首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
To avoid the various foolish opinions to which mankind is prone, no superhuman genius is required. A few simple rules will keep
To avoid the various foolish opinions to which mankind is prone, no superhuman genius is required. A few simple rules will keep
admin
2017-04-20
70
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. I believe myself that hedgehogs eat black beetles, because I have been told that they do; but if I were writing a book on the habits of hedgehogs, I should not commit myself until I had seen one enjoying this unappetizing diet. Aristotle, however, was less cautious. Ancient and medieval authors knew all about unicorns and salamanders; not one of them thought it necessary to avoid dogmatic statements about them because he had never seen one of them.
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 that 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 yourself 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.
A good way of ridding yourself of certain kinds of dogmatism is to become aware of opinions held in social circles different from your own. When I was young, I lived much outside my own country—in France, Germany, Italy, and the United States. I found this very profitable in diminishing the intensity of insular prejudice. If you cannot travel, seek out people with whom you disagree, and read a newspaper belonging to a party that is not yours. If the people and the newspaper seem mad, perverse, and wicked, remind yourself that you seem so to them. In this opinion both parties may be right, but they cannot both be wrong. This reflection should generate a certain caution.
For those who have enough psychological imagination, it is a good plan to imagine an argument with a person having a different bias. This has one advantage, and only one, as compared with actual conversation with opponents; this one advantage is that the method is not subject to the same limitations of time and space. Mahatma Gandhi deplored railways and steamboats and machinery; he would have liked to undo the whole of the industrial revolution. You may never have an opportunity of actually meeting any one who holds this opinion, because in Western countries most people take the advantages of modern technique for granted. But if you want to make sure that you are right in agreeing with the prevailing opinion, you will find it a good plan to test the arguments that occur to you by considering what Gandhi might have said in refutation of them. I have sometimes been led actually to change my mind as a result of this kind of imaginary dialogue, and, short of this, I have frequently found myself growing less dogmatic and cocksure through realizing the possible reasonableness of a hypothetical opponent.
Be very wary of opinions that flatter your self-esteem. Both men and women, nine times out of ten, are firmly convinced of the superior excellence of their own sex. There is abundant evidence on both sides. If you are a man, you can point out that most poets and men of science are male; if you are a women, you can retort that so are most criminals. We are all, whatever part of the world we come from, persuaded that our own nation is superior to all others. Seeing that each nation has its characteristic merits and demerits, we adjust our standard of values so as to make out that the merits possessed by our nation are the really important ones, while its demerits are comparatively trivial. Here, again, the rational man will admit that the question is one to which there is no demonstrably right answer. It is more difficult to deal with the self-esteem of man as man, because we cannot argue out the matter with some non-human mind. The only way I know of dealing with this general human conceit is to remind ourselves that man is a brief episode in the life of a small planet in a little corner of the universe, and that for aught we know, other parts of the cosmos may contain beings as superior to ourselves as we are to jellyfish.
Which of the following statements is CORRECT?
选项
A、Aristotle put forward some theories which were not based on observation.
B、The author had seen hedgehogs before he wrote a book about them.
C、It is relatively safe to make some subjective statements about unicorn.
D、Ancient and medieval authors were uncertain of their knowledge about unicorn.
答案
C
解析
推断题。由第二段末句指出,古代和中古时代的著作家说起独角兽和火蛇时头头是道,没有一个人认为因为他们本人从未见过它们,就有必要避免一些武断的说辞。由此可知,因为没有人见过独角兽,那么无论人们对它如何进行主观判断都无法证明其正确与否,所以相对安全,故答案为[C],同时排除[D];文中没有提到亚里士多德提出一些凭空想出来的理论,故排除[A];第二段倒数第三句提到作者正在写一本有关刺猬生活习性的书,但是使用了虚拟语气,显然他并没有写这样一本书,故排除[B]。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/G3zK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
WhydidtheAmericanadviseraccuse?
Therearemanywaysinwhichthephenomenaoflanguageandcultureareintimatelyrelated.Allphenomenaareuniquetohumansan
WhowasthefirstAmericanpresidentthatwascompelledtoresign?
TheChinaInternetNetworkInformationCentersaidthisweekthatthenation’sonline【B1】______isexpandingatarapidpace,wi
WhatIsLiteraryWriting?I.DistinguishingfeaturesofliterarywritingA.Primarilydistinguishable【B1】______:【B1】______—cr
Inwhichkindofconversationstyledopeopletaketurnstogiveopinions?
Onceasourceof【B1】______businessactivity,Japan’skaraokeindustryhassloweddown.Japanesehavelesstosingaboutamid【B2
Lettytheoldladylivedina"SingleRoomOccupancy"hotelapprovedbytheNewYorkCitywelfaredepartmentandoccupiedbyold
Whatpersonalqualitiesaredesirableinateacher?Probablynotwopeoplewoulddrawupapproximatelysimilarlists,butI【M1】_
Languagepervadessociallife.Itistheprincipalvehicleforthetransmissionofculturalknowledge,andtheprimarymeansby
随机试题
有下列情况之一,债务人可以将标的物提存
患者女,45岁,体重60kg,工人,半年来乏力。查体:BP19.5/13kPa(150/110mmHg),心肺(﹣),下肢轻度水肿,空腹血糖8.7mmol/L,餐后2小时13.2mmoL/L,尿蛋白(±),尿糖(+),WBC(1~3)/HP,空腹胰岛素12
甲原系某工商银行某支行主任,偶然认识了乙。乙提出为甲拉100万元存款,并要求从甲所在的支行贷款80万元,甲某同意。后乙为甲拉来某研究所将100万存款存入该支行。同时,乙使用他人身份证、已失效的某公司营业执照和伪造的某研究所公章等手段,甲未经审查即与乙签订了
某地下人防工程地下2层,地下2层的室内地面与室外出入口地坪之间高差为9m。某电影院位于该地下人防工程的地下2层整层,建筑面积为4200m2,设有1个建筑面积为600m2的大观众厅,7个建筑面积均为3190m2的小观众厅。该电影院共划分6个防火分区,其中大
有一辆汽车以60000元购入,实行加速折旧,每年的运行维持费用和折旧后每年残余价值如表所示。试计算其最佳更新期。
下列关于股权投资基金财务会计报告的说法,错误的是()。
市政府要求本周五上午全市各单位统一开展“公众接待日”活动,为了达到较好的效果,领导交办你负责此项工作,要求组织一些人员认真筹备,务必做好落实。由于这次“公众接待日”活动效果良好,局领导有意将此项活动转化为长效机制,安排你做一些先期调研,以下不属于调研范
(2009年上半年)项目论证是指对拟实施项目技术上的先进性、适用性,经济上的合理性、盈利性,实施上的可能性、风险可控性进行全面科学的综合分析,为项目决策提供客观依据的一种技术经济研究活动。以下关于项目论证的叙述,错误的是(60)。
Generally______(speak),thisbookistoodifficultforyouguys.
Thetypicalpre-industrialfamilynotonlyhadagoodmanychildren,butnumerousother【C1】______aswell—grandparents,uncles,a
最新回复
(
0
)