上节课 Last time,
我提到了对于死亡性质的思考 I distinguished between two ways in which thinking about
可能影响我们行为方式的 the facts about the nature of death
两种不同途径 could influence our behavior.
一方面 它可能给我们理由 On the one hand, it could give us reasons
让我们改变行为方式 另一方面 to behave or respond differently, and on the other hand
它本身就使我们改变行为方式 it could merely cause us to behave differently.
如果这种改变 Insofar as it just happens to be
只不过是人类心理学中的 some fact about human psychology
一些现象而已 that we behave this way or that way,
或许面对死亡最恰当的方式就是 perhaps the appropriate way to deal with the facts of death would be
完全忽略它 to simply disregard them.
但我总是认为 I'm inclined to believe, however,
思考这些事情 that there are ways in which thinking about the facts
并不仅仅改变我们的行为方式 would not merely cause us to behave one way rather than another
而是给我们理由 but give us reason
让我们改变行为方式 to behave one way rather than another.
这就是我现在想探讨的问题 And that's the question that I want to then explore from here on out.
在什么情况下 通过什么途径 In what circumstances, or in what ways,
我们应该改变行为方式 should we behave one way rather than another?
所以我不仅要研究 So, I'm not merely going to draw on
我们的行为会怎样 facts about how, as it happens, we behave.
有可能你想到死亡的时候 It could be that if you dwelled upon the facts about death,
会一直尖叫不已 直到死亡 you would scream interminably until the moment you died--
借用托尔斯泰的说法 taking a tip from Tolstoy.
但这一行为本身 But that doesn't itself
说明不了它是恰当的行为 show that that's an appropriate response;
也许它仅仅出于我们的本能 that might just be a mere causal fact about how we're built.
我想问的是 如何才是恰当的 The question I want to ask is, how is it appropriate,
有什么理由 in what ways is there reason,
做出这种反应而不是另一种反应 to react one way rather than another?
我之前提到过 Now as I say,
我们大部分人都认为 the thought seems very compelling for most of us that
有令人信服的理由说明 there are ways in which it makes sense
死亡影响了我们的生活方式 for the facts about death to influence how we live,
我们的观念 我们的情感 what our attitudes are, what are emotions are.
例如 卡夫卡说过 Kafka, for example, said
生命的意义在于其终将陨落 the meaning of life is the fact that it ends.
隽永的警句 卡夫卡经典风格 Nice little cryptic saying, as is typical of Kafka.
但它的含义 我想却很平常 But the suggestion, I suppose, is a fairly common one,
我们必有一死 生命最终会抵达终点 that it's something deep about how we should live,
对我们如何生活有着深刻的影响 that we're going to die, that our life will come to an end.
那么我们下面的问题就是 And the question we want to then explore is how should the fact,
意识到自己必有一死 how should recognizing the fact, that we're going to die,
会怎样影响我们的生活方式 influence how we live?
我们应该如何应对这一事实 How should we respond to that fact?
实际上 最初的一种行为 Now actually, the very first kind of behavior,
带引号的行为 quote/unquote behavior, that I want us to think about
或许严格说来不能算作一种行为 perhaps isn't strictly speaking a form of behavior at all.
我认为只是一种情绪反应 I rather have in mind our emotional response,
因为实际上 because indeed one of
对死亡最平常的反应 我认为 the most common reactions to death, I suppose, is
就是惧怕死亡 fear of death.
"惧怕"在很多时候词义偏弱 Indeed, fear may in many cases be too weak a term
一种程度很深的惧怕 an extremely strong form of fear--
对死亡的畏惧 我认为 terror of death is, I suppose,
是对死亡最常见的反应 a very common emotional response to death.
我接下来要做的是 And what I want to do next
让我们想一想 is have us ask ourselves, well,
惧怕死亡是一种理性的 is fear of death a rationally
恰当的反应吗 appropriate response?
这里的关键词是"恰当的" Now, the crucial word here is "Appropriate."
我不否认经验告诉我 I don't want to deny at all what I take to be the empirical fact
很多人都害怕死亡 that many people are afraid of death.
这种反应有多平常 How common a reaction that is,
这种恐惧有多强烈 我认为这是 and how strong the fear is, I suppose that would be something
心理学家或社会学家研究的课题 for psychologists or sociologists to study.
我对这个问题不感兴趣 And I'm not interested in that question.
我认可恐惧死亡很普遍 I take it that fear of death is very common.
我想弄清楚的是 I want to know,
对死亡的恐惧是不是恰当的 is fear of death an appropriate,
理性的情绪 a reasonable emotion?
提出这个问题 我已经假设了 Now, in raising that question, I'm obviously presupposing
更多的哲学理论说明 the larger philosophical thesis that
可以将情绪分为 it makes sense to talk about emotions as being
恰当的 或者不恰当的 appropriate or inappropriate.
我们不仅可以探讨一个人有什么情绪 We can ask not only what emotions does somebody have,
也可以探讨一个人该有什么情绪 but we can also ask what emotions should they have?
这一点也许不那么明显 Now, this point perhaps isn't an obvious one, so
所以花点时间研究一下也是值得的 maybe it's worth dwelling on for a moment or two,
然后我们再探讨对死亡的恐惧 before we turn to fear of death per se.
还有什么别的例子 What's another example of an emotion
对情绪有恰当性要求 that's got some appropriateness conditions?
过一会儿我再分析 So, in a moment I'll turn to asking,
在什么情况下 what are the conditions under which it's
害怕某事是恰当的 appropriate to be afraid of something?
但从宽泛的角度来说 but to make the more general point,
比如说自豪吧 自豪是一种情绪 look, take something like pride; pride's an emotion.
在什么情况下 Under what conditions does it make sense
为一些事感到自豪是合理的 to be proud of something?
我认为至少有两个条件 首先 Well, I suppose at least two conditions jump out. First of all,
你为之自豪的事情是某种成就 the thing that you're proud of has to be some kind of accomplishment.
如果你现在告诉我 If you were to say to me right now,
我很自豪我正在呼吸 "I'm really proud of the fact that I'm breathing,"
我会不解的看着你 I'd look at you in a noncomprehending fashion
因为我没觉得 because it doesn't seem to me
呼吸是件多么困难的事 that breathing is difficult in any way,
不能称为一种成就 doesn't count as an accomplishment,
所以我不能理解你如何以及为何 and as such I can't understand how or why you would be proud
对能呼吸感到自豪 of the fact that you're breathing.
不过 也许你是位哮喘患者 Now, maybe if you suffered from asthma and
你必须经受极度痛苦的物理疗法 you had to have gone through excruciating physical therapy
才能在意外发生后 in order to learn how to use
学会用自己的肺呼吸 your lungs after some accident or something;
如果我们听到类似的情况 maybe if we told a story like that
我们就会了解为什么平平常常 we could see how breathing naturally
自然流畅的呼吸是一项成就 and normally would be an accomplishment,
是件值得自豪的事情 something to be proud of.
但对全体同学来讲 我估计 But for all of us, I presume,
这算不上一项成就 it's not an accomplishment;
所以为它感到自豪是不恰当的 hence it's not something that it's appropriate to be proud of.
即使我们获得了成就 Even if we've got an accomplishment,
也不一定就能自豪 that may not be enough.
一件事成为 For something to be something
一件你可以为之自豪的事 that it makes sense for you to be proud of it,
它必须是某种 it's got to be in some way
包含了你贡献的成就 an accomplishment that reflects well on you.
