為什麼你不該相信自己的感覺：英語精讀講義

It's easy to grow up with a sense that our feelings are reliable guides to ourselves, the people around us, and the world at large. 講解

在成長過程中，我們很容易認為自己的感受是可靠的指南，可以指引我們了解自己、身邊的人以及整個世界。

We can call this optimistic thesis the clear pane theory of the mind, 慣用語

我們可以把這種樂觀的論調稱為心靈的「透明玻璃」理論，

implying that we are able to look out onto the world pretty much as if through an undistorted and blemish-free pane of glass. 文法

這意味著我們觀察世界時，彷彿是透過一塊沒有變形、毫無瑕疵的玻璃。

Yet a long tradition in philosophy has sought to warn us of a far trickier truth.

然而，哲學界有著悠久的傳統，試圖警告我們一個更為棘手的真相。

The school of thought known as skepticism 片語搭配

被稱為「懷疑論」的思想流派，

that began in ancient Greece in the third century BC

起源於西元前三世紀的古希臘，

proposed that a great many of our solid-seeming sensory first impressions

提出我們許多看似確鑿的最初感官印象，

should not be assumed to be accurate 文法

不應被理所當然地認為是準確的，

and must instead be submitted to the laborious process of rational unscrambling.

而是必須提交給理性的解碼過程來進行繁瑣的分析。

Far from our minds being clear panes, 文法

我們的心智遠非透明的玻璃，

they're full of scratches, blind spots, and warps. 慣用語

而是充滿了刮痕、盲點和扭曲。

To be wise, therefore, 文法

因此，要成為一個有智慧的人，

means for the skeptics to strive to be permanently vigilant

對懷疑論者而言，就意味著要努力保持永久的警惕，

about how much we're inclined to misunderstand reality by trusting our first feelings. 片語搭配

警惕我們是多麼容易因為相信最初的感受而誤解現實。

One tiny instance of our distorting minds

我們扭曲心智的一個小例子，

that particularly fascinated the Greeks

曾讓古希臘人尤為著迷，

was a strange phenomenon that occurs when a stick is partially submerged in water.

那就是當一根樹枝部分浸入水中時發生的奇特現象。

It immediately seems as if the stick angles into a V

一眼看去，樹枝似乎折成了「V」字形，

just at the point where it meets the surface.

就在它與水面相交的地方。

But if we pull the stick out,

但如果我們把樹枝拔出來，

we'll see that it's of course still straight.

我們會看到它當然還是直的。

The skeptics took this tiny example as a gateway to a vast truth 慣用語

懷疑論者把這個小例子視為通向一個宏大真理的切入點：

that our senses are humbling fallible.

我們的感官是會犯錯的，這令人謙卑。

The way things appear to us 文法

事物向我們呈現的方式，

is often simply not how they in fact really are.

通常根本不是它們實際的本來面目。

Skeptical ideas were to be the leading force behind the development of modern science. 片語搭配

懷疑論思想後來成為了現代科學發展的領導力量。

In the middle of the 16th century,

在16世紀中葉，

the Polish philosopher and astronomer Copernicus

波蘭哲學家兼天文學家哥白尼

demonstrated that whatever our senses might have suggested to us for hundreds of thousands of years, 文法

證明了，無論幾十萬年來我們的感官向我們暗示了什麼，

according to logical reasoning,

根據邏輯推理，

the truth is that the sun does not, in fact, revolve around the Earth.

事實的真相是太陽實際上並不繞著地球轉。

But the skeptics weren't only interested in the errors we fall into when doing astronomy.

但懷疑論者不僅對我們在研究天文學時犯的錯誤感興趣。

They were fascinated by our tendencies to fall into error 片語搭配

他們更著迷於我們容易陷入錯誤的傾向，

in our personal lives under the influence of our emotions.

即在個人生活中，在情緒的影響下犯錯。

For example,

例如，

our minds are seldom free of the influence of moods,

我們的心智幾乎擺脫不了情緒的影響，

a kind of emotional weather that scuds over our mental horizons, 慣用語

情緒就像掠過我們心靈地平線的情感天氣，

normally without us having any understanding of where these moods have come from, 文法

我們通常不了解這些情緒從何而來，

when they might lift, 用詞

何時會消散，

or even that they exist.

甚至不知道它們的存在。

However,

然而，

these moods can have a decisive impact on our ideas.

這些情緒會對我們的想法產生決定性的影響。

We might in one mood consider ourselves fortunate,

在某種情緒下，我們可能覺得自己很幸運，

look brightly at the future,

對未來充滿希望，

and feel grateful to those around us.

