The man who asked questions
Nigel Warburton
About 2,400 years ago in Athens a man was put to death for asking too many questions. There were philosophers before him, but it was with Socrates that the subject really took off. If philosophy has a patron saint, it is Socrates.
大約2400年前的雅典，有一個(gè)人因?yàn)閱柫颂嗟膯栴}而被處死叮雳。在他之前也有哲學(xué)家跪呈，但這門學(xué)科真正開始流行的是蘇格拉底。如果哲學(xué)有一個(gè)守護(hù)神陋桂，那就是蘇格拉底。
Snub-nosed, podgy, shabby and a bit strange, Socrates did not fit in. Although physically ugly and often unwashed, he had great charisma and a brilliant mind. Everyone in Athens agreed that there had never been anyone quite like him and probably wouldn't be again. He was unique. But he was also extremely annoying. He saw himself as one of those horseflies that have a nasty bite — a gadfly. They're irritating, but don't do serious harm. Not everyone in Athens agreed, though. Some loved him; others thought him a dangerous influence.
翹鼻子蝶溶，矮胖嗜历，衣衫襤褸宣渗，還有點(diǎn)古怪，蘇格拉底與此格格不入梨州。雖然他外表丑陋痕囱，而且常常不洗衣服，但他擁有非凡的魅力和聰明的頭腦暴匠。雅典的每個(gè)人都同意鞍恢，從來沒有像他這樣的人，而且很可能不會(huì)再有了每窖。他是獨(dú)一無二的帮掉。但他也非常煩人。他把自己看作一種咬得很厲害的馬蠅——牛虻岛请。它們很煩人旭寿，但不會(huì)造成嚴(yán)重傷害。然而崇败，并不是雅典的每個(gè)人都同意盅称。有些愛他;其他人認(rèn)為他有危險(xiǎn)的影響。
As a young man he had been a brave soldier fighting in the Peloponnesian War against the Spartans and their allies. In middle age he shuffled around the marketplace, stopping people from time to time and asking them awkward questions. That was more or less all he did. But the questions he asked were razor-sharp. They seemed straightforward; but they weren't.
年輕時(shí)后室，他曾是伯羅奔尼撒戰(zhàn)爭中勇敢的戰(zhàn)士缩膝，與斯巴達(dá)人及其盟友作戰(zhàn)。中年時(shí)岸霹，他在市場上走來走去疾层，不時(shí)攔住人們，問他們一些尷尬的問題贡避。這差不多就是他所做的一切痛黎。但他問的問題非常尖銳。他們似乎簡單;但他們沒有刮吧。
An example of this was his conversation with Euthydemus. Socrates asked him whether being deceitful counted as being immoral. Of course it does, Euthydemus replied. He thought that was obvious. But what, Socrates asked, if your friend is feeling very low and might kill himself, and you steal his knife? Isn't that a deceitful act? Of course it is. But isn't it moral rather than immoral to do that? It's a good thing, not a bad one — despite being a deceitful act. Yes, said Euthydemus, who by now is tied in knots. Socrates by using a clever counter-example has shown that Euthydemus' general comment that being deceitful is immoral doesn't apply in every situation. Euthydemus hadn't realized this before.
其中一個(gè)例子就是他和尤西底母的談話湖饱。蘇格拉底問他，欺騙是否算作不道德杀捻。當(dāng)然是這樣井厌，尤里底母回答說。他認(rèn)為這是顯而易見的致讥。但是仅仆，蘇格拉底問，如果你的朋友情緒低落垢袱，想自殺墓拜，而你偷了他的刀呢?那不是欺騙行為嗎?當(dāng)然了。但這樣做不是道德而非不道德嗎?這是好事请契，不是壞事——盡管這是一種欺騙行為咳榜∨税茫“是的，”尤底墨斯說贿衍，“他現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)心亂如麻了【群蓿”蘇格拉底通過一個(gè)聰明的反例贸辈，證明了Euthydemus關(guān)于欺騙就是不道德的一般性評(píng)論，并不適用于所有情況肠槽。Euthydemus以前沒有意識(shí)到這一點(diǎn)擎淤。
Over and over again Socrates demonstrated that the people he met in the marketplace didn't really know what they thought they knew. A military commander would begin a conversation totally confident that he knew what "courage" meant, but after 20 minutes in Socrates' company would leave completely confused. The experience must have been disconcerting. Socrates loved to reveal the limits of what people genuinely understood, and to question the assumptions on which they built their lives. A conversation that ended in everyone realizing how little they knew was for him a success. Far better that than to carry on believing that you understood something when you didn't.