最容易举出来的例子就是 Now, the most straightforward cases are cases
那些你自己的成就 where it's your accomplishment,
为何你会自豪呢 and the reason that pride makes sense
因为你是那个攻克难关的人 is because you're the one who did this difficult thing.
比如 你的哲学作业得了A So, you got an A on your philosophy paper
你告诉我你很自豪 and you tell me that you're proud
我可以理解 and I understand that;
哲学作业得A是一项成就 getting an A on a philosophy paper is an accomplishment,
如果是你写的作业 and if you wrote the paper
我理解你为什么会感到自豪 then I understand why you're proud.
当然 如果你上互联网 Of course, if what you did was go on the Internet
找到那些网站花钱雇用枪手 and go to one of those sites where you pay money and somebody else
写了一篇作业得了A writes an A paper for you, well,
那我可以理解那些枪手会自豪 I understand why maybe they should be proud
因为他们写了完美的 that they've written a great
哲学作业 但我看不出来 philosophy paper, but I don't see how this
这会对你造成何种正面影响 reflects especially positively upon you.
所以 自豪需要某种恰当性条件 So again, there's a kind of appropriateness condition for pride,
那个目标或者事件 where the object or the event
或者你为之自豪的行为 or the activity that you're proud of,
或者一些特色 是出于你的贡献 or the feature, has to somehow reflect on you.
这里并不是说一定要是你的成就 Now, that's not to say that it's got to be your accomplishment,
至少不这么狭隘 at least not in any straightforward, narrow sense.
同样合理的是 比如你对 It makes sense, for example, to be proud of
你孩子的成就感到自豪 因为 your children's accomplishments because
你们之间存在恰当的联系 there's the right kind of connection between you and your children.
所以在某种意义下 So, in some sense
这项成就和你相关 it's connected to you.
而在某些情况下 And we can have cases where
我们会考虑这份联系是否足够紧密 we wonder about whether or not the connection is tight enough
或者这种联系的性质到底是什么 or what exactly the nature of the connection has to be.
或许作为美国人你很自豪 Perhaps as an American you took pride
美国人赢得奥运冠军 when the Americans win some event at the Olympics
或者环法冠军 你说 or the Tour de France or what have you, and you say to yourself,
虽然我不是骑手 "Well look, I didn't ride the bicycle
但作为美国人 but for all that I'm an American
美国人赢了 我很自豪 and an American won, I'm proud."
这说得通 And that makes sense;
我们可以理解 we can understand
为什么你认为这份联系足够紧密 how you think the connection there is tight enough.
另一方面 如果你说 On the other hand if you say,
看 德国人在 "Look, the Germans won the
奥运比赛里赢了 我很自豪 event in the Olympics and I'm really proud,"
那我会问 你是德国人吗 and I ask, well, are you yourself German,
你有德国血统吗 do you have German heritage,
你为德国奥运代表团做过后勤工作吗 did you contribute to the German Olympics support team?
如果不符合以上条件 If none of that's true,
那就不满足恰当性条件 then again the appropriateness condition doesn't seem to be satisfied.
你感到自豪是不合理的 It doesn't make sense to be proud.
好了 我们还可以花更多的时间探讨 All right, look, we could spend more time worrying about the
感到自豪需要的条件 conditions under which it makes sense to feel pride.
但这当然不是我的目的 But of course that's not really my purpose here.
我引入这个讨论的目的 My purpose of bringing that in was
是要解释清楚 just to try to make good on the thought
情绪确实需要条件 that emotions do have requirements;
并不是非要存在这些条件 not necessarily requirements for what
你才能够感到这种情绪 you have to have in place in order to feel the emotion.
这是个更艰深的问题 It's a harder question
是不是这些条件都要满足 whether all these things need to be in place
才能感到这种情绪 in order to feel the emotion.
但是至少这些条件都要满足 But at least these things need to be in place
你产生这种情绪才是有意义的 in order for it to make sense for you to have the emotion,
才是合理的 in order for it to be rational
产生这种情绪才说得通 or reasonable to feel the emotion,
这种情绪反应也才是 in order for that emotional response to be
对你所处境况的恰当反应 an appropriate response to your circumstances or situation.
所以 让我们问问自己 So, let's ask ourselves, then,
恐惧需要什么恰当性条件 what are the appropriateness conditions for fear?
了解了这些条件 Because armed with that set of conditions,
我们就能进一步思考 we'll then be able to go on and ask,
对死亡的恐惧是否恰当 is it appropriate to feel fear of death?
当我思考这个问题时 Now, three conditions come to mind
我想到了三个条件 when I think about this question,
我已经思考这个问题好多年了 when I've thought about this question over the years.
第一个条件是 我认为 The first is this--and I suppose
第一个条件最没争议 this first one's going to be fairly uncontroversial
要惧怕某事 --in order to be afraid of something--
即使我没有严格地讲 even though I slipped in this, to talk about
你需要什么条件才会感到害怕 what you need to have in order to feel fear,
我真正的意思是 what I really mean is
为了使害怕成为合理的情绪 in order for it to make sense to feel fear--
你害怕的事情一定要是件坏事 the thing that you're afraid of has to be bad.
如果有人告诉我 If somebody were to say to me,
我害怕下课后 "I'm afraid that after class
有人会给我圆筒冰淇淋 somebody's going to give me an ice cream cone",
再一次 我会不解的看着他们 说 again I'd look at them in noncomprehension. I'd say,
你为什么害怕呢 "Why are you afraid of that?
这件事怎么会让你害怕呢 How could it make any sense to be afraid?"
当然 有些人可以给你答案 And again, it's not that somebody couldn't give you an answer.
他们会说 哦 我正在减肥 They'd say, "Oh I'm trying to lose weight
但我意志薄弱 but I'm so weak
如果他们给我圆筒冰淇淋 and if they give me an ice cream cone
我就会吃的 then I'll just eat it
我这周就白节食了 and that'll ruin my diet for the week,"
那么 我就懂了 Well, then I'd understand.
从这个角度来讲 From that point of view
圆筒冰淇淋是件坏事 an ice cream cone is a bad thing
所以产生恐惧的第一个条件就满足了 and so that first condition on fear would be satisfied.
但如果你没有做出这样的解释 But if you don't have a story like that,
如果你和我们大家一样 if you're like most of us,
大多数时间 冰淇淋都非常不错 most of the time, and an ice cream cone's a pretty good thing,
乐趣有点短暂但确实不错 a source of some passing but at least genuine pleasure,
你会说 你怎么会害怕 then you say, "How can you be afraid of
享用或者吃一个圆筒冰淇淋呢 having or getting or eating an ice cream cone?"
这说不通 害怕某事 It doesn't make sense. To be afraid of something,
这件事必须是坏事 it's got to be bad.
这就是其中一个原因为什么我们 It's one of the reasons why we
有时另眼看待那些 sometimes look askance at people who have
患上各种恐惧症的人 害怕蜘蛛 various kinds of phobias-- fear of spiders or
或者灰尘 或者什么别的东西 fear of dust or what have you,
害怕兔子 fear of bunnies--
你会想 这怎么说得通 and you think, how does this make any sense?
这个可爱的小兔子 It's this cute little bunny;
它一点也不危险 it's not dangerous.
或许有的蜘蛛有毒 And maybe there are poisonous spiders,
但大多数 but most of the spiders
在康涅狄格州这里的蜘蛛都没毒 we run across here in Connecticut are not poisonous.
害怕蜘蛛并不恰当 Fear of spiders doesn't seem appropriate.
并不是说人们不能有这种情绪反应 It's not that people can't have this kind of emotional reaction,
而是说这种反应不合理 it's that it doesn't make sense.
