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Directions: You are expected to study this section in class. Don’t preview.
- Word Pretest
For each italicized word or phrase , choose the best meaning below.
1. Have you the requisite perseverance for such a heavy task?
A. needed
B. qualified
C. strong
2. The question set by the teacher was so difficult that the students didn’t know how to tackle it.
A. avoid
B. deal with
C. understand
3. He read books more for edification than for pleasure.
A. information
B. moral improvement
C. knowledge
4. We reprobated his evil behavior.
A. punished
B. applauded
C. condemned
5. You can’t embrace a religion without accepting its dogma.
A. ceremony
B. procedures
C. beliefs
6. The city was paralyzed by general strikes.
A. made ineffective
B. inflicted
C. made famous
7. They divested the king of his all power.
A. granted
B. deprived
C. defined
8. 25 000 miles is an approximation of the circumference of the earth.
A. calculation that is wrong
B. calculation that is exact
C. calculation that is not exact but good enough
9. There is no reason to doubt the veracity of the evidence.
A. truthfulness
B. clarity
C. purification
10. I make no pretensions to skill as an artist, but enjoy painting.
A. renovation of
B. demonstration of
C. claims for
2 Text
2.1Cultural Background
Locke：洛克(1632--1704)，英国经验主义哲学家。曾就学于威斯敏斯特学校和牛津大学。1667年投身在库珀(A．A．Cooper)的门下，从而对哲学发生兴趣。其主要著作是《人类理智论》。这是英国经验主义的真正起点。他的论文集《论政府》也很有影响。他赞许叛乱，对美国和法国的革命者都是一种鼓舞。
Berkeley：伯克利(1685—1753)，英国国教会主教和哲学家。生于爱尔兰的基尔肯尼附近。曾在都柏林三一学院求学，并成为研究员。1709年在都柏林出版《视学新论》。他认为空间距离不是直接感知的，而是由视觉和触觉的习惯组合推测出来的。所著《人类知识原理》(1710)和《希勒斯和斐洛斯的三篇对话》(1713)详细阐述了他的唯心主义哲学，概括为一句话就是“存在即被感知或是感知者”。他认为任何一种唯物主义都会导致怀疑主义。卒于牛
津。
Hume：休谟(1711—1776)，英国哲学家和历史学家，生、卒于苏格兰爱丁堡。他在爱丁堡大学研究法律。后写出其杰作《人性论》(1739---1940)，巩固和扩大了洛克和伯克利的经验主义遗产。在他写出两卷《道德和政治论文集》(1741—1742)后，他的观点才广为人知。1750年，他又写出《自然宗教对话录》，死后出版，由于坚持无神论，爱丁堡和格拉斯哥大学拒绝他为教授。他当过家庭教师、秘书、爱丁堡律师和图书馆馆长。在图书馆工作期间出版风行一时的《政治论文集》(1752)和6卷《英国史》(1754--1762)。他的观点鼓励了康德论证经验主义的缺陷。
WilliamJames：詹姆斯(1842--1910)，美国心理学家和哲学家。生于纽约市，小说家詹姆斯(H．James)之兄，先后就学于纽约和欧洲。1869年在哈佛取得医学学位。1873年在哈佛教解剖学和生理学，并自1879年教哲学。著作有《心理学原理》、《信仰意志和通俗哲学论文集》和《宗教经验种种》。他参加创建了美国精神学会，发表过多篇论述心理学的文章。
Saint Thomas：圣托马斯(西元l世纪)。耶稣的使徒，在《福音》中列为十二使徒之一。他曾怀疑耶稣的复活，直至耶酥显现，他摸到耶稣的伤痕才相信是真的(《约翰福音》20节)。据早期教会传说，他后来到安息国传教，并在印度殉难。他是葡萄牙的守护神。纪念他的宗教日为12月21日。
Saint Anselm：圣安塞姆(1033--1109)。意大利神学家和哲学家。贵族出身，生于皮埃蒙特的奥斯塔或其附近。因教会权利问题先后同威廉 鲁弗斯和亨利一世发生冲突。由于态度坚决，曾遭两个国王放逐。但在1107年他以除籍相威胁，双方和解，并拟定妥协方案，使国王终于接受。他是奥古斯丁的信徒。特别以上帝存在的“本体论”证明和赎罪理论传世。卒于坎伯里，可能早在1163年即追奉圣者。纪念他的宗教节日为4月21日。
Kant：康德(1724--1804)。德国哲学家，生于科尼斯堡，并在该地度过一生。其主要著作被奉为哲学经典，即《纯粹理性批判》(1781)，书中对休姆的经验主义作了回答。他关于伦理学的观点总结在《道德的形而上学基础》(1785)和《实践理性批判》(1788)两本书中。他把“绝对命令”作为伦理学的最高原则而加以阐述。他在第三部，即最后一部批判著作《判断力批判》(1790)中，论证了审美判断力虽然是普遍的，但绝不依赖于物体的任何性质(如美丽或雄伟)。他的思想对后世的哲学产生了极大的影响。
Descartes：笛卡尔(1596—1650)，法国理性主义哲学家和数学家，近代哲学之父。在其最著名的著作《形而上学的沉思》中，阐述了自己构思的主要几点。首先，他认为人可以怀疑自己的一切感性经验甚至理性判断，但不能怀疑自己作为思维实体的存在。即“我思故我在”。根据这一观点，他论证上帝肯定存在，而且不可能是个骗子，因此他认为以普通感性经验为基础的信念是正确无误的。他还论证精神和肉体是两个不同的实体，并相信这种二元论
使人类可能得到自由和永生。他在《论方法》的附录中，实际上已经建立了坐标或解析几何学，并且对光学做出过巨大贡献。1650年卒于斯德哥尔摩。
Modern physics and physiology throw a new light upon the ancient problem of perception. If there is to be anything that can be called “perception,” it must be in some degree an effect of the object perceived, and it must more or less resemble the object if it is to be a source of knowledge of the object. The first requisite can only be fulfilled if there are causal chains which are, to a greater or less extent, independent of the rest of the world. According to physics, this is the case. Light-waves travel from the sun to the earth, and in doing so obey their own laws. This is only roughly true. Einstein has shown that light-rays are