2. 外语
  3. In this section, you will be given a long passage. Please read the passage and write a 150-word abstract and five keywords for i

In this section, you will be given a long passage. Please read the passage and write a 150-word abstract and five keywords for i

admin2013-02-16  26
问题 In this section, you will be given a long passage. Please read the passage and write a 150-word abstract and five keywords for it. Write your abstract and keywords on your ANSWER SHEET.
    Russell’s conception of critical thinking involves reference to a wide range of skills, dispositions and attitudes which together characterize a virtue which has both intellectual and moral aspects, and which serves to prevent the emergence of numerous vices, including dogmatism and prejudice. Believing that one central purpose of education is to prepare students to be able to form "a reasonable judgment on controversial questions in regard to which they are likely to have to act", Russell maintains that in addition to having "access to impartial supplies of knowledge," education needs to offer "training in judicial habits of thought". Beyond access to such knowledge, students need to develop certain skills if the knowledge acquired is not to produce individuals who passively accept the teacher’s wisdom or the creed which is dominant in their own society. Sometimes, Russell simply uses the notion of intelligence, by contrast with information alone, to indicate the whole set of critical abilities he has in mind.
    Such critical skills, grounded in knowledge include:(i)the ability to form an opinion for oneself, which involves, for example, being able to recognize what is intended to mislead, being capable of listening to eloquence without being carried away, and becoming adept at asking and determining if there is any reason to think that our beliefs are true;(ii)the ability to find an impartial solution which involves learning to recognize and control our own biases, coming to view our own beliefs with the same detachment with which we view the beliefs of others, judging issues on their merits, trying to ascertain the relevant facts, and the power of weighing arguments;(iii)the ability to identify and question assumptions, which involves learning not to be credulous, applying what Russell calls constructive doubt in order to test unexamined beliefs, and resisting the notion that some authority, a great philosopher perhaps, has captured the whole truth. Russell reminds us that "our most unquestiqried convictions may be as mistaken as those of Galileo’s opponents."
    There are numerous insights in Russell’s account which should have a familiar ring to those acquainted with the recent critical thinking literature. First, Russell’s language, especially his emphasis on judgment, suggests the point that critical skills cannot be reduced to a mere formula to be routinely applied. Critical judgment means that one has to weigh evidence and arguments, approximate truth must be estimated, with the result that skill demands wisdom. Second, critical thinking requires being critical about our own attempts at criticism. Russell observes, for example, that refutations are rarely final; they are usually a prelude to further refinements. He also notes, anticipating a recent objection that critical thinking texts restrict criticism to "approved" topics, that punishment awaits those who wander into unconventional fields of criticism. For Russell, critical thinking must include critical reflection on what passes for critical thinking. Thirds critical thinking is not essentially a negative enterprise, witness Russell’s emphasis on constructive doubt, and his warning against practices which lead to children becoming destructively critical. Russell maintains that the kind of criticism aimed at is not that which seeks to reject, but that which considers apparent knowledge on its merits, retaining whatever survives critical scrutiny.
    There is a pervasive emphasis in Russell’s writings, as in much recent commentary, oil the reasons and evidence which support, or undermine, a particular belief. Critical scrutiny of these is needed to determine the degree of confidence we should place in our beliefs. He emphasizes the need to teach the skill of marshalling evidence if a critical habit of mind is to be fostered, and suggests that one of the most important, yet neglected, aspects of education is learning how to reach true conclusions on insufficient data. This emphasis on reasons, however, does not lead Russell to presuppose the existence of an infallible faculty of rationality. Complete rationality, he observes, is an unattainable ideal; rationality is a matter of degree. Far from having an uncritical belief in rationality, he was even prepared to say, somewhat facetiously, that philosophy was an unusually ingenious attempt to think fallaciously!
    The mere possession of critical skills is insufficient to make one a critical thinker, Russell calls attention to various dispositions which mean that the relevant skills are actually exercised. Typically, he uses the notion of habit(sometimes the notion of practice)to suggest the translation of skills into actual behaviour. Russell describes education as the formation, by means of instruction, of certain mental habits[and a certain outlook on life and the world]. He mentions, in particular:(i)the habit of impartial inquiry, which is necessary if one-sided opinions are not to be taken at face value, and if people are to arrive at conclusions which do not depend solely on the time and place of their education;(ii)the habit of weighing evidence, coupled with the practice of not giving full assent to propositions which there is no reason to believe true;(iii)the habit of attempting to see things truly, which contrasts with the practice of merely collecting whatever reinforces existing prejudice; and(iv)the habit of living from one’s own centre, which Russell describes as a kind of self-direction, a certain independence in the will. Such habits, of course, have to be exercised intelligently. Russell recognizes clearly, indeed it is a large part of the problem which critical thinking must address, that one becomes a victim of habit if the habitual beliefs of one’s own age constitute a prison of prejudice. Hence the need for a critical habit of mind.