但如果你在澳大利亚 情况就不同了 Maybe it's another matter if you live in Australia,
那里四处都是毒蛇 where there's poisonous snakes
毒蜘蛛和其它昆虫 and spiders and other insects everyplace.
所以 条件一 All right. So, condition number one:
惧怕的事情需要是坏事 Fear requires something bad, as the object of your fear.
我会害怕偏头痛 I can fear getting a migraine,
如果我被它折磨着 if I'm subject to migraines.
我不会害怕欣赏落日 I can't fear the pleasure of looking at a beautiful sunset.
这就是条件一 That's condition number one
坏事情 造成伤害的事情 -bad object, something harmful.
条件二 Condition number two is,
应该有不可忽视的可能性 there's got to be a nonnegligible chance
这些坏事会发生 of the bad state of affairs happening,
会对你造成伤害 of the bad object coming to you.
只有逻辑上的可能性并不足以 It's not enough that it's a logical possibility
说明恐惧是合理的反应 for fear to be a reasonable reaction.
如果认为我最终可能死于 There's nothing logically inconsistent or logically incoherent
被孟加拉虎撕成碎片 about the possibility that I will face my death
这在逻辑上没有不一致或不连贯的地方 by being ripped to pieces by Siberian tigers.
这不是件自相矛盾的事情 It's not as though that's an inconsistent state of affairs.
在逻辑上当然有可能 It's certainly logically possible,
但太难发生了 but it's so unlikely,
可能性太小了 it's so negligibly small a chance,
如果在座诸位有谁 that if anybody here
害怕自己被老虎撕成碎片 is afraid that they'll be ripped to pieces by tigers,
那我只能说 then I can only say
这种害怕不合理 不恰当 the fear doesn't make any sense, it's not appropriate.
当然 我们可能会听到些特殊的情况 Again, we can tell special stories where that might be different.
假如你告诉我 你来上学以前 Suppose you tell me that, oh, when you're not a student,
勤工俭学的工作是 your work study program, what you do is,
一名驯兽员 you work as an animal trainer,
或者你打算去马戏团工作 or you're planning to work in the circus
训练老虎 那么我会说 好的 where you'll be training tigers, then I'll say, all right,
现在你被老虎撕碎吃掉的可能性 now I suppose there's a nonnegligible chance you'll be mauled
不可忽视 and killed by tigers.
我理解这点 I understand it.
但对我们其他人 我认为 But for the rest of us, I suppose,
被老虎杀死的可能性 the chance of being killed by tigers is, well,
就算不是零也接近零 it's not literally zero, but it's close to zero,
可以忽略不计 it's negligible.
所以 害怕被老虎撕咬吃掉 And so, fear of being eaten by tigers or mauled to death by tigers
不合常理 doesn't make any sense.
当你了解了这一点 And once you get the point,
就很容易探讨 of course, it would be easy to talk about
其它一些小概率事件 a variety of other things that the chances are so small
害怕被半人马座阿尔法星的生物劫持 fear of being kidnapped by space creatures from Alpha Centauri,
被带回实验室 他们用针扎我 where I'll be taken back to the lab and they'll prod me before
然后不打麻药把我活体解剖 they dissect me alive without anesthetic.
我承认存在这种可能性 Yes, I suppose there's some possibility of that.
逻辑上这不是不可能的 It's not logically impossible.
但这种可能性太小了 But again it's so vanishingly small a chance,
谁要真的为此感到害怕 and anybody who actually is afraid of that,
那我们合适的说法就是 the appropriate thing for us to say is
他们的恐惧不恰当 that their fear is not appropriate.
好了 所以坏事必须有可能发生 All right, so you need to have a chance of the bad thing,
而且要有足够大的可能性 and it's got to be a large enough chance.
当然我认为 我们有空间去探讨 And I suppose again there would be room for us to argue about
多大的可能性才够大 how large a chance is large enough,
但如果可能性接近于零 but when you have vanishingly small chances then
那么恐惧就没有意义 the fear doesn't make any sense.
这就是第二个条件 That's condition number two.
第三个条件 我认为会有些争议 Condition number three, I think, is somewhat more controversial,
但不管怎么说 我认为它是对的 but for all that it still seems correct to me,
它说的是 and that's this.
需要有足够的不确定性 We need to have a certain amount of uncertainty
恐惧才会是恰当的 in order to have fear be appropriate.
你需要一些 You need to have some--
不一定是多少 it's not clear how much--
但至少要有不少的不确定性 but at least some significant amount of uncertainty
不确知那件坏事是否会发生 about whether the bad thing will occur,
以及/或者 它会坏到什么程度 and/or how bad the bad thing will be.
注意 第三个条件和前面的关联 To see the point, to see the relevance of this third condition,
假设一件坏事 imagine that a bad thing
有不可忽视的可能性发生 was going to happen to you with a nonnegligible chance.
实际上 不是那种可能性很小 Indeed, far from being so small that
小到不值得考虑的事情 it's virtually not worth even considering,
假设它必然会发生 imagine that it's guaranteed
这件坏事一定会发生 that the bad thing is going to happen.
所以 一件坏事一定会发生 So, there's a bad thing that's going to happen,
而且你确切知道它有多坏 and you know precisely how bad it is.
所以你很确定 So you've got certainty with regard to the fact
这件坏事会发生 that the bad thing is going to happen,
也确知它有多坏 and certainly with regard to the size of the bad thing.
我希望你们同意 在这种情况下 I put it to you that in circumstances like that,
恐惧不是恰当的情绪反应 fear is not an appropriate emotional response.
假设事情是这样的 Suppose that what happens is this.
每天你来上学 上班 如此这般 Every day you come to school, to the office, whatever it is,
你带着便当 and you bring a bagged lunch,
你把它放进办公室的冰箱里 and you put it in the office refrigerator.
连同午饭 你还带了 And you include, along with your lunch,
一块甜点 比如一块饼干 a dessert; let's say a cookie.
每天中午一点钟 And every day at one o'clock,
你从冰箱里取出午饭 when you go to grab your lunch out of the refrigerator,
你打开一看 you look inside
发现有人偷了你的饼干 and you see somebody has stolen your cookie.
这是件坏事 Well, it's a bad thing;
不是世界上最坏的事 it's not the worst thing in the world,
但有人偷了你饼干仍然是件坏事 but it's a bad thing to have somebody steal your cookie.
不光如此 And furthermore,
这种事发生的几率不容忽视 this is more than a negligible chance.
所以 我们满足了条件一 条件二 So, we've got condition one, condition two in place--
坏事情以及不可忽视的可能性 bad thing and a nonnegligible chance of it happening.
但实际上 还不仅是 In fact, not only is it
不可忽视的可能性 not a negligible chance that it's happening-
这件事天天发生 肯定发生 -guaranteed, it happens day after day after day after day.
坏事情 肯定发生 Bad thing, guaranteed.
而且你非常清楚它有多坏 And you know precisely how bad it is.
我希望你们同意 I put it to you,
在这种情况下恐惧不合情理 请注意 fear in that case doesn't make any sense. Mind you,
这时其它负面情绪或许合情合理 there are other negative emotions that probably make sense,
比如愤怒以及怨恨 like anger and resentment.
这个可恶的贼 甭管他是谁 Who does this thief, whoever it is,
以为他/她是谁 竟敢偷我的饼干 think that he or she is, to be stealing your cookie?
他们没权利这样做 你可以愤怒 They don't have the right to do that! You can be angry,
你可以怨恨 you can be resentful.
你天天吃不上甜点可能会沮丧 You can be sad that you don't have a dessert, day after day after day.
