It is impossible to ask any strange and inconceivable questions anymore, for they have been asked by philosophers. --René Descartes
If someone says, "Oranges are not orange, Harry Potter is real, and dedication is selfish," you would say, "This is all weird, it's just nonsense!
But if the people who say these things are famous philosophers, wouldn't you be surprised: Aren't philosophers all very rigorous people? The Greek etymology of the English philosophical word pheophy means "love of wisdom" . How can a philosopher say such unreliable things?
This is what the book "Oranges Are Not Oranges" shows the reader, the other side of the philosopher. The author of this book is the Englishman Gary Haydn, who holds a master's degree in philosophy and has long been a writer for the Times and various magazines, popularizing philosophical knowledge. In the book, he lists 43 philosophical ideas that seem very strange, giving a glimpse of the genius and madness of philosophers.
Gary Haydn said in the introduction to Oranges Are Not Oranges: "Philosophers are a bunch of clever guys, some of whom are incredibly clever, but they often make strange points. "
Take, for example, the German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz. He designed man's first calculator; he made important contributions in the fields of physics, logic, history, library science, and theology. But he claimed that objects do not have shape and size; that God is omniscient and omnipotent; that the real world is made up of "monads," and that the activity between monads is predetermined by God.
The relationship between body and mind is a question that philosophers have been pondering. Nicolas MaléBrancz of France said that the body and mind cannot interact. For example, fingers can move, fingers will be cut and painful, these physical activities have nothing to do with thoughts, they are all caused by God.
Even now, philosophy and theology are difficult to separate from human society. Physicists, mathematicians and theologians, in addition to Leibniz, there was Also Newton. People who know newton's life wonder why, as the founder of physics and mathematics, he will indulge in theology in the second half of his life.
In fact, it is very simple, theology was also a "science" at that time, and it had its own set of internal logic. For example, why do children in Christian families have to be "baptized" after birth? There is a set of theories that seem absurd but continue to this day.
St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) was a famous Catholic theologian and a famous thinker in history. He thinks babies are guilty. What sin? original sin! That is, people are born sinful.
St. Augustine believed that Adam and Eve, the parents of mankind, were guilty of stealing the forbidden fruit, and this sin would be passed on to future generations. Therefore, everyone is born with sin and has to go to hell. The only way to avoid going to hell is to be baptized. Unabapted babies go to hell.
This theory was not contested until the 13th century. Peter Apollad of France argued that babies who have not been baptized should not go to hell, but to "thin prisons". There is neither hell nor heavenly bliss in hell. This statement was adopted by Pope Innocent III.
It was another few hundred years later, and it was not until 2007 that Pope Benedict XVI approved of the current statement: "Unbaptized and premature babies can be redeemed and taken to heaven for eternal bliss." "
How can you be happy forever? Christianity says it is okay in heaven. The Buddha said that it is enough to eliminate suffering. But there is too much suffering in life.
The Buddha believed that all life is suffering. "Birth is bitterness, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering, participating in unhappy things is suffering from happiness is suffering, and not getting what you want and fighting for is also suffering." 」 Suffering comes from longing, and when all these desires are abandoned, the suffering disappears.
The Buddha's central idea was: "Suffering and dissatisfaction arise from the way the mind responds to life's circumstances." The world is eternal: success is followed by failure, happiness is followed by suffering, and life is followed by death. Fundamentally, none of this is beyond our control. What can be controlled, or at least learned to control, is the mental response to these things. "
Whether the Buddha's thought was Buddhist or philosophical is still debated.
The Buddha's view is very similar to that of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. He believes: "A wise man can enjoy happiness even in a torture room. "We can't control our surroundings, but we can control our own thoughts." The flesh simply endures the current storms and sorrows, while the spirit endures the past and the future. "
We want to have the mind to enjoy happiness in the torture room. But at the same time, we also know that even Epicurus himself could hardly do it. But he, after all, pointed us in the direction and the possibilities.
Although the study of philosophy is the ultimate topic of the human world, in different eras, because of the limitations of objective understanding of the world, the problems that have been considered by "wisdom" at that time are almost vulnerable to modern science.
For example, "Oranges are not orange.". The 17th-century English philosopher John Locke believed that objects have first and second properties. The first properties include shape size and motion, which are properties of the object's real existence. The second properties include color haptics and taste. This is the idea that objects produce on the sensory organs. For example, "We can't say that oranges are orange, but we should say that oranges look orange." If there is no eye to see, then this "orange" does not exist.
