这的确有点误导性 That's a little bit misleading,
因为根据我刚才概述的理论 given the view I just sketched where
我死后仍会作为尸体存在一会儿 even though I'm dead I still exist for a while as a corpse.
但这都不会影响到接下来要讨论的问题 But those issues won't concern us in what we're about to turn to.
为了避免纠缠于这些难题 Let's just suppose that,
我们假设 for the sake of avoiding those complications,
当肉体死亡时 that when my body dies,
人就毁灭了 it gets destroyed.
因此肉体灭亡的这一刻 And so the very same moment will be the end of my body,
我也不复存在 the end of my existence,
我的人格特质也就消失了 the end of my personhood.
我们假设人格 Let's suppose that my personality
并没有在肉体消亡前遭到破坏 doesn't get destroyed any sooner than the death of my body.
于是我们现处于存在的最后时刻 We've got the end of my existence.
这才是我们现在所关注的 Here I am going along.
一个炸弹突然把我炸飞 The atomizer comes along, blows me up.
与此同时 Then simultaneously,
作为人来说我已经死了 we've got the death of my person,
我的肉体死亡 the death of my body,
有关我的一切都结束了 the end of what matters to me,
我不再存在 the end of my existence.
死亡就是终结 Death is the end.
即便这些事件 And even though these things can come across
可能只是偶然事件 --can come apart slightly under certain scenarios,
但这些细节并不影响我们将要讨论的事情 those details won't matter for what we're about to turn to.
那么我们要讨论什么 Well, what are we about to turn to?
我们将会讨论价值观理论 We're about to turn to value theory.
我们花了半个学期 We spent the first half of the semester, you might say,
试着搞清一些形而上的问题 trying to get clear about the metaphysical facts.
下面我们将要竭尽全力 And now that we've done that as best we can,
转战到伦理道德和价值问题上来 we want to turn to the ethical or value questions.
死亡究竟是好是坏 How good or bad is death?
貌似我们都认为死亡是坏 Why is--I take it, we all believe death is bad.
死亡为什么是坏 Why is death bad?
死亡之坏在哪里 How can death be bad?
这便是本课程的分水岭 So this is the big continental divide for the course.
第一部分讨论形而上学问题 The first half of the class was metaphysics.
下面将讨论价值问题 Now we turn to value questions.
我们首先 And the first question
关注的问题就是 we're going to be focusing on is just this,
死亡之坏 the question of the badness of death.
死亡究竟坏在哪里 How and in what ways is death bad?
假设大部分人都认为死亡是坏的 I take it, most of us do believe that death is bad.
正因如此 就有人相信 That's why we wish--maybe some of us believe,
或说许多人都希望 but at the very least the rest of us, many of us hoped
灵魂存在 --there were souls,
那样的话 死亡就不再是终点 so that death wouldn't have to be the end.
如果死亡是人的终结 If death is the end,
那似乎太恐怖不过 that seems to be horrible.
因此我们就要问 So we're going to turn to questions like this.
死亡究竟坏在哪里 How and in what ways is death bad?
然后我们将要讨论 And then we're going to turn to the question,
长生不老真有那么好吗 is it really true that immortality would be good?
最后 我们会讨论其它价值观问题 And eventually, we'll turn to some other value
假如死亡的确是终结 questions about if death really is the end,
我们应该惧怕死亡吗 should we be afraid of death?
我认为惧怕死亡极为普遍 I take it that fear of death is quite common.
我们还将谈及各种情绪并 But we can actually evaluate different emotions and
思考这些情绪反应是否合理 think about whether these emotional responses are appropriate or not,
进而探究惧怕死亡的合理性 so we can ask whether or not fear of death is appropriate.
最终我们将要问自己 We'll turn eventually to the question,
如果死亡就是终结 我们应该如何生存 how should we live in light of the fact that death is the end?
最后一个问题就是 And the last question we'll turn to is,
自杀是否合情合理 could it ever make sense to kill ourselves?
以上这些道德和价值问题 So these are the kind of moral or value
便是我们下半学期的学习内容 questions we'll be concerned with until the end of the term.
第一个问题很简单 But the first one is simply,
死亡是坏事吗 像我们经常说的那样 is death bad, as we typically take it to be,
如果是 and, if so,
是什么使它成为坏事 what is it about it that makes it bad?
所以 So again,
假设我刚刚回顾的那些个 I'm going to suppose here on out that
形而上学的观点是正确的 the metaphysical view that I've been sketching is right;
唯物主义是对的 that physicalism is true.