但你不会害怕 But you can't be afraid,
因为没有事情 because there's nothing here
让你有理由害怕 that it makes sense for you to be afraid of.
当然 我们可以假设 Again, being a little sloppy,
你会感到害怕 maybe you are afraid,
但如果这样 这种害怕不合理 but if so, fear doesn't make sense,
当你确知这件坏事会发生 when you know for a certainty that the bad thing is coming
而且知道它有多坏 and how bad it is.
假设这个贼随意行窃 Suppose that the thief strikes at random,
从不同人的饭盒里偷甜品 taking different people's desserts from different bags
在一周不同的时间里行窃 at different times of the week,
你根本不知道 and you never know who
他或是她下一个偷谁 he or she is going to steal from.
那么你可能害怕自己成为下一个 Then you might be afraid that you'll be the person
饼干被偷的人 whose cookie got stolen.
如果你们觉得饼干的例子太傻了 Or if cookie seems to you too silly an example,
那么假设有人闯入宿舍 imagine that what happens is somebody breaks into dorm rooms.
有个贼在校园宿舍间游逛 There's been a thief going around various dorms on campus
从宿舍里偷计算机 and stealing the computer from the dorm room.
那么这时 恐惧是有道理的 Well there, fear makes sense;
你会害怕他们下一次偷你的计算机 you're afraid that they'll steal your computer.
坏事情 不可忽视的可能性 Bad thing, nonnegligible chance,
以及不确定性 and lack of certainty.
但是 如果事情是这样的 On the other hand, suppose what happens is,
就像你在电影里经常看到的一样 this is one of those thieves like you always have in the movies,
他是个神偷 或者她是个神偷 where he's such a master thief, or she's such a master thief,
他们为自己的工作感到自豪 that they take pride in their work,
所以他们提前预告 and so they announce it.
他们在耶鲁日报上刊登声明 他们说 They take out an ad in the Yale Daily News and they say,
四月27日 星期三 我会去偷 "On Wednesday, April 27th, I shall steal
某某房间里的计算机 the computer from so-and-so's room."
然后不管你做了多少预防准备 And it doesn't matter what precautions you take,
该发生的总是发生 something always happens,
那个人的计算机被偷了 and that person's computer gets stolen.
那么你可以愤怒 Well, again, you could be angry,
你可以怨恨 你可以发火 you can be pissed, you can be annoyed,
你觉得自己没做好防备真是愚蠢 you can feel stupid that you didn't take adequate precautions.
但是当声明登出 But when the ad appears,
上面有你的名字 时间 with your name, and that date,
而且这个贼全年都按照 and all year the thief has always carried through
声明行窃 on the announced theft,
我希望你们同意 恐惧就没有道理了 I put it to you, fear doesn't make any sense,
因为如果你确知 because if you know exactly
伤害有多大 what the size of the harm is going to be,
而且你确知伤害将会发生 and you're guaranteed that the harm is coming,
恐惧就不再是恰当的 fear is no longer appropriate.
假设我有一个小型拷问机 Suppose that I have a little torture machine,
小型疼痛产生仪 a little pain generator,
我把你的手放进去 where I put your hand down
把它连上电极 and I hook it up to the electrodes
我转动手柄打开开关 and I crank the dial and I pull the switch,
你会感到一阵电击 and you feel an electric shock.
如果每次电击的强度都不一样 It makes sense to feel fear
你担心下一次电击会多难受 what the next shock is going to feel like,
是合情合理的 if the shocks vary in their intensity.
但如果这台机器只有一档 But if the machine's only got one setting,
开或者关 on and off,
每次电击造成的痛楚都一样 and all the shocks feel exactly the same,
而且我让你尝试过 看 and I've done it for you, "So look, okay,
让你试一下电击的滋味 就这样 let me show you what it feels like; it feels like that."
哦 不舒服 Oh, not comfortable.
让你试一下电击的滋味 就这样 Let me show you what it feels like, it feels like that;
一遍一遍 五 六 七 八次 over and over, 5, 6, 7, 8 times;
我们在做一些古怪的心理学实验 we're doing some sort of weird psychology experiment here.
你明确知道下一次电击会怎样 Well, you know exactly that it's coming,
你明确知道会有什么感觉 you know exactly what it's going to feel like.
我希望你们同意 Fear, I put it to you,
这时恐惧是没有道理的 doesn't make any sense.
假设当实验结束 Suppose the experiment's over now,
你得到了十块钱报酬 and you think--you've gotten your ten dollars
但我不让你走 我说 and I refuse to let you go and I say,
我还会再做一次 "I'm going to do it one more time,
不会比前面的更疼 no worse than before."
你可能信不过我 Well, you might not believe me
那么这时会出现不确定性 and that might introduce the element of uncertainty
那么这时产生恐惧就是恰当的 and then perhaps fear would be appropriate.
但如果你信任我 But if you believe me that
你会感到和前面一模一样的疼痛 one more pain exactly like the ones you felt before is coming,
这时愤怒是合理的 fear--anger makes sense,
怨恨是合理的 resentment makes sense,
又要忍受疼痛让你感到沮丧是合理的 sadness that you're going to feel this pain perhaps makes sense--
但是恐惧不合理 but fear doesn't make sense.
所以 三个条件 So, three conditions.
这件事必须是坏事 You need to have it's something bad.
这件事一方面 You need to have on the one hand
需要有不可忽视的可能性发生 nonnegligible chance that the bad thing's going to happen,
一方面需要有一定的不确定性 and you have to have a lack of certainty.
如果你明确这件坏事的性质 If you've got certainty as to the nature of the bad
以及它肯定要发生 and certainty that it's coming,
那么恐惧就没有道理 then fear doesn't make sense.
有个观点在这里值得一提 One of the points probably worth mentioning in passing--
即使恐惧是合理的 even when fear does make sense,
这里还有一个程度合适的问题 there's a kind of proportionality condition
我们也需要注意 that we need to keep in mind as well.
即使伤害有不可忽视的可能性发生 Even if there's a nonnegligible chance of the harm coming,
那么恐惧是恰当的 and so fear is appropriate,
但怕的要死 it doesn't make fear appropriate if it's obsessive fear,
惶惶不可终日也不恰当 horrendous fear, tremendous fear.
或许"稍微注意"是对 Maybe some mild concern is all that's appropriate
低概率事件的适度反应 if the chances are small.
同时 恐惧程度要符合 Similarly, the amount of fear needs to be proportioned to
事情糟糕的程度 the size of the bad.
这就是为什么饼干的例子 That's perhaps why the cookie example,
你们会认为恐惧过度是不恰当的 you might think a lot of fear there's not appropriate
因为即使发生了 because even if it comes,
能有多糟糕 丢了块饼干而已 how bad is it? Loss of a cookie.
好了 所以需要满足一些条件 All right, so there are some conditions that need
恐惧才是恰当的 to be met before fear is appropriate at all,
而且 即使恐惧是恰当的 and on the other hand even when fear is appropriate,
我们仍然需要关注 it's still legitimate to ask,
多大的恐惧是适度的 how much fear is appropriate?
明白了这些以后 So, armed with all of this,
让我们来探讨恐惧死亡是否恰当 let's now turn to the question, is fear of death appropriate,
如果恰当 多少是适度的 and if so, how much?
马上 我们就会看到 And immediately we see
我们需要做些区分 we need to draw some distinctions.
当我们惧怕死亡时 Well, what are we supposedly being afraid of
我们惧怕的是什么 when we are afraid of death?
有两到三种情况需要分清 And two or perhaps three things need to be distinguished.