affected by gravitation. When they reach our atmosphere, the suffer refraction, and some are more scattered than others. When they reach a human eye, all sorts of things happen which would not happen elsewhere, ending up with what we call “seeing the sun.” But although the sun of our visual experience is very different from the sun of the astronomer, it is still a source of knowledge as to the latter, because “seeing the sun” differs from “seeing the moon” in ways that are causally connected with the difference between the astronomer’s sun and the astronomer’s moon. What we can know of physical objects in this way, however, is only certain abstract properties of structure. We can know that the sun is round in a sense, though not quite the sense in which what we see is round; but we have no reason to suppose that it is bright or warm, because physics can account for its seeming so without supposing that it is so. Our knowledge of the physical world, therefore, is only abstract and mathematical.
Modern analytical empiricism differs from that of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume by its incorporation of mathematics and its development of a powerful logical technique. It is thus able, in regard to certain problems, to achieve definite answers, which have the quality of science rather than of philosophy. It has the advantage, as compared with the philosophies it the system-builders, of being able to tackle its problems one at a time, instead of having to invent at one stroke a block theory or the whole universe. Its methods, in this respect, resemble those of Science. I have no doubt that, in so far as Philosophical knowledge is possible, it is by such methods that it must be sought; I have also no doubt that, by these methods, many ancient problems are completely soluble.
There remains, however vast field, traditionally included in philosophy, where scientific methods are inadequate. This field includes ultimate questions of value; science alone, for example, cannot prove that it is bad to enjoy the inflictions cruelty. Whatever can be known, can be known by means of science; but things which are legitimately matters of feeling lie outside its province.
Philosophy, throughout its history, has consisted of two parts inharmoniously blended: on the one hand a theory as to the nature of the world, on the other hand an ethical or political doctrine as to the best way of living. The failure to separate these two with sufficient clarity has been a source of much confused thinking. Philosophers, from Plato to William James, have allowed their opinions as to the constitution of the universe to be influenced by the desire for edification: knowing, as they supposed, what beliefs would make men virtuous, they have invented arguments, often very sophistical, to prove that these beliefs are true. For my part I reprobated this kind of bias, both on moral and on intellectual grounds. Morally, a philosopher who uses his professional competence for anything except a disinterested search for truth is guilty of a king of treachery. And when he assumes, in advance of inquiry, that certain beliefs, whether true or false, are such as to promote good behavior, he is so limiting the scope of philosophical speculation as to make philosophy trivial; the true philosopher is prepared to examine all preconceptions. When any limits are placed, consciously or unconsciously, upon the pursuit of truth, philosophy becomes paralyzed by fear, and the ground is prepared for a government censorship punishing those who utter “dangerous thoughts” –in fact, the philosopher has already placed such a censorship over his own investigations.
