How to Avoid Foolish Opinions Bertrand Russell To

How to Avoid Foolish Opinions? Bertrand Russell

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. prone to: likely or inclined to do sth. • prone to fall asleep on long car journey • He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.

If the matter is one that can be settled by observation, make subjunctive moodyourself. Aristotle the observation 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, subjunctive moodthat they because I have been told 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. ） Paraphrase the sentence in the brackets.

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. dogmatic (derog. 贬) 武断的，自以为是的 • You can’t be too ~ in matters of taste.

Many matters, however, are less easily brought, to the test of experience. If, like most of certainty, opinion mankind, you have passionate convictions on many such matters, there are ways in which you can make yourself aware of your own bias. prejudice

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. …your beliefs or opinions are unreasonable or can not be proved.

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. ) unless your knowledge of arithmetic and geography is so little that his opinion will cause you to doubt yours.

about ( 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. The most fierce disputes are those about matters for which neither side can find good evidence.

So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; ( you past the limits will probably find, ongo examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants. ) You will probably find that, when your belief is examined, it cannot be proved by the evidence.

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. rid sb. /sth. of sb. /sth. : make free from rid the house of mice/rid the world of famine

separated ( I found this veryisolated, 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. I found this very useful in lessening the prejudice that comes from isolation and narrow mindedness.

unreasonale, unacceptable 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. ) Thinking this way should make you be careful.

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;

not limited this one advantage is by that the method is not subject to the feel sorrow regret and about same limitations of oftime space. Mahatma Gandhi deplored railways and subjunctive steamboats moodand destroy, cancel he would have liked to machinery; undo the whole of the industrial revolution.

You may never have an opportunity of actually meeting anyone 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 current, popular 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. ) to be certain that Gandhi was wrong, try imagining what he might have said to prove you wrong in an argument.

( I have sometimes been led actually to change my mind as a except for, without 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. ) Paraphrase the sentence in the brackets.

careful, cautious 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. intended to flatter you and satisfy your self-esteem a lot to gain favor

If you are a man, you can point out that most poets and men of science are male; if you are a most criminal areretort male, too woman, you can that so are most criminals. ( The question is inherently insoluble, but selfesteem conceals this from most people. ) Actually, this question can not be solved, but most people are blinded by self-esteem.

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. Excessive pride The only wayin Ioneself knoworof dealing in with one’sthis abilities, powers, etc. conceit is general human to remind ourselves

插曲 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 jelly-fish. ) …maybe there are other beings in other parts of the universe who are superior to us, just as we are superior to jelly-fish.

seeing (that): considering, in view of the fact • Seeing that it was useless to argue about it, they stopped. • Seeing that you are the guest on this little trip, you can decide where we are going.

conceal from: to hide, keep from being seen or known • Her beauty concealed her cruel heart from people. • The thieves thought that they had concealed the jewels from discovery. • It is wrong for a man to conceal his feelings from his wife.

for aught we know (care): used to indicate that the speaker doesn’t know (care) at all 与我何干 • I haven’t seen her and she could be in Auatralia for aught we know.

This kind of imaginary dialogue sometimes makes me change my mind, or at least become less dogmatic and unwilling to listen to others, as I realize that my opponent might be right. cocksure: (infml) arrogantly or offensively confident • He’s so cocksure—I’d love to see him proved wrong.

Cf. compare with & compare to compare A to B: 显示相同性 • Poets have compared sleep to death. • Shakespeare compared the world to a stage.

compare with sb. /sth. : 与某人或物相 比或值得相比 • He cannot compare with Shakespeare as a writer of tragedies. 在悲剧写作 方面他根本不能与莎士比亚相比。 （相去甚远，不能相比） • We can start by comparing the works of the historian with the works of the politician.

off/on guard: unprepared/prepared for an attack, a surprise or a mistake • be on one’s guard against saying the wrong thing 提防说错话 • put sb. on his guard 使某人提防 • The lawyer’s seemingly innocent question caught the witness off his guard. 那个律师提出的似乎无关痛 痒的问题，把证人问的措手不及。

Paraphrase: I should not state that I believe this until I had seen one hedgehog eating black beetles. commit oneself (on sth. ): give one’s opinion openly so that it’s difficult to change • I asked her what she thought, but she refused to commit herself.

super (prefix) 1 …之上 superstructure 上层建筑 2 高于 superintendent 3 大量，超过，超级 superfine 最上品 的 supermarket 4 过度 supersaturate 使过饱和 5 额外，附加 supertax 附加税 6 次一等，副 superparasite 复寄生物 （寄生在另一寄生物身上的寄生物）

Par. 1 A few simple rules will keep you from silly errors. Par. 2 Observe the matter in question yourself if possible. Par. 3 Re-examine your own opinion if a different opinion makes you angry. Par. 4 Gather opinions held in different social circles to avoid being dagmatic. Par. 5 Imagine an argument with a person having adifferent bias. Par. 6 Be wary of opinions that flatter your esteem.

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Aristotle (384322 BC), Greek philosopher and scientist, who shares with Plato and Socrates the distinction of being the most famous of 吾� 我� ，吾更� 真理！ancient philosophers. －－－� 里士多德

http: //www. mkgandhi. org/

Gandhi, Indian national leader, was born in Porbandar on October 2, 1869, and educated in law at University College, London． In 1891, Gandhi returned to India and tried to establish（建立）a law practice in Bombay, with little success． Two years later an Indian firm with interests（股权） in South Africa employed him as a legal adviser in its office in Durban． Arriving in Durban, Gandhi found himself treated as a member of a lower race．

He was angered at it and decided to throw himself into the struggle for basic rights for Indians． Gandhi remained in South Africa for twenty years suffering imprisonment（监禁） many times． In 1914 the government of the Union of South Africa agreed to Gandhi's, including recognition of Indian marriages and cancellation（取消） of the pox tax（人头税） for them． After his work in South Africa was completed, he returned to India．

Famous quotations by Bertrand Russell: • Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.

• Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change. • To teach how to live without certainty and yet without being paralyzed by hesitation is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in our age, can do for those who study it. The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent full of doubt. • The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent full of doubt.