第一种情况 你可能害怕死亡的过程 The first thing you might worry about is the process of dying.
一些人发现 Some people find that
他们生命终结的时候 the actual process at the end of their life
痛苦不堪 难以忍受 is a painful and unpleasant one.
我曾提到过被老虎撕咬 Yes, I've given the example of being mauled to death by tigers or
或者生吃的例子 eaten alive by tigers.
我估计这样死去很不愉快 Well, I imagine that would be a pretty unpleasant way to die.
而且如果有不可忽视的可能性 And so insofar as there is some nonnegligible chance that
你会这样痛苦地死去 you will die a painful death,
那么我认为 then I suppose there's
适度的恐惧是恰当的 some room for some--an appropriate amount--of fear.
当然 我们会问 Of course, we then have to ask,
你这么痛苦地死去 可能性有多大 well, what is the chance that you'll die painfully?
我已经指出 I've already indicated for
我认为这间教室里的人 people in this room I rather imagine the chance
被老虎撕咬致死的可能性微乎其微 of being mauled to death by tigers is vanishingly small.
所以我认为 对这样死去的 So, I think, no fear of that
任何恐惧都是不恰当的 form of painful death is appropriate.
就此而论 我认为 And for that matter, I've got to suggest that
害怕自己痛苦地死于 I suspect that fear of dying through
半人马座阿尔法星外星人之手 a painful operation by the aliens from Alpha Centauri
也是不恰当的 is not appropriate either.
不过 令人悲伤的是 Still, the sad fact of the matter is
世界上确实有些人 that there are people in the world
经历了死亡时的痛苦 特别是 who do suffer painful deaths, in particular, of course,
一些疾病 because the number of diseases
在晚期夺去我们生命的时候 that might kill us off in their final stages
会造成痛苦 are sometimes painful.
如今 让人感兴趣的是 Now, one of the interesting facts is
我们可以给病人足够的止痛药 that we could of course minimize or eliminate the pain
帮助他们减轻或消除痛苦 by giving people adequate pain medication.
所以 如果得知 And so, it comes as a rather unpleasant bit of news
大多数医院在病人临终之时 that most hospitals do not provide
并不提供充足的止痛药 adequate pain medication,
会让人感到不快 in many, many instances, at the end of life.
为什么 Why?
这是另一个完全不同的复杂问题 That's a whole other complicated question.
但我认为要是有人告诉我 看 But I suppose if somebody were to say to me that--look,
我在报上看到 有些定期的研究 I read the newspaper, there are studies done periodically
调查在生命的最后阶段 about whether or not there's adequate pain medication
是否能获得足够的止痛药 at the end of life
年复一年 这个调查都表明 没有 and the studies suggest, year after year, that no,
我们在大多数情况下仍然 we still don't in general
不能获得充足的止痛药 provide adequate pain medication.
如果你对我说 If you were to say to me,
考虑到这一点 "In light of that
我害怕自己也会碰到这样的事 I've got some fear that this may happen to me,"
那么 我会理解的 Well, I'd understand that.
但是 如果你对我说 Again, if you said to me,
我因为这事吓得睡不着觉 "I can't sleep for fear that this is going to happen to me,"
我会说 I'd want to say, well,
这么害怕在我看来不适度 that sort of fear strikes me as disproportionate.
但不管怎么说 我认为 But at any rate, I suppose that when
当人们说他们害怕死亡时 people say that they're afraid of death,
虽然一些人 在一些时间 although some of them, in some moments,
可能认为 might have in mind,
他们的意思是他们害怕死亡的过程 what they mean is that they're afraid of the process of dying,
但我认为这不是 I take it that that's not actually
人们谈论恐惧死亡时的核心意思 the central fear that people mean to be expressing.
人们的意思是他们害怕死亡本身 People mean to suggest that they're afraid of death itself,
他们害怕会死去 they're afraid of being dead.
但是关于这一点 我觉得 And with regard to that, I want to suggest,
相关的条件并未满足 I don't actually think the relevant conditions are satisfied.
好了 让我们复习一遍它们都是什么 Look, let's think about what they were again.
需要一定程度的不确定性 There was a certain amount of uncertainty. Well,
而讲到死亡 of course, with regard to being dead
这里没有任何不确定性 there's no uncertainty at all.
你必有一死 You're guaranteed that you're going to die.
另外 条件一 And indeed, condition number one,
坏事情 that the bad thing--
让我有道理害怕的事必须是坏事 for fear to make sense the object of my fear has to be a bad thing.
那么让我们问一下 Well, let's ask ourselves,
死亡在本质上是坏事吗 is being dead intrinsically a bad thing?
我认为它不是 It doesn't seem to me that it is.
当然 这都基于 Of course, this all presupposes the
这学期前半部分 positions about the nature of death
我已经阐述过的死亡本质的观点 that I argued for in the first half of this semester.
死亡中没什么神秘未知的事情 There's nothing mysterious or unknown about death.
看 假如你觉得有 Look, suppose you thought there was.
假如你相信来世 Suppose you believe in the afterlife,
或者至少相信这种可能 or at least the possibility of an afterlife,
你担心自己会下地狱 and you're worried that you might go to hell.
那么 恐惧就合理了 Well, then fear makes some sense.
如果你觉得有不可忽视的可能性 If there's a possibility, nonnegligible in your mind,
你死后会经历痛苦 that there'll be a painful experience after you die--
但并不必然发生 not guaranteed
不过要是你罪孽深重 -if you're a bad enough sinner so that you're
那么你一定会下地狱 certain you're going to hell,
那么我认为条件三又不满足了 then again I think condition number three isn't satisfied.
但是如果像大多数人一样 But if like most of us
你不知道自己是否罪孽深重 you wouldn't know if you were a bad enough sinner or not,
那么这时就有不可忽视的可能性 and so there's some nonnegligible chance of this bad thing,
以及不确定性 那么 without certainly, well,
如果这样的人说他们害怕死去 somebody like that who says they're afraid of being dead,
因为他们害怕进地狱 for fear that they might find themselves in hell,
至少我能理解 at least I understand that.
但是从物理主义的角度看 But on the physicalist picture
死亡就是终点 where death is the end,
当你肉体腐烂 where when your body decays
你不会有任何感受 there's no experience at all,
那么在我看来 then it seems to me that
恐惧的第一个条件 the first condition on fear
就不满足 isn't satisfied.
毕竟 死亡造成的伤害 The badness of death after all,
根据剥夺理论 according to the deprivation account,
仅仅是它剥夺了美好的事物 is the mere absence of a good.
在我看来 仅仅失去美好事物 And it seems to me the mere absence of a good
不是需要害怕的事情 is not the right kind of thing to be afraid of.
假设我给了你一个圆筒冰淇淋 Suppose I give you an ice cream cone,
你很喜欢它 and you like it.
你希望得到第二个 You wish you could have a second ice cream cone.
但我没有第二个圆筒冰淇淋给你了 But I don't have a second ice cream cone to share with you.
所以你知道 So you know that
在第一个圆筒以后就没有了 after the first ice cream cone is over,
你不会得到第二个圆筒冰淇淋 you won't have a second ice cream cone.
这很遗憾 That's a pity,
这就是失去了一些好东西 that's a lack of something good.
这时你告诉我 我很害怕 And now you're telling me, "I'm afraid;
我很害怕会有这段时间 I'm afraid of the fact that there will be this period
当第一个圆筒冰淇淋吃完以后 after the first ice cream cone is done
得不到第二个圆筒冰淇淋了 in which I'm not getting a second ice cream cone.
