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1、KnowledgeandWisdom知識與智慧BertrandRussell伯特蘭.羅素------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mostpeoplewouldagreethat,althoughouragefarsurpassesallpreviousagesinknowledge,therehasbeennocorrelativeincreaseinwisdom.Butagreement
2、ceasesassoonasweattempttodefine`wisdom'andconsidermeansofpromotingit.Iwanttoaskfirstwhatwisdomis,andthenwhatcanbedonetoteachit.我們的時代在知識方面遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過過去所有時代,在智慧方面卻沒有得到相應(yīng)的增加,這是大多數(shù)人都會同意的看法。但一旦我試圖定義“智慧”并思考增進(jìn)它的方法,人們就會有不同意見了。我想問的問題首先是何為智慧,其次是傳授智慧的方法。Thereare,Ithink,severalf
3、actorsthatcontributetowisdom.OftheseIshouldputfirstasenseofproportion:thecapacitytotakeaccountofalltheimportantfactorsinaproblemandtoattachtoeachitsdueweight.Thishasbecomemoredifficultthanitusedtobeowingtotheextentandcomplexityofthespecializedknowledgerequired
4、ofvariouskindsoftechnicians.Suppose,forexample,thatyouareengagedinresearchinscientificmedicine.Theworkisdifficultandislikelytoabsorbthewholeofyourintellectualenergy.Youhavenottimetoconsidertheeffectwhichyourdiscoveriesorinventionsmayhaveoutsidethefieldofmedici
5、ne.Yousucceed(letussay),asmodernmedicinehassucceeded,inenormouslyloweringtheinfantdeath-rate,notonlyinEuropeandAmerica,butalsoinAsiaandAfrica.Thishastheentirelyunintendedresultofmakingthefoodsupplyinadequateandloweringthestandardoflifeinthemostpopulouspartsoft
6、heworld.Totakeanevenmorespectacularexample,whichisineverybody’smindatthepresenttime:Youstudythecompositionoftheatomfromadisinteresteddesireforknowledge,andincidentallyplaceinthehandsofpowerfullunaticsthemeansofdestroyingthehumanrace.Insuchwaysthepursuitofknowl
7、edgemaybecomeharmfulunlessitiscombinedwithwisdom;andwisdominthesenseofcomprehensivevisionisnotnecessarilypresentinspecialistsinthepursuitofknowledge.我想,構(gòu)成智慧有幾種要素,其中須置于首位的是比例感:將問題的所有重要因素都考慮進(jìn)去并掂量每個因素應(yīng)有的分量的能力。鑒于各類技術(shù)員所需的專門知識的范圍和復(fù)雜程度,這種能力變得比過去更難具備。比如,假設(shè)你從事醫(yī)科,這份工作本身
8、很難做,可能會耗費(fèi)你的全部智能。你沒有時間去考慮你的發(fā)現(xiàn)或發(fā)明可能帶來的醫(yī)學(xué)領(lǐng)域以外的影響。你成功了(我們假設(shè)),正如現(xiàn)代醫(yī)學(xué)所做到的:嬰兒死亡率不僅在歐美而且在亞非也大大降低了。但完全非你所愿的結(jié)果產(chǎn)生了:在世界人口最為稠密的地區(qū),食物供應(yīng)匱乏,生活水平下降。再舉一個甚至更為引人注目的例子,當(dāng)前人們都在關(guān)注此事:你渴望探求知識,不帶功利性地去研究原子結(jié)構(gòu),