Intellectually, the effect of mistaken moral considerations upon philosophy has been to impede progress to an extraordinary extent. I do not myself believe that philosophy can either prove or disprove the truth of religious dogmas, but ever since Plato most philosophers have considered it part of their business to produce “proofs” of immortality and the existence of God. They have found fault with the proofs of their predecessors-Saint Thomas rejected Saint Anselm’s proofs, and Kant rejected Descartes-but they have supplied new ones of their own. In order to make their proofs seem valid, they have had to falsify logic, to make mathematics mystical, and to pretend that deep-seared prejudices were heaven-sent intuitions.
All this is rejected by the philosophers who make logical analysis the main business of philosophy. They confess frankly that the human intellect is of profound importance to mankind, but they refuse to believe that there is some “higher” way of knowing, by which we can discover truths hidden from science and the intellect. For this renunciation they have been rewarded by the discovery that many questions, formerly obscured by the fog of metaphysics, can be answered with precision, and by objective methods which introduce nothing of the philosophers temperament except the desire to understand. Take such questions as: What is number? What are space and time? What is mind, and what is matter? I do not say that we can here and now give definite answers to all these ancient questions, but I do not say that a method has been discovered by which, as in science, we can make successive approximations to the truth, in which each new stage results from an improvement, not a rejection, of what has gone before.
In the welter of conflicting fanaticisms, one of the few unifying forces is scientific truthfulness, by which I mean the habit of basing our beliefs upon observations and inferences as impersonal, and as much divested of local and temperamental bias, as is possible for human beings. To have insisted upon the introduction of this virtue into philosophy, and to have invented a powerful method by which it can be rendered fruitful, are the chief merits of the philosophical school of which I am a member. The habit of careful veracity acquired in the practice of this philosophical method can be extended to the whole sphere of human activity, producing, wherever it exists, a lessening of fanaticism with an increasing capacity of sympathy and mutual understanding. In abandoning a part of its dogmatic pretensions, philosophy does not cease to suggest and inspire a way of life.
Total Words: 1 162
Total Reading Time: ______
The text is based on A History of western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell. London:
George Allen & Unwind, Ltd, 1945.
Reading Comprehension
Circle the letter of the best answer.
1. According to the author, our knowledge of the physical world is ______.
A. the same as our perception of the physical world
B. different from our perception of the physical world
C. the source of our perception of the physical world
2. Modern empiricism attempts to ______.
A. invent a block theory of the whole universe
B. build a system
C. tackle certain problems one at a time
3. The following issues lie outside the province of science except _____.
A. value
B. knowledge
C. feeling
4. The author believes that a theory about nature should be _____.
A. blended with an ethical doctrine about the best way of living
B. separated with an ethical doctrine about the best way of living
C. influenced by an ethical doctrine about the best way of living
5. Moral consideration makes it possible for a philosopher to ____.
A. examine all preconceptions
B. search for truth
C. limit his scope of philosophical speculation
6. In the authors opinion, philosophy can____.
A. prove religious truth
B. disapprove religious truth
C. neither prove nor disapprove religious truth
7. The philosophers of logical analysis______.
A. are interested in metaphysics
B. attach great importance to science and the human intellect
C. succeed in discovering definite answers to all the philosophical questions
8. The philosophical method mentioned by the author is said to be able to do the following except_____.
A. reducing fanaticism
B. increasing capacity of sympathy and mutual understanding
C. ceasing to suggest and inspire a way of life
Key
◆ Vocabulary Building
❶ Definition
Define the following terms in your own words.
Philosophy
Empiricism
Fanaticism
Idealism
Metaphysics
❷ Idiom
Complete the following sentences with the appropriate idiomatic expressions which are related to the idea of HONESTY/DIRECTNESS. Make sure it fits the blanks.
be two-faced look someone in the eye
tell it like it is bare one’s soul
talk behind someone’s back lay one’s cards on the table
- Bill often tells Sharon one thing and Karen another. He _____.
- Frank Smith is running for governor. In his speeches to the people of his state, he says exactly what he thinks He hides nothing Frank Smith ______.
- When Mary is with Alice, she often criticizes Bill. When she is with Bill, she often criticizes Alice. Neither Bill nor Alice knows that she does this. Mary often ______.
- Sandy talked to Jill about her most personal problems. Jill now knows just about everything important there is to know about Sandy. Sandy ___ to Jill.