我害怕是因为 I'm afraid because of
失去冰淇淋对我造成了伤害 the badness of deprivation of ice cream."
我告诉你 没得到一些东西 I say to you, deprivations per se
不是应该害怕的事情 are not the kind of thing to be afraid of;
它造成的不是需要害怕的伤害 they're not bad in the right kind of way.
所以 如果死亡造成的伤害 So, if death is bad
只是或者主要是 only or most centrally insofar as
它剥夺了生活中的美好事物 it's a deprivation of the good things in life,
那么这里就没有可以害怕的坏事 there's nothing bad there to be afraid of.
当然 这并不意味着 Well, that doesn't mean
死亡就没有其它可怕之处了 there isn't anything here in the neighborhood.
毕竟 我们担心的并不是 After all, we have to worry not just about the fact that
我们会死 we're going to die,
而是我们什么时候会死 we have to worry about when we're going to die.
我们确知自己必有一死 We might be certain that death is going to come,
但我们不知道死亡 but what we're not certain that death
离得很遥远还是很紧迫 is going to come a long time from now, as opposed to soon.
所以 你害怕的事情或许该是 So, perhaps the relevant thing to be afraid of is
你可能死得太早 the possibility that you'll die soon.
想象一个类比 Consider an analogy.
假如你参加一个聚会 Suppose that you're at a party,
一个非常棒的聚会 it's a great party,
你希望一直呆下去 you wish you could stay and stay and stay,
但这个聚会发生在你高中年代 but this is taking place back in high school,
你妈妈会打来电话 and what's going to happen is your mother is going to call
在某个时候叫你回家 at a certain point and tell you it's time to go home.
现在 我们假设回家没什么不好的 Now, let's just imagine there's nothing bad about being at home;
不好不坏 it's neutral.
你希望能留下来但你知道不行 You just wish you could stay but you know you can't.
如果你知道电话会在午夜打来 If you know the call is going to come at midnight,
百分之百肯定 guaranteed,
那么就没什么好害怕的 then there's nothing to be afraid of.
你可能对你妈 You might resent the fact that
在午夜时打电话叫你回家很生气 your mother is going to call you at midnight,
对她不让你 be annoyed at the fact that
像其他朋友那样呆到一点钟 she won't let you stay out till one o'clock
心怀不满 like your other friends,
但没什么好害怕的 but there's nothing to be afraid of.
现在 11点了 There, it's 11 o'clock
你说 我非常害怕 and you're saying, "I'm terrified of the fact that
害怕那个午夜打来的电话 the call's going to come at midnight;
我知道它肯定会打来 I know it's going to come."
看到了 这时恐惧不合常理 See, fear there doesn't make sense,
因为这里没有不确定性 because it doesn't have the relevant degree of uncertainty.
你确切知道会发生什么 You know exactly what's coming
也确切知道它会发生 and you know for a certainty that it's coming;
恐惧不是恰当的情绪 fear isn't appropriate.
那么 假设这件事不是肯定发生 Well, suppose instead of what happens is a guarantee
你妈不是在午夜打来电话 that your mother's going to call at midnight,
现在的情况是 what we've got is
你妈会在11点到1点之间打来电话 your mother's going to call sometime between 11 and 1.
那么 有些担心是合理的 Now, some fear makes sense.
大多时间 Most of the time
她在12点 12点半打来电话 she calls around 12, 12:30;
有时在1点打来 sometimes she calls at 1 for parties;
偶尔在11点打来 occasionally she calls at 11.
你现在担心 You're worried now,
她在11点打来电话的可能性 there's a nonnegligible chance she'll call at 11
比12点或者1点打来的更大 rather than sometime later, 12 or 1 o'clock.
有件坏事情 There's a bad thing,
一些不可忽视的可能性 some nonnegligible chance,
以及不确定性 and the absence of certainty.
现在 一定程度的恐惧是合理的 Now some degree of fear makes sense.
这也许和我们对于死亡的恐惧一样 And perhaps that's what we've got with regard to death.
如果是这样 我们可以说 If so, we might say
关键是因为 the crucial ingredient here,
死亡的不可预测性 by virtue of which death is something that it's appropriate for us
所以我们惧怕死亡是恰当的 to be afraid of is because of the unpredictability.
即使生命长度因人而异 Even if we had variability
死亡也未必不可预测 we might not have unpredictability.
这个观点我们前面讲过 That's a point that we touched upon previously.
因为不可预测 It's the unpredictability
所以你不确知 that leaves you in a position of not knowing
死亡何时降临 whether death will come soon, or death will come late.
你会在20岁死去 还是50岁 Will you die at 20, will you die at 50,
还是80岁死去 will you die at 80,
还是100岁死去 or will you die at 100?
在我看来 如果没有不可预测性 It seems to me that if it weren't for the unpredictability,
对死亡的恐惧就毫无意义 fear of death wouldn't make any sense at all.
但是因为死亡确实不可预测 Given that we do have unpredictability,
所以对死亡有些恐惧是合理的 some fear of death might make sense;
虽然我们仍要搞清 although again it's important to be clear about
我们害怕的到底是什么 what it is that it makes sense to be afraid of.
它不是死亡本身 It's not being dead per se.
我坚持我的观点 死亡本身 I remain of the opinion that being dead per se
不是一件应该害怕的事情 is not the sort of thing it makes sense to be afraid of,
如果你断定死亡就是终点 once you've concluded that death is the end.
唯一你有理由害怕的事情就是 The only thing that it might make some sense to be afraid of
你可能死得太早 is that you might die too soon--
太早而不是太晚 earlier rather than later.
当然 了解这一点以后 Of course, having noted that point,
我们需要问一下 we then have to ask,
多大的恐惧是适度的 well how much fear is appropriate?
有多大的可能性你会死得太早 How great is the chance that you'll die too soon?
你的恐惧要和这种可能性成比例 Your fear needs to be proportioned to the likelihood.
你明年死的可能性有多大 How likely is it that you will die in the next year,
或者五年以后 十年 二十年以后 or five years, or for that matter 10 or 20 years?
事实是对大多数同学来说 The fact of the matter is for most of you,
或者对全部同学来说 almost all of you,
这种可能性非常小 the chances are very unlikely indeed;
不是说可以忽略不计 not quite negligible,
但确实很小 but rather small.
一个20岁左右的健康人 For a healthy 20-year-old, for example,
过五年或者十年就死的可能性微乎其微 the chances of dying in the next five or ten years are extremely small,
这种情况下 in which case
或许会有些小小的不安 even if some slight fear might be called for,
但不需要很害怕 no significant amount of fear seems called for.
所以 如果有人告诉我 So, if somebody were to say to me,
看 死亡如此可怕 "Look, the facts about death are so overwhelming
所以我怕得要死 that I'm terrified of death,"
我会说 我不是不相信你 all I can say in response is not, that I don't believe you,
而是 如此畏惧死亡 but for all that it seems to me terror of death
不是一种适度的反应 is not an appropriate response.
在这种情况下不合理 It doesn't make sense given the facts.
这样说并不意味着 Now, having said that, that doesn't mean that
不能有一些其它的情绪 there may not be some other emotion,
其它恰如其分的负面情绪 some other negative emotion that is appropriate.
惧怕死亡 在我看来 Fear of death strikes me as,
很多时候都过分了 for the most part, overblown;
它很普遍 it's widespread, I suppose,
但大多时候都不恰当 but for the most part inappropriate.