This statement has been more rationally explained under modern optical theory.
Some ideas have been completely abandoned by modern society. For example, "women are inferior to men". Although this view was common in ancient times, it is still inconceivable to be bluntly spoken out by some great philosophers.
For example, the philosophical giant Plato once said, "I think that for men in this world, if they are timid and cowardly or live a depraved life, we have reason to believe that they will become women in the next life." "
Plato's student Aristotle also believed: "By nature, males are excellent, while females are despicable." Later Shu Benhua was even more excessive: "Women have no man's rationality, love trivial things, lack a sense of justice, are cunning by nature, are irredeemable liars, lack appreciation, let alone have the ability to create great art." Shu Also advocated polygamy, arguing that it was in the interests of women. Because in this way, women can get the support of men.
Those who yearn for "Plato's love", see what they think here? With a man who is so demeaning to women, how can you not keep the beauty of "love" good!
Of course, philosophers are also constantly arguing among themselves, thus revising some ideas.
For example, the British philosopher Bentham was a hedonist, and he said that happiness only differs in degree, not in quality. That is, there is no so-called high and low level of happiness, only the difference between strong and gentle, or long and short.
But Bentham's apprentice Mill objected. He believes that happiness must be divided into high and low levels. "The desire to eat color is the same low-level pleasure as an animal, and the high-level happiness of friendship respect art can only be enjoyed by relying on the unique ability of man." Mill metaphorically says, "A man who pursues only low-level pleasures is like a pig." Low-level happiness can satisfy the life of a pig, but for one person, it is not enough. "
What kind of happiness people want to pursue is still a topic of discussion. But some obviously intelligent people have obvious perverse quirks.
The mathematician Pythagoras, who was also a philosopher and scientist, was very disciplined, but also had strange quirks, and even died for it.
For example, he did not allow students to pick up things on the ground, did not take a nap, was not allowed to urinate in the sun, was not allowed to write in the snow, and was not allowed to eat beans. Not only do they not eat beans, but they also do not want to cross the bean fields. On his way to escape, he encountered a field of beans, so he stopped, was caught by the persecutors, and cut his throat.
Philosophers have extremely intelligent brains, and they think about the ultimate problems of man and the world. The resulting idea could be a beacon of the future, or it could be a quirk, like two sides of the coin, a combination of genius and madman.
The topics of good and evil, pain and pleasure, morality and ethics, and so on, are the choices that human beings face from the very beginning of their birth until the last moments of human beings. Philosophers' thinking has never stopped, and it continues to exert its influence.
The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates taught people to be good. He said, "No one wants to choose evil and not good." The man who chooses evil is because he does not know what is truly good. Unrighteous actions can hurt not only others, but also oneself. "
Schopenhauer's view of life in Germany still seems to be of great significance to the times. He said: "Life is a pendulum, going back and forth between pain and boredom. Our whole lives are driven by desire to chase wealth and status to achieve love... Desire to satisfy pain will disappear. But once we get what we want, those things lose their appeal. You will soon get bored with the things you once worked so hard for. "Modern people who are busy every day, after reading this sentence, are they very touched?
In order to escape from the busy life, many people turn to the heart, and meditation has become a daily compulsory course. This is Zen thought. The ultimate enlightenment that Zen wants to achieve is to think outside the box.
Higher-order practice is the practice of meditation in everyday life, achieved in casual, simple, natural actions. For example, calligraphy and painting are Zen, tea flower arrangement is Zen, and washing dishes and doing housework is also Zen. "Zen can transcend reason, beyond reason, beyond logic, beyond concepts, beyond expression."
Philosophy is the contemplation of life. Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." He does not deny the important values of everyday affairs: family, work, play, friends, love, etc., which people need in life.
But, "if we are willing to examine our lives and our values, we can learn what is good for human beings." Once we gain this knowledge, we can make our lives better and every aspect of our lives will be improved. "
If we refuse to examine ourselves, we will fall into ignorance, and life will lack virtue and suffer. "Whether you are old or young, you value excellence in your soul more than you care about your body or possessions!"
Even if all philosophical views are debated, socrates' words will surely be the most enduring and widely recognized.