chapter eleven contemporary ame

chapter eleven

contemporary american philosophers: santayana, james and dewey

introduction

the subtlety of his thought, and the fragrance of his style, are like the perfume that lingers in a room from which the flowers have been taken away

其（桑塔亚纳）微妙的思想，芬芳的文风仿佛鲜花被带离房间后空气中四处弥漫的花香

i, george santayana

i, biographical

those who remember him in the class room will remember him as a sprit solemn, sweet, and withdrawn,....

上过先生的课程并记得先生的人都知道，他就像一个严肃，可爱而内敛的精灵，，，，

it was a fresh morning in the life of reason, cloudy but brightening.

出自《 汉书·外戚传上·孝武李夫人》：“ 北方有佳人，绝世而独立，一顾倾人城，再顾倾人国。

2，scepticism and animal faith 怀疑主义与动物信仰

santayana is modest enough to believe that other systems than his own are possible

桑塔亚纳是谦虚的（这不像一位哲学家所为），他认为除了自己的哲学体系之外，其他体系也并非无法成立

he knows that the great snare of thought is the uncritical acceptance of traditional assumptions

他认为人类思想 有一大陷阱，那便是不经批判便认可传统的假设。

idealism is correct, but of no great consequence

唯心主义没有错，但其影响并不大

like the labor leaders who for a time wear silk breeches at the king's court

哲学依然穿着认识论的外衣作揖打躬，好像劳工领袖到了皇宫而一时穿上丝绸锦缎那样

3 reason in science  科学中的理性

it is nature become conscious in us, illuminating its own path and goal

the life of reason is a name for all practical thought and action justified by its fruits in consciousness

brute or a maniac. the rational animal is generated by the union of these two monsters

he is constituted by ideas which have ceased to be visionary and actions which have ceased to be vain

reason is man's imitation of divinity

the life of reason based itself frankly on science, because science contains all trustworthy knowledge

he proposed no new philosophy, but only an application of old philosophies to our present life

因曰：“我亦无他，惟手熟尔。” 康肃笑而遣之。 日日操练基本功，坚持不懈必有所成。无他，唯手熟尔！！

everything ideal has a natural basis, and everything natural an ideal development

he will not permit himself the luxury of pantheism

because the soul is akin to the eternal and ideal

to have perceived it as it moved

君子不自欺

in the inmost recesses of the soul

灵魂深处

the value of thought is ideal, not causal

consciousness is an organ of judgment as well as a vehicle of delight

4 reason in religion

faith     i do believe her though i know she lies

fear      it was fear which first made the gods

imagination    religion is human experience interpreted by human imagination

the fact of having been born is a bad augury for immortality

the eternal has absorbed him while he lived, and when he is dead his influence brings others to the same absorption,making them , through that ideal identity with the best in him, reincarnations and perennial seats of all in him which he could rationally hope to rescue from destruction

5 reason in society

laplace is reported to have said on his deathbed that science was mere trifling, and that nothing was real but love

a hostile fist shaken in the face of a supposedly inferior world

耀武扬威

things are in the saddle and ride mankind

good is not liberty, but wisdom, and contentment with one's natural restrictions.

every soul is torn with climbing, and no one knows content

the only equality subsisting would be equality of opportunity

6 comment

melancholy

there  is tragedy in perfection, because the universe in which perfection arises in itself imperfect

he stands aloof and superior, and therefore alone

what is the part of wisdom? he asks;and answers- to dream with one eye open  to be detached from the world without being hostile to it ,to welcome fugitive beauties and pity fugitive sufferings, without forgetting for a moment how fugitive they are

II william james

i PERSONAL

in william james the voice and the speech and the very turn of phrase are american

for in james psychology still drips from the foetal membranes of its mother, metaphysics

metaphysics is merely an effort to think things out clearly

he defined philosophy, in his simple and pellucid manner, as 'only thinking about things in the most comprehensive possible way'

2 PRAGMATISM

it is these transitive elements in the flow of thought that constitute the thread of our metal life, and give us some measure of the continuity of things

consciousness is not an entity, not a thing, but a flux and system of relations

the soul is merely the sum of our mental life,

truth is the cash value of  an idea

the true is the name of whatever proves itself to be good in the way of belief

3, PLURALISM

the human intellect repeatedly proposes them because of their logical simplicity and symmetry, but life ignores and overflows them, and passes on

a philosophy whose principle is so incommensurate with our most intimate powers as to deny them all relevancy in universal affairs, as to annihilate their motives at one blow, will be even more unpopular than pessimism....