但这不意味着 像我前面假设过的 But that doesn't mean that--As I suggested before in
在一些例子里说过的 working through some of these examples,
有时愤怒是合理的 sometimes anger makes sense;
有时怨恨 悲伤 遗憾 沮丧 sometimes resentment makes sense; sorrow, regret, sadness,
是合理的 that may make sense.
所以 我论证了大多数对死亡的恐惧 So, in having argued that for the most part fear of death
都是不合理的 does not make sense,
但我并未给出理由 I haven't yet given us any reason
证明其它情绪 to think that there might not be other emotions,
其它的负面情绪是合理的 negative emotions, that do make sense.
让我们问一下 So let's ask.
还可能有什么其它的情绪 What about some of those other possible emotions?
其它的负面情绪 如果有的话 What negative emotion, if any,
是我们面对死亡本身 does it make sense to feel about death itself,
合理的情绪反应 the fact that you're going to die?
当然 同样值得注意的是 Well, of course, look, it's also worth bearing in mind,
因为我论证过永生是件坏事 since I've argued that immortality would be bad,
所以你会死去不是件坏事 the fact that you will die is not actually bad.
而是件好事 It's good
因为它使你避免了 because it saves you from the unpleasant aspect
永生带来的永远的乏味和痛苦 of an eternal, dreary, dreadful immortal existence.
不过 我们仍然会说 Still, we might say,
大多数人 most of us,
差不多所有人都死得太早了 almost all of us, die too soon.
那么 这是什么意思呢 So, what about that?
我们还没等到生活给出它可以给出的 We die before life has yielded up all the goods
全部美好事物之前 就死了 that it could have given us.
那么 什么负面情绪是恰当的呢 So what is the appropriate negative emotional response here?
或者有这样的情绪吗 Or is there one?
我认为第二种很自然的想法就是愤怒 I suppose the natural second suggestion is anger.
你可能说 看 也许恐惧不合理 You might say, look, maybe fear isn't right,
不合适 但我会愤怒 isn't appropriate, but anger. I'm angry.
我想对宇宙晃晃拳头 I want to shake my fist at the universe
诅咒它只给我了50年 and curse the universe for giving me only 50 years
或者70年 80年甚至100年的生命 or 70 years or 80 years even 100 years,
而世界如此富饶 when the world is such a rich,
如此美妙 要花上几千年 incredibly fantastic place that it would take thousands of years
甚至更长时间才能尝尽滋味 or longer to exhaust what it has to offer.
所以 愤怒难道不是恰当的反应吗 So, isn't anger an appropriate response?
同样 我认为回答是"不一定" And again, I think the answer is not so clear that it is,
因为和其它情绪一样 because, like all the other emotions,
愤怒本身需要恰当性条件 anger itself has appropriateness conditions.
为了使愤怒是合理的情绪 In order for anger to make sense,
需要的第一个条件是 well, here's condition number one.
在我看来 愤怒应该是指向人的 It seems to me it's got to be directed at a person,
应该指向肇事者 it's got to be directed at an agent,
应该指向那些有能力选择 it's got to be directed at some thing that had some choice over
发生在你身上事情的人 what it was doing to you.
所以当你同屋 比如说 So, when your roommate, whatever it is,
在你电脑上洒了咖啡 spills coffee on your computer,
把硬盘弄坏了 等等 destroying the hard drive or whatever it is,
因为他们很粗心 because they were careless,
即使你提醒过他们要小心 even though you told them previously to be more careful,
愤怒是合理的 anger makes sense.
它指向你的同屋 一个人 It's directed at your roommate, who's a person,
他有一定的能力控制他做的事情 who had some control over what they were doing.
你的同屋是始作俑者 Your roommate's an agent.
如果你对我很愤怒 If you want to get angry at me
因为我没给你好成绩 那么 for the grades that you receive in this class, well,
至少满足第一个条件 at least condition number one makes sense;
你的愤怒指向肇事者 you're directing your anger at an agent,
指向有能力控制 at an individual person who has some control
我如何行动 他如何行动的人 over how I behave, how they behave.
第二个条件 Condition number two,
这个条件不是所有负面情绪都要满足 I suppose--this may not be all the conditions,
但至少第二个条件是 but at least a second one is--
愤怒只有在 anger makes sense when, and only when,
肇事者对你做了错事以后 才成立 the agent has wronged you,
他对你做了些 has treated you in a way
道德上不恰当的事情 that it was morally inappropriate for them to treat you.
如果你同屋做了些 If your roommate has been
你不喜欢的事情 doing things that you don't like,
但不是什么错事 but they haven't done anything wrong,
愤怒也不合理 anger doesn't make sense.
当你对他们发火 你是在表明 When you are angry at them, you are revealing the fact
他们没有善待你 that you think they've mistreated you.
没有善待意味着 Mistreatment requires the notion of
他们对你做的事情 they've behaved toward you
违反道德 in a way that morally they shouldn't.
好了 这就是我认为的两个条件 All right, these strike me as two conditions that need to be
要满足它们 愤怒才合理 in place in order for anger to be an appropriate emotional response.
当然 我们在其它情况下无疑也会愤怒 Of course, again, we no doubt feel anger in other cases,
尽管通常 although typically
我们对无生命的东西发火 when we're angry at inanimate objects
是因为我们把它们拟人化了 it's because we've personified them.
你该交作业了 你冲出教室 Your paper is due, you're rushing off to class,
你想把它打印出来 但你电脑坏了 you're about to print it out, and your computer crashes,
于是你对电脑发火 and you get angry at the computer.
我认为 这时发生的事是 Well, what's going on there, I suppose,
你把电脑拟人化了 is you've personified the computer.
你犯了常见的错误 You have fallen into the trap,
可以理解 很平常 understandable, natural,
你把电脑看成人了 of viewing the computer as though it was a person
故意在这个时候坏掉 who had deliberately chosen to fail right now,
让你交不上作业 letting you down yet again.
我理解这类行为 And I understand this sort of behavior;
也做类似的事情 I do this sort of thing as well.
但当你事后一想 But of course you can step back.
至少 当你平静下来 At least, once your anger has subsided,
转念一想 看 you can step back and say, look,
对电脑发火 getting angry at your computer
实在没有意义 doesn't really make sense,
因为你的电脑不是人 because your computer is not a person;
你的电脑不是肇事者 your computer is not an agent;
你的电脑没任何选择 your computer didn't have any choice
控制不了任何事情 or control.
假设 Suppose that--
根据那两个条件 我们问一下 take those two conditions and now ask ourselves,
我们对自己必将死去 does it make sense then to be angry at
感到愤怒是合理的吗 the fact that we're going to die?
我认为答案会是 And I suppose the answer is going to be,
看 你认为谁或者什么 well, look, who is it, or what is it that you think is
造成了你难逃一死 the cause of our mortality,
或者造成了我们只能活50或者80岁 or the fact that we only get our 50 or 80 years?
大致的 粗略的看来 有两种选择 Here's two crude, basic alternatives.
你或许相信上帝 You might believe in God,
经典的 有神论的上帝 classic, theistic, conception of God, a kind of
上帝像人一样决定应该做什么 according to which God is a person who makes decisions about what to do.
上帝宣判我们会死 And God has condemned us to death.
这是《创世纪》里描述的 That's what happens in Genesis,
上帝用死亡惩罚亚当和夏娃 God punishes Adam and Eve by making them die.
好的 这是第一个选择 All right, that's picture number one.
第二个选择是 Picture number two is
你认为宇宙是客观的 you just think there's this impersonal universe,
原子在虚空中旋转 atoms swirling in the void,
通过各种方式组合 coming together in various combinations,
但没人在背后操纵 but there's no person behind the scene controlling all of it.