肉体死亡后我就不存在了 The death of my body is the end of my existence as a person.
死亡就是我的终结 Death is my end.
如果这点成立 Well, if that's right,
那么究竟有哪些死亡之坏呢 how can it be bad for me to die?
归根结底 After all,
我一旦死了 once I'm dead,
就不存在了 I don't exist.
如果我不存在 If I don't exist,
死亡又怎么会对我有坏处呢 how can it be bad for me that I'm dead?
如果你认为你死后仍会存在 It's easy to see how you might think,
你死亡之坏的担忧 how you might worry about the badness of death,
似乎很容易理解 if you thought you would survive your death.
如果你相信存在灵魂 Now, if you believed in a soul,
也许你会担心 then you might worry about,
哦 上帝 我死后我的灵魂会怎样啊 well, gosh what's going to happen to my soul after I die?
会上天堂吗 Am I going to make it up to heaven?
还是下地狱呢 Am I going to go to hell?
也许你会担心 You might worry about how
死后到底会变得怎样 badly off you're going to be once you're dead.
这些问题完全合理 The question makes perfect sense.
但对于 But it's often seemed to people
相信死亡就是终结的我们来讲 that if we really believe that death is the end
我需要在此作出假设 --and that's the assumption that I'm making here on out
我们坚信死亡即是终结 --if we really believe death is the end,
它又有哪些坏处呢 how can death be bad for me?
我死后又会产生哪些坏处呢 How could anything be bad for me once I'm dead?
如果我不存在了 它就不可能对我有害 If I don't exist, it can't be bad for me.
有些时候人们 Well, sometimes in response to this thought,
对此问题的看法是 people respond by saying,
"死亡并非对死者有害 "Look, death isn't bad for the person who's dead.
而是对活着的人有害" Death is bad for the survivors."
约翰的死对他自己来说没什么不好 John's death isn't bad for John.
只是对那些 John's death is bad for the people who
爱他却又失去他的人们有害 loved John and now have to continue living without John.
约翰的死对他的朋友和家人有害 John's death is bad for John's friends and family.
当某人死亡 When somebody dies,
我们便无法再和他产生互动 we lose the chance to continue interacting with the person.
无法再和他谈话 We're no longer able to talk with them,
和他一起 spend time with them,
看电影 watch a movie,
观日落 look at the sunset,
一起欢笑 have a laugh.
我们再也无法 We're no longer able to tell
向他们诉苦并聆听他们的建议 our troubles with them and get their advice.
我们再也无法与他们交流 We're no longer able to interact with them.
人一旦死了 这一切都消失了 All that's gone, when somebody dies.
也许这就是死亡之坏的核心 And the claim might be, that's the central bad of death.
并不在于死去的人 Not what it does for the person who dies.
对死者本身无害 It's not bad for the person who dies.
只针对活着的人 It's what it does for the rest of them,
那些存活的人 the rest of us.
我并非要贬低伤痛 Now, i don't in any way want to belittle the importance of the pain
那些某人死后关心他的人 and suffering that happen for the rest of us
所经历的伤痛的重要性 when somebody that we care about dies.
我先想花点时间念首诗 Indeed, let me take a moment and
来强化这种思想 read a poem that emphasizes this thought,
因为这的确是 because this is certainly one central,
死亡的一个主要坏处 very bad thing about death.
死亡夺走了我们的朋友 It robs us of our friends
他从我们身边夺走我们的朋友和爱人 --we, the survivors— it robs us of our friends and loved ones.
念首诗 Poem.
诗的名字叫《分离》 The poem is called Separation,
一位德国诗人 by the German poet,
克洛普施托克所写 Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock.
这是你们学期后期所要读的一个作品 This is in one of the essays you'll be reading later in the semester by
沃尔特·考夫曼的《无畏的死亡》中的一段诗 Walter Kaufmann--he quotes it --Death Without Dread.
诗中主题 即 分离 The poem, as I say, is Separation.
当尸体经过我们时你是如此紧张 You turned so serious when the corpse was carried past us;
你惧怕死亡吗 "不 我不怕" are you afraid of death? "Oh, not of that!"
那你害怕什么 "害怕垂死" Of what are you afraid? "Of dying."
我不怕那些 "你什么都不怕吗" I not even of that. "Then you're afraid of nothing?"
我也有所担心 Alas, I am afraid,
担心 "担心什么" afraid?"Heavens, of what?"
担心与朋友们分离 Of parting from my friends.
不只担心自己 And not mine only,
还有失去我之后的他们 of their parting, too.