    Because they are not simply automatic responses in which one has been drilled, such intellectual habits in effect reflect a person’s willingness, what Russell typically calls one’s readiness, to act and respond in various ways. His examples include:(i)a readiness to admit new evidence against previous beliefs, which involves an open-minded acceptance(avoiding credulity)of whatever a critical examination has revealed;(ii)a readiness to discard hypotheses which have proved inadequate, where the test is whether or riot one is prepared in fact to abandon beliefs which once seemed promising; and(iii)a readiness to adapt oneself to the facts of the world, which Russell distinguishes from merely going along with whatever happens to be in the ascendant, which might be evil To be ready to act, or react, in these ways suggests both an awareness that the habits in question are appropriate and a principled commitment to their exercise. They have in common the virtue Russell called truthfulness, which entails the wish to find out, and trying to be right in matters of belief.
    In Russell’s conception, beyond the skills and dispositions outlined above, a certain set of attitudes characterizes the outlook of a critical person. By the critical attitude, Russell means a temper of mind central to which is a certain stance with respect to knowledge and opinion which involves:(i)a realization of human fallibility, a sense of the uncertainty of many things commonly regarded as indubitable, bringing with it humility;(ii)an open-minded outlook with respect to our beliefs, an "inward readiness" to give weight to the other side, where every question is regarded as open and where it is recognized that what passes for knowledge is sure to require correction;(iii)a refusal to think that our own desires and wishes provide a key to understanding the world, recognizing that what we should like has no bearing whatever on what is;(iv)being tentative, without failing into a lazy skepticism(or dogmatic doubt), but holding one’s beliefs with the degree of conviction warranted by the evidence. Russell defends an outlook midway between complete skepticism and complete dogmatism in which one has a strong desire to know combined with great caution in believing that one knows. Hence his notion of critical undogmatic receptiveness which rejects certainty(the demand for which Russell calls an intellectual vice and ensures that open-mindedness does not become mindless.
    Russell describes critical undogmatic receptiveness as the true attitude of science, and often speaks of the scientific outlook, the scientific spirit, the scientific temper, a scientific habit of mind and so on, but Russell does not believe that critical thinking is only, or invariably, displayed in science. It is clear that Russell is suggesting a certain ideal to which science can only aspire but which, in his view, science exemplifies to a greater extent than philosophy, at least philosophy as practiced in the early twentieth century. Russell uses a number of other phrases to capture the ideal of critical thinking, including the philosophic spirit and a philosophical habit of mind, the liberal outlook(or even the liberal creed), and the rational temper. All of these ideas are closely intertwined. He remarks, for example, that the scientific outlook is the intellectual counterpart of what is, in the practical sphere, the outlook of liberalism. The critical outlook, for Russell, reflects ail epistemological and ethical perspective which emphasizes:(i)how beliefs are held i.e. not dogmatically,(ii)the doubtfulness of all beliefs,(iii)the belief that knowledge is difficult but not impossible,(iv)freedom of opinion,(v)truthfulness, and(vi)tolerance.
选项
答案 Abstract: In this paper I try to defend the following three opinions: First, semantics is no proper guide to the nature of properties. Second, the phenomenon of self-instantiation is not essential to the nature of properties. Third, finding a solution to Russell’s paradox is not the defining task of a theory of properties, in contrast to what most formal workers in the area of property theory seem to assume. Most formal accounts of properties are centered around some ambitious solution to his theory. This reflects the fact that the phenomenon of self-application or self-instantiation is considered to be the nature of properties. In a sense this is right; however, this does not mean that analysis would be worthless. Russell was explicit the goal of analysis is not to unpack what is psychologically intended by an ordinary statement such as the previous example, nor what a person would be thinking when he or she utters it. The point rather is simply to begin with a certain obvious, but rough and vague statement, and find a replacement for it in a more precise, unified, and minimal idiom. Nevertheless, despite the criticisms, many so-called "analytic" philosophers still believe that the notion of analysis has some role to play in philosophical methodology, though there seems to be no consensus regarding precisely what analysis consists in, and to what extent it leads reliably to metaphysically significant results. Key words: nature of propertise, self- instan- tiation, Russell’s paradox, property theory, analysis
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/zK1O777K
0

考博英语

相关试题推荐
随机试题
最新回复(0)