耶鲁大学开放课程—哲学：死亡.16.Open.Yale.course—Philosophy：Deat

托尔斯泰笔下的伊万里奇惊讶地发现Tolstoy'sIvanIlyichissurprisedtodiscover自己竟然会死thathe'sgoingtodie.虽然他一直把死亡挂在嘴边It'sthesortofthinghe'sgivenlipserviceto,毋庸置疑他这辈子都在说自己会死nodoubt,overthecourseofhislife.但当他最后病倒开始真正面对死亡Butwhenhefinallygetsillandcomesuptothefactofhismortality,抱着残弱不堪的躯体等待死神降临时thathisbodyisgoingtosickenandeventuallydie,即将奔赴黄泉的事实却使他大为震惊thefactofhismortalityseemstoshockhim,乃至惊讶万分seemstosurprisehim.也许可以说Wemightsay,在某个层面上他相信自己是会死的ononelevelhebelievesthathewasmortal.这点他一直都相信He'sbelieveditallalong.但在另一个更深的层面上Butatanotherlevel,atsomedeeperlevel,死亡却令他惊讶万分itcomesasasurprisetohim.他从未真正相信这一事实Heneverreallybelievedit.现在我假设伊万里奇的例子真实可信Now,ItakeitthatwefindIvanIlyichaperfectlybelievableexample.即我们相信的确有人在某种层面上Thatis,wethinkit'sconceivablethatsomebodycould,atsomelevel,从未真正相信自己会死notreallybelievethey'regoingtodie.我也认为托尔斯泰ButIalsotakeitthatTolstoymeanstobeputtingforward并非只想告诉我们真有这样一个人存在morethanjustaclaimthattherecouldbesuchaperson.这个人很古怪的Lookhowbizarreheis.我来给你说说他有多怪Letmedescribehimforyou.而是想将伊万里奇作为一个典型Butrather,thesuggestionismeanttobethatIvanIlyich'scaseisrathertypical.也许人人都是如此Maybeallofusareinhissituation,或者说至少大部分人如此oratleastmostofusareinhissituation.再或者至少相当一部分人如此Or,attheveryleast,manyofusareinhissituation.这说法挺给力的虽然我觉得That'sastrongerclaim,thoughIthinkit'snotthe并非仅托尔斯泰一人抱有这种看法sortofclaimthat'suniquetoTolstoy,所有或大多数或相当一部分人在根本上thatallofusormostofusormanyofusatthefundamentallevel都是从未真正相信自己会死的don'treallybelievethatwe'regoingtodie.你也许会问你凭什么这么说Youmightask,whatkindofevidencecouldbeofferedforthat?伊万里奇这例子Offeringarealisticscenario,没法让我们信服arealisticdescriptionofsuchaperson--IvanIlyich--还不足以让我们相信doesn'tgiveusanyreasontothink大多数人或者相当一部分人像他那样thatmostofusormanyofusareinhissituation.那么是否有理由这样想呢So,isthereanyreasontothinkthat?你也许会问对此Youmightask,whatkindofargumentcouldbeoffered我们又该如何论证呢foraclaimlikethat?我认为我们应该把它作为Whatwe'dbelookingfor,Itakeit,某种需要我们解释的行为wouldbesomekindofbehavioronourpartthatcallsoutforexplanation.而该论证的最佳解释Andthebestexplanationistobehad--thisishowtheargumentwouldgo.就是假设Thebestexplanationistobehadbysupposing确实有此种行为的人存在thatthosepeoplewhobehavethisway.假设相当一部分人有这种行为Let'ssupposemanyofuswhobehavethisway.那么对此行为的最佳解释即为Thebestexplanationofthatbehavioristobe我们在某个层面上某个基本层面上foundbyclaimingthatatsomelevel,atsomefundamentallevel,并不相信那些我们口口声声说相信的事物wedon'treallybelievewhatweclaimtobelieve.我们并不相信自己嘴上说的那些话Wedon'treallybelievewhatwegivelipserviceto.例如某个强迫症患者Takesomebodywhoperhapssuffersfromsome一直在洗自己的手sortofcompulsiontowashhishands.有人问他你手脏吗Weaskhim,Areyourhandsdirty?