耶鲁大学开放课程—哲学：死亡.04.Open.Yale.course—Philosophy：Deat

我们一直在讨论这样一个问题We'vebeentalkingaboutthequestion,用什么论证可以证明灵魂的存在Whatargumentsmightbeofferedfortheexistenceofasoul?我们首先会想到的一类Andthefamilyofarguments则是那种thatwe'reconsideringinitiallyarearguments被称作推理的论证thatgetknownasinference或叫做最佳解释推理orinferencestothebestexplanation.其思路是Thethoughtisthat存在一些有关我们自身的亟待解释的事物there'ssomethingaboutusthatneedsexplaining.但单从物理的角度我们无法对其进行解释Wecan'texplainitintermsof,inpurelyphysicalterms.所以我们需要借助他法Andsoweneedtoappealto,我们需要假定灵魂存在weneedtoposit,theexistenceof,asoul.我们待会儿再回到这个论题上Now,I'llcomebacktothatsortofargumentinjustaminute,现在我们暂且先把它放在一边butletmebracketthatforamoment开始学习柏拉图andsaysomethingaboutPlato.从下周开始Startingnextweek,我们要学习柏拉图的对话斐多篇we'regoingtobelookingatPlato'sdialogue,thePhaedo.尽管在讲到斐多篇时AndsoalthoughI'llbesayingagreatdeal我会向你们详尽介绍其中的内容aboutthePhaedoonceweturntoit,但现在我还是想先花一两分钟的时间Iwanttojusttakeaminuteortwo做一个简短的引言andsayacoupleofintroductoryremarks.我不知道你们当中有多少人Idon'tknowhowmanyofyou之前未曾读过柏拉图的作品havenotreadanyPlatobefore,但是还未拜读过柏拉图的同学们butforthoseofyouwhohaven't,我敢肯定你们会喜欢上他的Iactuallythinkyou'reinforatreat.柏拉图是历史上最伟大的哲学家之一Platoisnotonlyoneofthegreatestphilosophersinhistory,人人影视其间各种人物悠闲地或坐或站集聚一块儿inwhichvariouscharacterssitaroundorstandaround探讨各种哲学观点andargueaboutphilosophicalpositions.我们要学习的这篇对话斐多篇Theparticulardialoguethatwe'regoingtoreading,thePhaedo,就将场景设定在苏格拉底临死前的一幕issetatthedeathsceneofSocrates.想必你们都知道AsI'msureyouknow,苏格拉底被人指控Socrateswasputontrial,以教唆雅典青年的罪名被判处死刑condemnedtodeathforcorruptingtheyouthofAthens--也许罪名还包括andperhaps,amongotherthings,和青年们讨论哲学forarguingphilosophywiththem.狱卒把毒芹汁端给他Andhe'sgivenhemlock,poison,他一饮而尽然后生命就此终结andhedrinksitandhedies.这是一个历史性的事件Now,thisisahistoricalevent.苏格拉底有一大群朋友和学生Socrateshadacircleoffriendsanddisciples和他讨论哲学thathewouldarguephilosophywith.而柏拉图就是他的学生之一OneofhisdiscipleswasPlato.柏拉图随后形成自己的思想Platothengrewup并写下了许多哲学著作andwrotephilosophicalworks.柏拉图本人通常并不在自己的对话篇里出现Platodoesnottypicallyappearinhisowndialogues.即使出现了也仅仅是个次要的角色Or,ifhedoes,he'sonlythereasaminorcharacter.实际上如果我没记错的话Infact,ifIrecallcorrectly,柏拉图曾提到Plato'smentionedasnot苏格拉底死时自己并不在场beingthereonthedaythatSocratesdies.那么我们如何辨别So,howdoweknow,在戏剧中ifwe'vegotthisplay,谁代表柏拉图本人的立场呢whosepositionisPlato'sposition?答案是苏格拉底Andtheanswer--theshortanswer--is,Socrates,即剧中苏格拉底的角色诠释了thecharacterSocratesintheplay,representsPlato,戏剧作者自己的哲学观theauthoroftheplay's,philosophicalviews.