哲学的用处

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哲学的用处

作者：林巍

来源：《英语世界》2020年第09期

就專业2来讲，“ 哲学”现在可能要算大学里的冷门了。不像电脑、金融、财会等，哲学似乎太抽象、遥远、不实用。

其实，从根源上讲，哲学与科学的关系最紧密。“哲学”一词源于希腊文Φιλοσοφία，意为“热爱智慧”，涵括了所有学问。那时的哲学家同时也是科学家，他们的智慧始于发问。在那由超自然的各种神灵主宰的世界里，泰勒斯敢于质疑其真实性，提出了万物由水而来3的命题，阿那克西米尼认为空气是物质的主要元素，亚里士多德更是要检测空气与阳光，等等，由此引发了最早的智慧——哲学。

就人与世界的关系而论，主要有三大类4，即人与自然、人与社会及人与自身的关系。第一类是人类认识、改造自然的知识，如物理学、化学、数学、生物学等;第二类是人们认识、改造社会的知识，即社会学、经济学、政治学、法学、伦理学等;第三类是你我认识自身思维的知识，包括脑科学、神经学、心理学、逻辑学等。但是，哲学不是这些具体学科，而是超越5其上、对其加以抽象和概括的学问。

典型的，如物理学中有作用与反作用、化学中有化合和分解、生物学中有同化和异化等，哲学并不陷入6这些细节，而是从整体上把握人与世界的关系，从具体学科的关联中抽象出最实质的内容和最普遍的规律，如“对立统一规律”。这种规律来自具体学科7，又可反过来对其指导;因而，哲学看似无用，实则用大。

首先，可摆正自己与自然、社会、心灵的关系，正可谓“定位宇宙，安排人生”。苏格拉底认为，未经反省的生活是没有价值的生活;只有在大格局8上把握事物发展规律的人，才不会被表面的现象所误导、被眼前的挫折所困扰。

其次，哲学可使人的思维更加系统化，善于把零零碎碎的材料整合起来，提高逻辑分析能力，并与方法论相统一。哲学在性质上是一种关于“思考的思考”，不轻易相信9任何未经各个角度深刻思考过的事情，特别注重缜密的反思，即对思维对象的再思、三思、多思，同时又反过来对思维过程本身进行思考，因而形成鞭辟入里的批判性思维。

再次，哲学可锤炼人的品格。由于思考、推理、综合、分析本身是个艰难的过程，因而可在更深层次上使人坚毅。在根本上，哲学是关于“生”的学问，因而通过完善性格，使人懂得怎样活着才更有价值10。


在某种意义上讲，哲学是最实用的，哲学人才又是“通才”;不但许多自然科学、社会科学专家通晓11哲学，哲学专业者从事相关领域、甚至转行成为名人的也大有人在，国内国外莫不如此。

所以，哲学并不抽象，也不遥远，实有“大用”。

As a “major” at university， philosophy may not be so popular nowadays， for it seems to be too abstract， remote and impractical， unlike subjects such as computing， finance， accounting and so on.

Fundamentally speaking， the word “philosophy”， derived from the Greek Φιλοσοφία， meaning “love of wisdom”， originally embraced all kinds of knowledge. In that world dominated by supernatural deities， philosophers and scientists were identical， and their wisdom was initiated by asking questions： Thales queried the substance of the world by assuming the ubiquity of water， Anaximenes believed that everything in the world is composed of air， Aristotle attempted to scrutinize the air and sun—these quests developed their wisdom.

The relations between man and the world may be divided into three categories， namely the relationships between man and nature， man and society and within the human self， which are studied respectively by the natural sciences （to understand and change nature）， such as physics， chemistry， mathematics， biology etc.; social sciences （to understand and change society）， sociology， economics， politics， law， ethics etc.; and sciences of thinking （to understand the nature and hyphology of the brain）， such as brain science， neuroscience， psychology， logic， etc. Philosophy， however， is none of these branches of learning but their abstraction and generalization.

Typically， various laws functioning in different fields of study—such as action and reaction in physics， combination and decomposition in chemistry， assimilation and alienation in biology—are not the focus of philosophical study. Philosophy， instead， contributes to abstracting the basic nature and general laws operating in these disciplines as a whole， such as “the law of the unity of opposites”. These laws， once conceptualized， can in turn be applied to specific disciplines as devices， far more useful than they might at first sight seem to be.

The benefits of studying philosophy may be realized as follows：First， it assists people to properly adjust the relations between nature， society and the self， becoming fully aware of where they stand both macrocosmically and microcosmically. As Socrates believed that no life is worth living without introspection， people cannot be misled and perplexed when they have grasped the general law of development in the world.


Second， it makes people think more systematically， integrating various “segmented materials” into a coherent theoretical framework by enhancing logical analysis and combining methodologies. Essentially， philosophy is the study of thinking， penetrating into issues from different angles before anything can be taken in. Special attention is paid to rigorous reflection during every stage of thinking and this process itself is included as part of its study， so as to form a pattern of incisive critical thinking.

Third， philosophy can also temper one’s character. Arduous thinking， reasoning and synthesizing results in people becoming firmer and more persistent in a deep sense. Since philosophy is ultimately about living， it leads to an appreciation of meaningful life through perfecting personality.

In a sense， philosophy is in fact widely applicable and has been studied and acquired by experts of natural and social sciences and many philosophers， both at home and abroad， have become celebrities either in their specialist fields of study or in their switched professions as generalists.

Therefore， philosophy is not abstract， nor remote， but of profound use.

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