他说不当然不脏Hemightsay,No,ofcoursenot.说完他又回到洗手间继续洗他的手Andyet,thereheis,goingbacktobathroom,washinghishandsagain.你会说对此行为的唯一解释Youmightsay,theonlywaytoexplainthebehavioristosay就是在某个层面上他相信自己手脏thatatsomelevel,hereallydoesbelievehishandsaredirty,尽管他嘴上说不脏despitethefactthathesaysthey'renot.同样如果我们的某些行为Well,inthesameway,ifwecouldfindsomebehavioronourpart亟待这种解释thatcallsoutforexplanation,那么对此行为的最佳解释便是thatthebestpossibleexplanationwouldbe在某个层面上我们不相信自己会死thatatsomelevelwedon'tbelievewe'regoingtodie,然后我们就可以说我们有理由认为thenwemightsay,look,thisgivesussomereasontothink我们并非真的相信自己会死thatwedon'treallybelievewe'regoingtodie,即便我们声称自己相信eventhoughwesaywebelieveit.假设如果你真的相信从根本上Suppose,forexample,thatifyoureallydidbelieve,fundamentally,在潜意识里不管在哪个层面上unconsciously,allthewaydown如果你真的相信自己会死的话howeverweshouldputit--ifyoureallydidbelieveyouweregoingtodie,死亡的恐惧将令你尖叫不止thehorrorofthatwouldleadyoutostartscreamingandjustkeepscreaming.这个例子又让我们想起伊万里奇Ofcourse,thisexampleremindsusagainofIvanIlyich,一直叫啊叫的直到死掉whoscreamsandscreamsandscreamsalmosttillhisdeath.假设这是真的Well,supposethiswastrue.假设我们极有理由相信Supposethatifyou-supposewebelieved--wehadgoodreasontobelieve--如果你认真思考你会死这一事实ifyoureallytookseriouslythethoughtthatyouweregoingtodie,你就会一直尖叫youcouldn'tstopscreaming.但显然这里没人尖叫Butofcourse,nobodyhereisscreaming,于是我们便可以得出结论fromwhichwecanconclude没人从根本上noneofusreallydobelieve,潜意识里相信自己真的会死fundamentally,deepdown,thatwe'regoingtodie.如果我们有理由相信这个有条件的假设Thatwouldbeagoodargumentifwehadgoodreasontobelieve这必将是一个很好的论证theconditional,theif-thenclaim.如果你真的相信自己会死Ifonlyyoureallytrulybelievedyouweregoingtodie,你就会不断地尖叫youwouldscreamandscreamandscream.这是决定性的前提That'sthecrucialpremise.当然就我所知Andofcourse,我们没有足够的理由wedon'thaveanygood--asfarasIcansee--wedon'thaveany去相信这个决定性前提goodreasontobelievethatcrucialpremise.你也许会问有没有其它行为Youmightaskthough,istheresomeotherbehavior,能就我们是否相信自己真的会死这一问题somethingelsethatshouldtipusoff,couldtipusoff,给予我们一点启发呢astowhetherornotwereallydoordon'tbelievethatwe'regoingtodie?以下是我能想到的最好的行为Well,here'sthebestthatIcando.这是我个人认为对此问题最好的论证了Thisstrikesmeasthemostplausiblecontenderforanargumentlikethis.我们知道有些人曾和死神擦肩而过Asweknow,therearepeoplewhohavebrusheswithdeath.例如在一场事故中差点丧命Theymightbe,forexample,inanaccident,andcomeclosetobeingkilled,最后却毫发无伤butwalkawaywithoutascratch.又或者心脏病突发不得不立即做手术Orsufferaheartattackandbeontheoperatingtableforsome几小时后心外科的医生拯救了你numberofhoursandthen,thankstocardiacsurgery使你获得重生orwhathaveyou,beresuscitated.人们一旦有过这种濒死体验Whenpeoplehavethesenearbrusheswithdeath,便会相信他们对死亡有了更为真切的认识it'seasytobelievethatthefactoftheirmortalityismorevivid.简直是前所未有的真切It'smorebeforetheirm