如果这是在古代哲学的课堂上Now,infact,ifthiswereaclassinancientphilosophy,我们可能要将讨论的内容延伸得更广一点we'dhavetocomplicatethatpicture,因为柏拉图后期的哲学观点becauseit'sfairlyclearthatbylateinPlato'scareerPlatohasphilosophicalviews同他老师苏格拉底的观点迥然不同thatareverymuchunliketheviewsofhisteacher,Socrates.而且柏拉图一直没有在对话篇中现身AndyetPlatocontinuestonotappearinthedialogue.而苏格拉底仍继续保持着主角的身份Socratescontinuestobesortofthehero.所以学者们一直在争论Andsoscholarsdebatewhichoftheviewsputforward在对话篇里的苏格拉底提出的观点中bySocratesinwhichonesofthedialoguesrepresentviews哪些属于历史上那个真实的苏格拉底的thatbelongtotheactualhistoricalfigureSocrates,哪些是戏剧中的苏格拉底的andwhichoftheviewsputforwardbythecharacterSocrates哪些虽在对话篇里说是苏格拉底的观点inwhichofthedialoguesrepresentviews但却并不符合真实的苏格拉底的原意thatareactuallynotheldbythehistoricalSocrates,即实际上是柏拉图butwereinsteadheldbythehistoricalPlato假借苏格拉底之口来表明自己的观点andweremerelyputinthemouthofthecharacterSocrates.学者们是如此鉴别的柏拉图早期对话作品ScholarsdistinguishbetweentheearlyPlatonicdialogues,即在所谓的苏格拉底的对话中theso-calledSocraticdialogues,主角苏格拉底的观点wherethethoughtis,thosearetheviewsofSocrates,与历史上那个真实的苏格拉底的思想吻合theactualhistoricalfigure.而就柏拉图的晚期对话作品而言Andthenthere'sthelatedialogues,尽管苏格拉底也频频出场whereeventhoughSocratesappears,大多数学者认为那些观点很可能mostscholarsbelievethoseareprobablynottheviews并不是真实的苏格拉底所持有的thatthehistoricalSocratesactuallybelieved.对中期对话作品的鉴别就比较困难Youhavemiddledialogueswhereyouhavetoworryabout因为你无法明确观点与人物的对应关系whoseviewsarewhose.但是我们不用担心Butwe'renotgoingtoworry.这不是在古代哲学课课堂上Thisisnotaclassinancientphilosophy.所以出于这门课程的目的Soforourpurposes,我们无需深究wedon'thavetoaskourselves苏格拉底在对话中的某个观点whenSocratesinthedialoguesayssomething,到底是属于那个真实的受死之人苏格拉底的isthisaviewthatthedeadmanSocratesactuallywouldhaveheld还是属于已故之人柏拉图oristhissimplyaviewthatthedeadmanPlato通过作品中苏格拉底这个角色所表述的putinthemouthofthecharacterSocrates?就我们这门课程的目的而言这都无关紧要Forourpurposes,itwon'treallymatter.我会把苏格拉底提出的I'lltakeeveryviewthat所有观点都当做是柏拉图的SocratesputsforwardasaviewofPlato's,尽管我会随意地thoughI'lltypicallysortofrunback将两者交替着说andforthsortofinacarelessfashion.我会说I'llsay,柏拉图认为或者苏格拉底认为PlatoholdsOrSocratesargues,因为就这门课的目的而言两种说法是等效的becauseforourpurposesit'sallthesame.但是还有一个地方Butthere'soneother我要提醒你们complicationthatyou'vegottobewarnedabout,那就是由于这些是对话作品whichisthis.Becausethesearedialogues且它们全都采用了哲学论证的形式andtheytaketheformofphilosophicalarguments,即人们先提出观点然后peopleputforwardviewsandthen,在讨论的过程中overthecourseofthediscussion,改变自己的关于事物想法changetheirmindsaboutthings.随即收回之前的话Andtheytakethemback.也许类似的情形Andmaybesomethingsimilar在苏格拉底身上也发生过isgoingonwhenSocratessayssomething.因为毕竟柏拉图也没有说Because,afterall,thisisn'tPlatosaying,这就是我明确相信的观点Here'swhatIbelieveexplicitly.他只是在写一个关于哲学的戏剧He'sjustwritingadramaticplayaboutphilosophy.所以有时候我们会这样想Andsosomet