让我们讨论这两种可能性 Let's consider the two possibilities.
第一种可能性 Possibility number one,
上帝 如果你抱有这一观点 God. Well, look, if you've got the God view,
那么至少我们满足了第一个恰当性条件 at least we satisfy the first of our appropriateness conditions.
我们会说 看 We can say, look;
我们会说 我们对上帝发怒 we can say, I'm angry at God
因为他给我们的生命太短暂 for condemning us to a life that's short,
太不够了 that's so inadequate,
而世界却如此丰富多彩 relative to the riches that the world offers us.
这是第一个条件 That's condition number one.
那么第二个条件呢 But what about condition number two?
第二个条件需要的是 Condition number two, after all, requires that
上帝没有善待我们 God has mistreated us
因为他只给了我们50年 in giving us our 50
80年或者100年的生命 or 80 or 100 years.
就是这样吗 上帝做错了什么吗 And is that the case? Has God wronged us?
上帝对我们做了什么不公正的事情吗 Has God treated us in some way that isn't morally justified?
如果不是 那么对上帝的愤怒怨恨 If not, anger at God, resentment of God,
就都没道理了 wouldn't make sense.
假设你的同屋 Suppose your roommate
回到房间 拿了一盒糖果 comes into the suite and has a box of candy,
他给了你一块 你很喜欢 and he gives you a piece of candy, and you enjoy it.
然后他给了你第二块 你很喜欢 And he gives you a second piece of candy and you enjoy it.
然后他给了你第三块 你很喜欢 And he gives you a third piece of candy and you enjoy it.
然后你问他要第四块 And you ask for a fourth piece of candy,
他没给你 and he won't give it you.
他对你做错了什么吗 Has he wronged you?
他对你做了什么不道德的事吗 Has he treated you immorally?
他欠你更多的糖果吗 Does he owe you more candy?
并不清楚他/她是不是欠了你的 It's not clear that he or she does.
但如果不是 你对他发火 But if not, then being angry--again,
当然 我很理解如果你感到愤怒 I would certainly understand it if you got angry,
这是一种很平常的反应 in the sense that it's a perfectly common enough response.
但愤怒是恰当的吗 对你同屋 But is anger an appropriate response to your roommate
先给了你些东西然后又不给了 而发火 for giving you something, and then not giving you more?
我们不能确定这是恰当的反应 It's not clear that it is an appropriate response.
在我看来 恰当的反应不是愤怒 The appropriate response actually seems to me to be, not one of anger,
而是感激 but gratitude.
你同屋根本不欠你任何糖果 Your roommate didn't owe you any candy at all,
他给了你四块糖 and they gave you four pieces,
或者多少块糖 or whatever it was, the number just was.
你可能希望你能得到更多 You might wish you could have more,
没得到更多你可能会沮丧 you might be sad that you can't have more,
但愤怒是不恰当的 but anger doesn't seem appropriate.
就我而言 上帝并不因为 God doesn't, as far as I can see, owe it to us
没给我们更长的生命而亏欠我们 to give us more life than what we get.
那么 假设我们不相信上帝理论 Well, suppose we don't believe in the God theory
而是相信宇宙理论 but the universe theory.
那么 甚至条件一都不满足了 Well then, of course ,even condition number one isn't satisfied.
宇宙不是一个人 The universe is not a person,
不是一个肇事者 is not an agent,
没有选择 不能控制 has no choice and control.
同样的 在我看来 愤怒 And as such, again, it just seems to me that anger then--
我可以对宇宙晃着拳头并诅咒它 I can lift my fist and curse the universe;
当然 我这样做的时候 of course, what I'm doing then is,
我是把宇宙拟人化了 I'm personifying the universe,
把宇宙看成 treating the universe as
一个做决定的人 他的决定 though it was a person that deliberately decided
使我们过早死去 to make us die too soon.
但不管这种反应多普遍 But however common that response might be,
如果宇宙不是一个人 it makes no sense rationally
这种反应都不合理 if the universe is not a person.
它只是些旋转的原子 It's just atoms swirling,
以各种形式组合 forming various kinds of combinations.
因为我会死或我死得太早而愤怒 Anger at the fact that I'm going to die, or die too soon,
都不合理 doesn't make sense either.
那么 我们会感到悲伤吗 Well, what about sorrow?
或许我只会为 Maybe I should just be sad at the fact
我死得太早而悲伤 that I'm going to die too soon.
我认为有些这类情绪是合理的 And I think some emotion along that line does make sense.
世界是美好的 The world's a wonderful place.
能多活一段时间会更好 It would be better to have more of it.
我很遗憾我不能活得更久 I'm sad that I don't get more,
不能活得更长 that I'm not going to get more.
但我这样想的时候 But having had that thought,
我马上发现我有了另一个想法 I immediately find myself with another thought.
虽然我不能活得更久让人遗憾 Although it's a pity I don't get more,
但我已经非常幸运 I'm extremely lucky
能够得到这么多东西了 to have gotten as much as I get.
整个宇宙只是一堆旋转的原子 The universe is just this swirling mass of atoms,
组成各种各样不同的东西 然后消融 forming clumps of various kinds of things, and dissolving.
大多数原子 Most of those atoms
根本没有过生命 don't get to be alive at all.
大多数原子没有成为人 Most of those atoms don't get to be a person,
没有谈过恋爱 falling in love,
看过落日 seeing sunsets,
吃过冰淇淋 eating ice cream.
我们非常幸运 It's extraordinarily lucky
能在这个幸运儿的小圈子里 of us to be in this select, fortunate few.
让我用一段表达了 Let me close then
这一思想的段落来结束这堂课 with an expression of this thought.
这段话来自库尔特·冯内古特的 This is from Kurt Vonnegut's book,
《猫的摇篮》 Cat's Cradle.
这段话是书中一个人物的 This is a kind of prayer that one of the characters in the novel says-
临终祷告 -is supposed to say--at the deathbed.
上帝制作了泥人 上帝烦了 God made mud. God got lonesome.
[以下段落来自九州出版社译者金峰的译文][特此感谢] So God said to some of the mud, "Sit up."
所以上帝对一些泥人说 站起来 "See all I've made," Said God.
上帝说 看我创造的一切 "The hills, the sea, the sky, the stars."
高山 大海 天空 星辰 And I, with some of the mud, had got to sit up and look around.
我就是那种坐起来环顾四周的泥人 Lucky me, lucky mud.
幸福的我 幸福的泥人 I, mud, sat up
我 一个泥人坐了起来 and saw what a nice job God had done.
看见了上帝创造的奇迹 Nice going God!
你太棒了 上帝 Nobody but you could have done it God!
世界上只有您上帝才能做到这一切 I certainly couldn't have.
我当然不能 I feel very unimportant compared to You.
和您相比 我感到自己十分渺小 The only way I can feel the least bit important
一想到还有许多泥人 is to think of all the mud
未能坐起来环顾四周 that didn't even get to sit up and look around.
我便感到自己还有一点重要 I got so much,
我已经得到这么多 and most mud got so little.
而大多数泥人却一无所获 Thank you for the honor!
感谢您的垂顾 Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep.
现在泥人又躺下睡了 What memories for mud to have!
泥人有多少值得回忆的事啊 What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud
我曾和多少有趣的坐起来的泥人 I met!
见过面啊 I loved everything I saw .
我爱我看见过的一切 It seems to me that the right emotional response isn't fear,
在我看来 正确的情绪不应该是恐惧 it isn't anger,
不应该是愤怒 it's gratitude that we're able to be alive at all.
而应该感激我们能够拥有生命