並對身邊的人感到感激。

And then,

緊接著，

a few hours later,

幾個小時後，

without anything in the outer world having changed, 文法

外部世界沒有任何改變，

another mood might lead us to a wholesale reevaluation of almost everything about us. 片語搭配

另一種情緒卻可能導致我們對自身方方面面進行全盤的重新評估。

Devilishly,

可怕的是，

part of what it means to be subject to a mood 用詞

被情緒左右的一部分特徵，

is not to realize that we are in its grip. 慣用語

就是意識不到我們正處於它的掌控之中。

We simply feel that our friends,

我們只是覺得我們的朋友，

whom we liked quite a lot yesterday,

昨天還相當喜歡的朋友，

are no good,

簡直一無是處，

and our job,

而我們的工作，

which once offered us so much,

曾經給予我們那麼多的工作，

is absurd.

荒唐可笑。

Tiredness can be a particularly powerful agent

疲勞是一個尤為強大的因素，

that silently and invisibly perverts our judgment. 用詞

會悄無聲息地扭曲我們的判斷力。

The 19th century skeptic Friedrich Nietzsche remarked,

19世紀的懷疑論者弗里德里希·尼采曾評論道：

"When we are tired,

「當我們疲倦時，

we are attacked by ideas we thought we'd conquered long ago." 慣用語

就會被我們以為很久以前就已克服的想法所攻擊。」

But crucially,

但至關重要的是，

it's extremely rare and counterintuitive to judge that it really might be tiredness that's affecting our outlook

判斷出影響我們看法的確實可能是疲勞，

rather than certain objective facts in the world.

而不是世界上某些客觀事實，這是極其罕見且違背直覺的。

We are keener to conclude that we've suddenly developed a deep resentment against humanity 文法

我們更傾向於得出結論，認為我們突然對人類產生了深深的怨恨，

than that we urgently need to get to bed.

而不是認為我們迫切需要上床睡覺。

Lust can similarly play with our judgment, 慣用語

情慾也同樣會干擾我們的判斷，

leading us to see sensitivity,

讓我們看到敏感、

kindness,

善良，

and a decent alternative to our current partner

並且覺得這是當前伴侶不錯的替代者，

where there is in truth just an exceptionally beautiful profile and perhaps not much else.

而事實上，那可能只是一個格外美麗的側臉，或許再無其他。

As the German skeptical philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer wryly concluded,

正如德國懷疑論哲學家亞瑟·叔本華苦笑著得出的結論：

"Immediately after copulation,

「交媾之後，

the devil's laughter can be heard."

就能聽見魔鬼的笑聲。」

Appreciating how flawed our minds are

認識到我們的心智有多麼缺陷，

forms the basis upon which the skill of emotional skepticism is founded. 文法

構成了建立情感懷疑論技能的基礎。

This skill,

這項技能，

defined as a cautious awareness of the misleading power of our feelings on our judgment.

被定義為謹慎地意識到我們的感受對判斷力的誤導力。

Having surveyed the fragilities of our minds, 文法

在考察了我們心智的脆弱性之後，

the ancient Greek skeptical philosophers recommended that we learn to develop an attitude of what they called epoche, 文化背景

古希臘懷疑論哲學家建議我們學會培養一種他們稱之為「懸置（epoche）」的態度，

translated as reserve or suspension of judgment.

翻譯過來就是保留或懸置判斷。

Aware of our tendencies to error,

意識到我們有犯錯的傾向，

we were never to rush into decisions. 片語搭配

我們就不應倉促做出決定。

We were to let our ideas settle 慣用語

我們要讓思緒沉澱下來，

so that they could be reevaluated at different points in time.

以便在不同的時間點重新評估它們。

And we were to be especially vigilant about the impact of sexual excitement and tiredness

我們還要特別警惕性奮和疲憊

on the formation of our plans.

對我們制定計劃的影響。

For a range of historical reasons, 表達脈絡

由於一系列歷史原因，

we've collectively been extremely reluctant to recognize the benefits of emotional skepticism.

我們一直極不願意集體承認情感懷疑論的好處。

The Romantic Movement of the 19th century 文化背景

19世紀的浪漫主義運動

bequeathed us the beguiling but often disastrous notion 用詞

留給我們一種迷人但往往災難性的觀念，

that it's our emotions that are always our finest guides to the truth. 文法

即我們的情感永遠是我們通向真理的最佳指南。

But we would have gone a long way to counteract the problems of our minds

但如果為了對抗我們心智的問題，我們可以大有作為，

if we sometimes do ourselves the honor of not listening to our feelings, 慣用語

只要我們有時給予自己不聽從自身感受的殊榮，

instead waiting for certain unhelpful moods to pass 用詞

轉而等待某些無益的情緒過去，

and accepting that we are at heart highly viscous bags of saline solution 慣用語

並接受我們在本質上是一袋高黏度的生理食鹽水，

who stare out at reality via a highly unreliable and distorted pane of glass

透過一塊極不可靠且扭曲的玻璃凝視現實，

and must therefore frequently suspend judgment, 表達脈絡

並因此必須經常懸置判斷，

moderate our impulses,

節制我們的衝動，

watch over our diet,

注意我們的飲食，

and strive to get to bed early.

並努力早點睡覺。