蘇格拉底一次又一次地證明，他在市場上遇到的人并不真正知道他們自以為知道的事情秸仙。一個(gè)軍事指揮官在開始談話時(shí)嘴拢，會(huì)完全自信地認(rèn)為他知道“勇氣”是什么意思，但在蘇格拉底的陪伴下呆上20分鐘后寂纪，他就會(huì)完全困惑地離開席吴。這種經(jīng)歷一定讓人不安。蘇格拉底喜歡揭示人們真正理解的極限捞蛋，并質(zhì)疑他們賴以建立自己生活的假設(shè)孝冒。一場以每個(gè)人都意識(shí)到自己知道的太少而結(jié)束的談話對他來說是成功的。這比你不懂的時(shí)候繼續(xù)相信你懂要好得多拟杉。
At that time in Athens the sons of rich men would be sent to study with Sophists. The Sophists were clever teachers who would coach their students in the art of speech-making. They charged very high fees for this. Socrates in contrast didn't charge for his services. In fact he claimed he didn't know anything, so how could he teach at all? This didn't stop students coming to him and listening in on his conversations. It didn't make him popular with the Sophists either.
當(dāng)時(shí)在雅典庄涡，富人的兒子們被派到詭辯家那里學(xué)習(xí)。詭辯家是聰明的老師搬设，他們會(huì)指導(dǎo)學(xué)生們演講的藝術(shù)穴店。他們?yōu)榇耸杖『芨叩馁M(fèi)用。蘇格拉底則相反拿穴，他的服務(wù)并不收費(fèi)泣洞。事實(shí)上，他聲稱自己什么都不知道贞言，那他怎么能教書呢?這并沒有阻止學(xué)生們來聽他的談話斜棚。這也沒有讓他在詭辯家中受歡迎。
One day his friend Chaerophon went to the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. The oracle was a wise old woman, a sibyl, who would answer questions that visitors asked. Her answers were usually in the form of a riddle. "Is anyone wiser than Socrates?" Chaerophon asked. "No," came the answer. "No one is wiser than Socrates."
一天该窗，他的朋友查羅豐到特爾斐去見阿波羅的神諭弟蚀。神諭是一位睿智的老婦人，她會(huì)回答來訪者提出的問題酗失。她的回答通常是謎語的形式义钉。“還有人比蘇格拉底更聰明嗎?”Chaerophon問道规肴〈氛ⅲ“不夜畴，”回答是∩咀常“沒人比蘇格拉底更聰明了贪绘。”
When Chaerophon told Socrates about this he didn't believe it at first. It really puzzled him. "How can I be the wisest man in Athens when I know so little?" he wondered. He devoted years to questioning people to see if anyone was wiser than he was. Finally he realized what the oracle had meant and that she had been right. Lots of people were good at the various things they did — carpenters were good at carpentry, and soldiers knew about fighting. But none of them were truly wise. They didn't really know what they were talking about.
When Chaerophon told Socrates about this he didn't believe it at first. It really puzzled him. "How can I be the wisest man in Athens when I know so little?" he wondered. He devoted years to questioning people to see if anyone was wiser than he was. Finally he realized what the oracle had meant and that she had been right. Lots of people were good at the various things they did — carpenters were good at carpentry, and soldiers knew about fighting. But none of them were truly wise. They didn't really know what they were talking about.
