To avoid the various foolish opinions to which mankind is prone, no superhuman genius is required. A few simple rules will keep

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问题     To avoid the various foolish opinions to which mankind is prone, no superhuman genius is required. A few simple rules will keep you, not from all error, but from silly error.
    If the matter is one that can be settled by observation, make the observation yourself. Aristotle could have avoided the mistake of thinking that women have fewer teeth than men, by the simple device of asking Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth open while he counted. He did not do so because he thought he knew. Thinking that you know when in fact you don’t is a fatal mistake, to which we are all prone.
    Many matters, however, are less easily brought to the test of experience. If, like most of mankind , you have passionate convictions on many such matters, there are ways in which you can make yourself aware of your own bias. If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. If someone maintains that two and two are five, or that Iceland is on the equator, you feel pity rather than anger, unless you know so little of arithmetic or geography that his opinion shakes your own contrary conviction. The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic, because in arithmetic there is knowledge , but in theology there is only opinion. So whenever you find yours getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants.
    From How to Avoid Foolish Opinions by Bertrand Russell

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答案 要避免人们常常所持的各种愚蠢的观点,并不需要过人的天赋。立几条简单的规则,即使不能使你避免全部失误,也能避免那些蠢见。 如果事情可以通过观察来解决,那你就亲自观察好了。亚里士多德错误地认为女人的牙齿比男人的少,其实他只需请亚里士多德夫人张一张口,亲自数一数,就可避免这一错误。但他没有这样做,因为他自以为他知道。自以为懂而实际上并不懂是我们都容易犯的致命错误。 但是,许多事情并不是那么容易用经验来检验的。如果你像大多数人那样,在此类事情上执迷不误,那么有许多方法可以让你认识到自己的偏见。如果某一种与你相左的见解使你生气,那么这就是一种迹象,说明在潜意识里,你意识到没法给自己的想法以充分的理由。倘若有人坚称2加2等于5或者说冰岛是在赤道上,你应当感到同情而不是愤怒,除非你对算术或地理知之甚少,以致他的观点动摇了你的立场。最激烈的争论往往是在那些双方都没有充分根据的问题上。迫害之所以仅发生于神学领域,而不见于算术领域,那是因为算术中有知识,而神学里仅有观点。因此,当你发现自己对不同的意见气恼时,一定要警惕,因为通过检验你或许会发现,你的信念与事实依据相去甚远。 ——选自罗素《如何避免蠢见》

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