Today I would like to introduce a book that has changed my thinking, and it has given me great inspiration in the matter of whether or not I want to believe in God.
This book is a Douban score of 9.2 points, Isaac Berlin biography, rest assured that this book is very easy to read, and the gossip in it is also very sufficient.
For example, Berlin once liked someone else's wife, and took the initiative to find his husband a showdown, saying that he was hopelessly in love with his daughter-in-law, and at this point, you are undoubtedly right.
Justice is completely on your side, you married her, you loved her.
I have nothing to say. I just want to make a suggestion.
If you put a man in prison, the prisoner must be in a hurry to get out more than the jailer wants him to stay inside.
This will not have any good results. Think about it.
As a result, his husband actually promised to let him take his wife, and fortunately, the marriage of the two people was very happy, and they remained white until they were old.
The first impression is a very interesting old man.
Isaiah Berlin, himself, is even more cattle.
At the age of 23, Berlin stayed on to teach philosophy at Oxford, and in the same year he was admitted to The College of All Souls, Oxford, becoming the first ever Jewish researcher at the top academic institution in the UK.
He is also hailed as the smartest man in Britain of the 20th century.
In the past, I felt that as long as people are rational and intelligent enough, they can make the right decisions, and if someone goes the wrong way, they should take the initiative to help others.
The idea of just that not only gave me confidence, but also a strong sense of moral responsibility, but Isaac Berlin said, don't just do it, it will only harm yourself and others.
The people who hurt the world the most from the First World War were people with similar ideas, who thought they had found a way to save humanity, but ended up taking humanity into the biggest fire pit.
For example, during World War I, U.S. President Wilson proposed "national self-determination", in which each nation had the right to decide who to rule, which made the world more chaotic and indirectly led to the outbreak of World War II.
Isaac Berlin, who calls people who think like this, the hedgehog mind, thinks he has found a truth, and believes that he can lead mankind to the light.
If you don't know Isaac Berlin, there's a saying, you've heard, "The fox knows a lot of little things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing."
This sentence was uttered by the ancient Greek poet, Achilokos.
However, because of Berlin's quotation, it has become one of the most famous metaphors in the history of ideas and concepts in the 20th century.
This contains the most central thing in Berlin's thought: the distinction between negative and positive freedoms.
Berlin, on the other hand, is more biased and passively free.
How do you tell the difference?
Freedom is the right to do what you have, and the right not to do anything.
And positive freedom is to be more proactive in achieving certain things.
For example, we quarreled, I want to restore the relationship with you, so I will talk to you every three or five minutes, buy you milk tea to drink, and think psychologically, I have done this to you, can you not forgive me?
No, then I will do it, and in the end, our relationship will definitely be as good as ever.
This is the idea of the active free man, who thinks that he is doing one thing, something that is good enough for everyone, so he can do it by taking the initiative to be good to you.
What if you don't want to reconcile with me at all?
Positive free people will think, then no, how can I have a good relationship with you, after all, we have a good relationship, it is good for everyone, why don't you accept it?
I'm for everyone's good, so you have to accept that I'm right.
If you usually have similar thoughts, it is precisely the most disgusting thing in Berlin, because you think that you are doing something, something that is good for everyone, so I can do something to you.
And negative freedom is simple, you don't want to have a good relationship with me, then I will respect you, live your own life, respect each other as guests, and be at peace.
Don't force and harass others because you feel that for the sake of a correct outcome, this is why active liberals bring disaster to the world.
If you ask Berlin: What is the meaning of life?
Berlin's answer was: "I don't ask what the meaning of life is at all, but I suspect it doesn't make sense at all." This brings me great comfort. ”
It also gives me great comfort, don't we have to bother with meaning, because there is no point in the first place, so it is better to live a good life.
But many people think that they must find a higher meaning in their lives in order to be comforted.
But the hedgehog doesn't think so. Hedgehogs live for big things, such as changing the future for the benefit of mankind, and aspire to be the boss.
The result has been one disaster after another for humanity, and there is no eternal and correct standard in the world that suits everyone, and this is the core idea of Berlin.
Life also does not have a meaning that is suitable or human, and you use the meaning that you think is right to ask others, which in itself will bring disaster.
Life doesn't have to have a unified meaning, everyone has their own ideas, and this is not immediately bad.
You see, this is the fox's thinking.
I'll talk about that today, and when we have time, we'll talk about it.