- Mrs. West asked, Joan, broke a lamp while playing with her brother. When Mrs. West asked Joan what happened to the lamp, Joan ___ and told her the truth.
- Jill made it clear when she had her job interview that although she wanted to work for that company, she was planning to move to another state in a year. She thought it was important for her to ______.
❸General Vocabulary Exercise
Use the appropriate form of the word given in the brackets to fill in the corresponding blank.
- He already owes me a ___ amount or money, so I won’t lend him any more.(consider)
- There was a lot of ______ in his speech, and his position on the particular issue was not at all clear. (ambiguous )
- Isn’t it interesting how two people can have very different ______ of the same person? (perceptive)
- Do you ever have feelings of ______? (depressed)
- Can you prove that your actions were _____? (justification)
- ____ films are often used in the classroom.(educate)
- He smiled at her ___ ,but I don’t think she was fooled by him.(win)
- Jack did not believe in living his life in ______.(moderate)
- The first day I started my new job ,I didn’t know anyone, and Clarice immediately came over, introduced herself and ______ me .(friendly)
- ______ is an important quality for anyone in that position.(mature)
❹ Analogies
Select the lettered pair that best ex presses a relationship similar to that expressed in the original pair.
1. REQREST: REFUSAL:
A. try: failure B. deny: affirmation
C. swim: sinking D. struggle: victory
2. BOTANY: ZOOLOGY：
A. animal: zoo B. mind: body
C. ape: men D. plant: animal
3. QUERULOUS：COMPSAIN：
A. humble: fawn B. prodigal: spend
C. treacherous: trust D. laconic: talk
4. HEAT：CALORIMETER：
A. distance: odometer B. gasoline: tachometer
C. wind: velocity D. ocean: tide
5. SKETCH：PAINTING：
A. outline: essay B. apparatus: experiment
C. ser: play D. graph: hunter
6. SCYTHE：REAPER：
A. pipe: plumber B. ax: woodcutter
C. grease: mechanic D. game: hunter
7. FERTVOR：ZEALOT：
A. anger: critic B. wisdom: convert
C. doubt: skeptic D. caution: philosopher
8. COLOR：SPECTRUM：
A. flower: Petal B. note: symphony
C. cloud: sky D. choice: gamut
Key
◆ Cloze
Read through the following passage e and then decide which of the choices given below would correctly complete the passage if inserted in the corresponding blanks.
Plato (427?-347 B.C.) is one of the immortal geniuses of philosophy. 1 in Athens to a wealthy and politically influential, aristocratic family, he was closely 2 as a young man with Socrates, 3 died when Plato was in his late twenties. When the democracy was restored, Plato’s family fell out of favor, and his 4 to democratic government is reflected in a number of his works. At some time 5 Socrates’ death, perhaps as much as fifteen years or more, Plato started to write Dialogues 6 moral, political, religious, cosmological, logical and other subjects were explored. In the early dialogues, Socrates is always the principal speaker, and 7 is some reason to suppose that Plato’s picture of Socrates’ personality and doctrines bears a close resemblance 8 the actual historical man who was his teacher. Later on, however, the dialogues clearly come more and more to reflect Plato’s 9 philosophical investigations, and in the works composed 10 ,Socrates di sappears altogether as a character.
Retreating from public life, Plato 11 a school at his home in Athens. The home was called the “Academy,” and the word has since then meant a school or university. Many of the most gifted philosophers of the day worked or studied at the Academy, 12 the other great genius of ancient thought, Aristotle. Eventually, the Academy became an independent institution, and it continued for almost 900 years 13 it was finally closed by the Roman emperor Justinian in 529 A.D.
Plato’s greatest work was the Republic, a dialogue on the nature of justice, but much of his work in later life 14 devoted to mathematics and cosmology, and members of the Academy made significant contributions to formal logic and to such mathematical fields as solid geometry.
1. A. Born B. Taught C. Growing D. Brought
2. A. regarded B. associated C. considered D. described
3. A. he B. which C. who D. and
4. A. support B. sympathy C. conversion D. hostility
5. A. after B. before C. till D. in
6. A. in that B. what C. which D. in which
7. A. it B. that C. there D. he
8. A. of B. to C. like D. as
9. A. own B. private C. self D. particular
10. A. early B. last C. again D. after
11. A. entered B. rounded C.donated D. bought
12. A. except B. founded C. including D.with
13. A. before B. when C. because D.though
14. A. were B. is C. was D. would be
key
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