當(dāng)查羅豐告訴蘇格拉底這件事時(shí)央碟，他一開始并不相信税灌。這真把他搞糊涂了∫谒洌“我知道得這么少菱涤，怎么能成為雅典最聰明的人呢?”他多年來一直在詢問人們，看是否有人比他更聰明洛勉。他終于明白了神諭的意思粘秆，明白了她是對的。許多人擅長他們所做的各種各樣的事情——木匠擅長做木匠收毫，士兵懂得打仗攻走。但他們都不是真正的智者。他們不知道自己在說什么此再。
當(dāng)查羅豐告訴蘇格拉底這件事時(shí)陋气，他一開始并不相信。這真把他搞糊涂了引润」茫“我知道得這么少，怎么能成為雅典最聰明的人呢?”他多年來一直在詢問人們淳附，看是否有人比他更聰明议慰。他終于明白了神諭的意思，明白了她是對的奴曙。許多人擅長他們所做的各種各樣的事情——木匠擅長做木匠别凹，士兵懂得打仗。但他們都不是真正的智者洽糟。他們不知道自己在說什么炉菲。
The word "philosopher" comes from the Greek words meaning "love of wisdom." The Western tradition in philosophy spread from ancient Greece across large parts of the world, at time cross-fertilized by ideas from the East. The kind of wisdom that it values is based on argument, reasoning and asking questions, not on believing things simply because someone important has told you they are true. Wisdom for Socrates was not knowing lots of facts, or knowing how to do something. It meant understanding the true nature of our existence, including the limits of what we can know. Philosophers today are doing more or less what Socrates was doing: asking tough questions, looking at reasons and evidence, struggling to answer some of the most important questions we can ask ourselves about the nature of reality and how we should live.
“哲學(xué)家”這個(gè)詞來自希臘語，意思是“愛智慧”坤溃。西方哲學(xué)傳統(tǒng)從古希臘傳播到世界的大部分地區(qū)拍霜，有時(shí)還受到來自東方的思想的影響。它所看重的那種智慧是建立在爭論薪介、推理和提出問題的基礎(chǔ)上的祠饺，而不是僅僅因?yàn)槟硞€(gè)重要人物告訴你它們是真實(shí)的而去相信它們。對蘇格拉底來說汁政，智慧是不知道很多事實(shí)道偷，或者不知道如何去做某件事屿愚。它意味著理解人類存在的真正本質(zhì)经伙，包括我們所能知道的極限。今天的哲學(xué)家們或多或少正在做著蘇格拉底所做的事:提出尖銳的問題妹窖，尋找理由和證據(jù)忌穿，努力回答一些我們可以問自己的關(guān)于現(xiàn)實(shí)本質(zhì)和我們應(yīng)該如何生活的最重要的問題芭挽。
What made Socrates so wise was that he kept asking questions and he was always willing to debate his ideas. Life, he declared, is only worth living if you think about what you are doing. An unexamined existence is all right for cattle, but not for human beings.
蘇格拉底之所以如此明智碧注，是因?yàn)樗粩嗟靥岢鰡栴}竖哩，而且總是愿意與自己的觀點(diǎn)進(jìn)行辯論。他宣稱怀跛，只有思考自己在做什么，生命才有意義柄冲。一種未經(jīng)檢驗(yàn)的存在對牛來說是可以的吻谋，但對人來說就不行。
Athens as a whole didn't value Socrates. Many Athenians felt that Socrates was dangerous and was deliberately undermining the government. In 399 BC, when Socrates was 70 years old, he was sentenced to death. He was put to death by being forced to drink poison made from hemlock. Socrates said goodbye to his wife and three sons, and then gathered his students around him. If he had the choice to carry on living quietly, not asking any more difficult questions, he would not take it. He'd rather die than that. He had an inner voice that told him to keep questioning everything, and he could not betray it. Then he drank the cup of poison.
雅典人整體上并不重視蘇格拉底现横。許多雅典人認(rèn)為蘇格拉底很危險(xiǎn)漓拾，故意破壞政府。公元前399年戒祠，蘇格拉底70歲的時(shí)候骇两，他被判處死刑。他被迫喝下由鐵杉制成的毒藥而被處死姜盈。蘇格拉底告別了他的妻子和三個(gè)兒子