这是为何我比你更加紧张 That's why I turned more serious even than you did,
在灵魂深处 deeper in the soul,
当尸体经过我们时 when the corpse was carried past us
这就是《分离》 The poem is called Separation.
根据克洛普施托克的说法 According to Klopstock,
死亡的主要坏处是失去朋友 the crucial badness of death is losing your friends.
他们死后 When they die,
你就失去了他们 you lose them.
如我所说 我不想贬低 And as I say, i don't in any way want to belittle
这个死亡的主要坏处 the central badness of that.
但我认为这并不是 But I don't think it can be
死亡之坏的核心部分 at the core in terms of what's bad about death.
我不认为这是说 I don't think that can
死亡有害的主要原因 be the central fact about why death is bad.
为说明这点 And to see this,
我给你们讲两个故事 let me tell you two stories.
进行一下对比 Compare them.
第一个故事 Story number one.
你的朋友将要登上太空船 Your friend is about to go on the spaceship
去探索木星什么的 which is going to do the exploration of Jupiter or whatever.
他们要去很多年 And they're going to be gone for years,
很多很多年 years and years.
时间长到等飞船回来 It takes so long that by the time the spaceship comes back,
都是100年后了 100 years will have gone by.
也许不是木星 比木星还要远 Maybe it's not Jupiter. It's farther away.
更糟糕的是 Worse still,
飞船起飞20分钟后 after about 20 minutes after the ship takes off,
便与地球失去通讯联系了 all radio contact between ship and earth will be destroyed.
这不大可能 It won't be possible,
因为中间存在速度因素 because of the speed.
它没去木星 It's not going to Jupiter.
而是去了其它星系 It's going to some other planetary system.
因此所有可能的通讯都断了 So, all possibility of communication will be destroyed.
这很恐怖 Now, this is horrible.
你失去了你最好的朋友 You're losing your closest friend.
你再也无法与他们谈话 You will no longer be able to talk to them,
分享快乐 share the moments,
聆听他们的意见 get their insights and advice.
你再也无法 You'll no longer be able to
向他们介绍你的近况 tell them about the things that have been going on.
这和克洛普施托克所说的分离 It's the same kind of
差不多 separation that Klopstock was talking about.
十分恐怖 Horrible,
令人悲伤 and it's sad.
这是第一个故事 That was story number one.
第二个故事 Story number two,
背景与第一个一样 just like story number one,
飞船起飞了 the spaceship takes off,
但15分钟后 因重大故障船体爆炸 and about 15 minutes later, it explodes in a horrible accident
飞船上的所有人 包括你朋友都死了 and everybody on the spaceship, including your friend, is killed.
我认为第二个故事结局更坏 Now, I take it that story number two is worse.
某些更坏的事情发生了 Something worse has taken place.
那么 什么是更坏的事 Well, what's the worse thing?
和第一个故事相同 We've got of course the very
都是你跟朋友分离了 same separation we had in story number one.
都无法再与朋友联系 I can't communicate in the future with my friend.
朋友也无法联系上你 They can't communicate with me.
但第一个故事的结局就是这样 But we had that already in story number one.
倘若第二个故事的确有什么更坏之处的话 If there's something worse about story number two,
我觉得也肯定不在于分离本身 and I think it's pretty clear there is something worse, it's not the separation.
而是你朋友已经死亡这个事实 It's something about the fact that your friend has died.
显然 Now of course,
这对我 this is worse for me,
一个关心朋友的人来讲更糟糕 as somebody who cares about my friend,
因为他已经死了 that he's died.
但他的死亡 But the explanation of what's bad for me,
不单给我带来坏处 in his having died,
同时也作用于他自己 is the fact that it's bad for him to have died.
而对他的坏处也不仅仅是 And the badness for him isn't just a matter of separation,
故事一里面的分离而已 because that we already had in number one.
我们无法与他联系 We couldn't communicate with him.
他也无法与我们联系 He couldn't communicate with us.
如果想要知道死亡的根本坏处 If we want to get at the central badness of death,
我认为我们不能把注意力放在分离的坏处 it seems to me, we can't focus on the badness of separation,
以及对生者的坏处上 the badness for the survivors.
我们应该考虑 We have to think about how is it,
到底死亡对死者本身有何坏处 how could it be true, that death is bad for the person that dies?
那才是死亡的根本坏处 That's the central badness of death
那才是我们关注的焦点 and that's the one I'm going to have us focus on.
死亡究竟对死者本身有何坏处 How could it be true that death is bad for the person that dies?
这便是我们下节课要讨论的问题 That's the question we turn to next time.