men accept or reject philosophies, then, according to their temperaments, not according to objective truth ; they do not ask, is this logical ? - they ask, what will the actual practice of this philosophy mean for our lives and our interests? arguments for and against may serve to illuminate, but they never prove

人们接受排斥某种哲学，根据的是自己的需求和气质，而不是客观真理。他们不会问“这合乎逻辑吗？”他们会问：“如果 我们将一种哲学付诸实践，那么这种实践对我们的生活和兴趣意味着什么？”

the value of a multiverse , as compared with a universe, lies in this, that where there are cross currents and warring forces our own strength and will may count and help decide the issue; it is a world where nothing is irrevocably settled, and all action matters

nevertheless he did not think of philosophy as a meditation on death, no problems had value for him unless they could guide and stimulate our terrestrial career. is was with the excellencies, not he duration,of our natures, that he occupied himself

4. COMMENT

lust for movement

philosophy for philistines

方便法门

personal utility is merely personal utility

utter nonsense learnedly  睁眼说瞎话

there is no conclude in regard to it ? there are no fortunes to be told and there is no advice to be given. farewell

III, john dewey

i EDUCATION

约翰杜威是冯友兰的老师，也是胡适的老师。胡适送给大学生的三个锦囊

“总得时时寻一个两个值得研究的问题”
“总得多发展一点非职业的兴趣”“你得有一点信心”

in education, the science should not be book learning, but should come to the pupil from the actual practice of useful occupations

学生不应该只通过书本学习科学， 而应选择有用的职业，通过参加实践活动来接触科学。

education must be re-conceived, not as merely a preparation for maturity , (whence our absurd idea that it should stop after adolescence) , but as a continuous growth of the mind and a continuous illumination of life

教育者应该对教育进行重新规划，教育不仅仅是成年的准备（人在成年后应停止接受教育，这种荒谬的观点便来源于此），它还意味着心灵不断成长，对人生的认识不断加深

real education comes after we leave school , and there is no reason why it should stop before our death

真正的教育自我们离开校门的那一刻才刚刚开始，我们没有理由在生命走到尽头之前就停止接受教育

2, INSTRUMENTALISM

this does not mean that mind is reduced to matter but only that mind and life are to be understood not in theological but in biological terms, as an organ or an organism in an environment

进入现你， 并不意味着慷 要被简化为物质，而是说， 人类不再从神学的角度， 而是从生物学的角度，对心灵和生命进行解读，并将心灵和生命看作存在于自然环境中的器官和有机体

thought is an instrument of re adaptation; it is an organ as much as limbs and teeth

思想帮人反复适应环境，同人的四肢和牙齿一样，也是一种器官。

complete adaptation to environment means death 对环境的完全适应意味着死亡

reasoning, we perceive, begins not with premises, but with difficulties

推理不是从前提开始，而是从问题开始

there is nothing impossible but thinking makes it so 没有想不到，只有做不到

3 SCIENCE AND POLITICS

what Dewey saw and reverenced as the finest of all things, was growth

杜威把发展奉为人间最高美德；

not perfection as a final goal, but the ever enduring process of perfecting, maturing , refining, is the aim in living....the bad man is the man who, no matter how good he has been, is beginning to deteriorate, to grow less good. the good man is the man who, no matter how morally unworthy he has been , is moving to become better. such a conception makes one severe in judging himself and humane in judging others

完美不是最终目标，不断完善，不断成熟，不断美好的过程才是人生的目的……什么是坏人？---无论他曾多么好，一旦他g

goodness without ability is lame; and all the virtue in the world will not save us if we lack intelligence

做好人并不意味着服从他人，不你伤害他人；无能的善叫差劲；如果我们缺乏智慧，世上一切美德都无法拯救我们。

ignorance is not bliss, it is unconsciousness and slavery; only intelligence can make us sharers in the shaping of our fates

无知不是幸福，而是麻木，奴性；唯有智慧才能使我们把握自己的命运。

love of the wisdom that is nurse of good

the task of future philosophy is to clarify men's ideas as to the social and moral strifes of their own day

未来哲学的使命是依据时代的社会和道德问题对人类思想进行梳理

conclusion

when we have learned to reverence liberty as well as wealth , we too shall have our renaissance

当我们学会像尊重财富一样尊重自由时， 我们也将迎来自己的文艺复兴