首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
There are as many definitions of philosophy as there are philosophers—perhaps there are even more. After three millennia of phil
There are as many definitions of philosophy as there are philosophers—perhaps there are even more. After three millennia of phil
admin
2014-06-20
50
问题
There are as many definitions of philosophy as there are philosophers—perhaps there are even more. After three millennia of philosophical activity and disagreement, it is unlikely that we’ll reach consensus, and I certainly don’t want to add more hot air to the volcanic cloud of unknowing. What I’d like to do in the opening column in this new venture is to kick things off by asking a slightly different question: What is a philosopher?
【R1】______
Socrates tells the story of Thales, who was by some accounts the first philosopher. He was looking so intently at the stars that he fell into a well. Some witty Thracian servant girl is said to have made a joke at Thales’ expense—that in his eagerness to know what went on in the sky he was unaware of the things in front of him and at his feet. Socrates adds, in Seth Benardete’s translation, "The same jest suffices for all those who engage in philosophy. "
What is a philosopher, then? The answer is clear: a laughing stock, an absent-minded buffoon, the butt of countless jokes from Aristophanes’ "The Clouds" to Mel Brooks’ "History of the World". Whenever the philosopher is compelled to talk about the things at his feet, he gives not only the Thracian girl but the rest of the crowd a belly laugh.
【R2】______
But as always with Plato, things are not necessarily as they first appear, and Socrates is the greatest of ironists. First, we should recall that Thales believed that water was the universal substance out of which all things were composed. Water was Thales’ philosophers’ stone, as it were. Therefore, by falling into a well, he inadvertently presses his basic philosophical claim.
But there is a deeper and more troubling layer of irony here that I would like to peel off more slowly. Socrates introduces the "digression" by making a distinction between the philosopher and the lawyer, or what Benardete nicely renders as the "pettifogger".
【R3】______
By contrast, we might say, the philosopher is the person who has time or who takes time. Theodorus, Socrates’ interlocutor, introduces the "digression" with the words, "Aren’t we at leisure, Socrates?" The latter’s response is interesting. He says, "It appears we are. " As we know, in philosophy appearances can be deceptive.
【R4】______
Pushing this a little further, we might say that to philosophize is to take your time, even when you have no time, when time is constantly pressing at your back. The busy readers of The New York Times will understand this sentiment.
【R5】______
Socrates says that those in the constant press of business, like lawyers, policy-makers, mortgage brokers and hedge fund managers, become "bent and stunted" and they are compelled "to do crooked things". The pettifogger is undoubtedly successful, wealthy and extraordinarily honey-tongued, but, Socrates adds, "small in his soul and shrewd and a shyster. " The philosopher, by contrast, is free by virtue of his or her other-worldliness, by their capacity to fall into wells and appear silly.
A. The philosopher’s clumsiness in worldly affairs makes him appear stupid, or, "gives the impression of plain silliness. " We are left with a rather Monty Pythonesque definition of the philosopher: the one who is silly.
B. The lawyer is compelled to present a case in court and time is of the essence. In Greek legal proceedings, a strictly limited amount of time was allotted for the presentation of cases. Time was measured with a water clock or clepsydra, which literally steals time, as in the Greek kleptes, a thief or embezzler. The pettifogger, the jury, and by implication the whole society , live with the constant pressure of time. The water of time’s flow is constantly threatening to drown them.
C. But the basic contrast here is that between the lawyer, who has no time, or for whom time is money, and the philosopher, who takes time. The freedom of the philosopher consists in either moving freely from topic to topic or simply spending years returning to the same topic out of perplexity, fascination and curiosity.
D. It is our hope that some of them will make the time to read The Stone. As Wittgenstein says, "This is how philosophers should salute each other: ’Take your time. ’
E. Socrates believes that the philosopher neither sees nor hears the so-called unwritten laws of the city, that is, the mores and conventions that govern public life. The philosopher will disregard the societal titles given to a person.
F. As Alfred North Whitehead said, philosophy is a series of footnotes to Plato. Let me risk adding a footnote by looking at Plato’s provocative definition of the philosopher that appears in the middle of his dialogue, " Theaetetus, " in a passage that some scholars consider a " digression". But far from being a footnote to a digression, I think in this moment Plato tells us something hugely important about what a philosopher is and what philosophy does.
【R4】
选项
答案
C
解析
上一段结尾“As we know,in philosophy appearances can bedeceptive.”,在哲学上表象往往具有欺骗性,这一段继续讨论苏格拉底提出的问题,但是是从另外一个角度,根据“But”一词判断,故选C。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/8AKsFFFM
本试题收录于:
公共英语五级笔试题库公共英语(PETS)分类
0
公共英语五级笔试
公共英语(PETS)
相关试题推荐
Sarahstartedstudyingphilosophybeforeshewenttoprimaryschool.
Ajobinterviewisyourchanceto(31)anemployerwhatheorshewillgetifyou’re(32).Thatiswhyitis(33)tobewellpre
Somepeoplesaythatsocialchangeoccursmorequicklyinheterogeneoussocieties(wherethereisamixtureofdifferentkindso
______hasadriverseatthatcanbeadjustedtofitmostpeople?______ismostlikelytosufferdamagetothepetrolsupplyin
AttheUniversityofVirginiainCharlottesville,psychologyprofessorBellaDePaulogot77studentsand70townspeopletovolun
Economistsbelievethatinvestorsarerational,andthatstockpricesarethereforeunpredictable.Itsoundspeculiar,butthel
TherecentsocialandeconomicchangesintheU.S.havegreatimpactonalltheAmericanhousingsystem.
WhatisimpliedbytheBabeleffectinthefirstparagraph?Whyisphilosophyofvitalsignificancetoeducation?
Accordingtosomedoctorsandpoliticians,theamountofsaltconsumed______.Whatisthemainmessageofthistext?
Whichofthefollowingbestexpressestheauthor’smainpoint?Accordingtotheauthor,philosophybecamedistinctfromscience
随机试题
A.身高B.体重C.体表面积D.年龄与基础代谢率几乎呈反比的是
关于处方日剂量(PDD)的叙述,错误的是
在仲裁中,申请人经书面通知,无正当理由不到庭或者未经仲裁庭许可中途退庭的,可以( )。
由于保险具有保障功能,可以很好地转移分散风险,因此购买的保险越多越好。()
仲裁裁决书自( )起发生法律效力。
华瑞集团有限责任公司(以下简称“华瑞集团”)为国有控股公司,其前身为华虹电视机厂和瑞鑫电子产品研究所,2001年改制后,华虹电视机厂和瑞鑫电子产品研究所于2004年合并成立了华瑞有限责任公司,下辖海兴科技股份有限公司,宏远科技股份有限公司等数十家子公司及中
货币政策是政府调控宏观经济的基本手段之一,当通货膨胀较为严重时,应该采取的货币政策是()。
简述犯罪中止的特征。
Thespokesmanadmittedthatthegovernment’sthoughtlesspolicyhadcausedacrisisthat______.
Warfarereferstotheuseofforceonthepartoftwoormorenationsorotherorganizedgroupsforthepurposeofdecidingques
最新回复
(
0
)