书城工具书老外最想和你聊的101个英语话题——流行名人篇
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第27章 The Ideological Giants 思想巨人(7)

Bacon has been called the father of empiricism。 His works established and popularized inductive methodologies for scientific inquiry, often called the Baconian method, or simply the scientific method。 His demand for a planned procedure of investigating all things natural marked a new turn in the rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, much of which still surrounds conceptions of proper methodology today。 His dedication probably led to his death, bringing him into a rare historical group of scientists who were killed by their own experiments。

Bacon was knighted in 1603, and created both the Baron Verulam in 1618, and the Viscount St Alban in 1621; as he died without heirs both peerages became extinct upon his death。 He famously died of pneumonia contracted while studying the effects of freezing on the preservation of meat。

培根尖锐地批判了中世纪经院哲学,认为经院哲学和神学严重地阻碍了科学的进步,主张要全面改造人类的知识,使整个学术文化从经院哲学中解放出来,实现伟大的复兴。他认为,科学必须追求自然界事物的原因和规律。要达到这个目的,就必须以感官经验为依据。他提出了唯物主义经验论的原则,认为知识和观念起源于感性世界,感觉经验是一切知识的源泉。要获得自然的科学知识,就必须把认识建筑在感觉经验的基础上。他还提出了经验归纳法,主张以实验和观察材料为基础,经过分析、比较、选择、排除,最后得出正确的结论。

培根一生在学问上成就很大,然而作为政客他饱尝了仕途艰辛。做女王掌玺大臣的父亲去世后,他一直未得到女王的重用。直到詹姆斯一世当政,他才逐渐得到升迁,先后担任过法院院长、检察长、掌玺大臣等,还被封男爵、子爵等贵族尊号。然而,后来他又被免除了一切官职。成为平民之后,培根将全部的精力投入到学问研究中,他最终成为中世纪英国著名的唯物主义哲学创始者。1626年4月培根离开了人世。

Key words & Sentences

关键词句全知道

Bacon dedicated to the King a paper。

培根向国王递呈了一份奏章。

“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds。” Francis Bacon。

智者创造比发现更多的机会。——培根

Francis Bacon considers the evils of excess study: laziness, affectation and preciosity。

弗兰西斯·培根认为学习上的三大敌人是懒惰,虚伪和造作。

Benedict traces relativism back to 16th-century English philosopher Francis Bacon and his godless idea of “faith in progress”。

本尼迪克认为相对主义源于16世纪英国哲学家培根和他“进步中的信仰”的无神主义思想。

Francis Bacon advocated the use of scientific method and René Descartes (1596—1650) proposed a critical rationalism。

弗兰西斯·培根倡导科学方法的运用,勒内·笛卡尔提出一种批判的理性主义。

Following the English empiricist Francis Bacon, Popper as a critical rationalist who first studied the problem and made it profound。

批判理性主义者波普尔是继近代英国经验论者弗兰西斯·培根之后第一个对此问题作深入探讨的现代哲学家。

The Freud was part of a sale of post-war and contemporary art which included works by Francis Bacon and Andy Warhol and had a total value of almost NT$4。9 billion。

弗洛伊德的这幅肖像画只是“战后及当代艺术”类拍卖品之一,包括弗兰西斯·培根与安迪·沃荷的作品在内,拍卖总成交价逼近新台币四十九亿元。

“Knowledge is power”, a slogan by Francis Bacon of 400 years ago has turned into reality。 Knowledge has become the main motive force and source of the global economic development。

“知识就是力量”,400年前培根的名言在今天成为事实,知识已经成为当今推动全球经济发展的主要动力和源泉。

Cambridge has been producing so many great scientists and thinkers Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Francis Bacon, and made important contribution to the progress of human civilization。

剑桥举世闻名,培养出牛顿、达尔文、培根等许多杰出的科学家、思想家,为人类文明进步作出了重要贡献。

Francis Bacon maintained that the three most important inventions were gunpowder, the magnetic compass and printing。

弗兰西斯·培根强调说三项最重要的发明是火药、罗盘和印刷术。

Let’s Talk!

开始交流吧!

Mike: I don’t want to study, I want to play。

麦克:我不想学了,我想出去玩。

Daisy: But you have been studying for only one hour。

黛西:但你只学了一个小时而已。

Mike: I don’t know whether it is useful。

麦克:我不知道学这个是否有用。

Daisy: Have you not heard what Bacon said knowledge is power·

黛西:你没听过培根说知识就是力量吗·

Mike: I highly doubt that, the wealthiest man in the world Bill Gate is a college dropout。

麦克:我很怀疑,世界上最富有的人比尔·盖茨是个辍学学生。

Daisy: He has learned knowledge in other ways。

黛西:他通过其他方式学习了知识。

Mike: Speaking of Francis Bacon, I heard he is sly。

麦克:说起培根,我听说他很奸诈。

Daisy: He is, but he is very intelligent and successful。

黛西:确实是,但他也非常聪明,而且成功。

Mike: I don’t know whether he should be respected。

麦克:我不知道是不是应该尊敬他。

Daisy: As a scholar some of his words are proved to be right。

黛西:作为一个学者,他很多的说法都是对的。

Mike: Ok, I’ll read for another hour。

麦克:好的,我再看一个小时。

Daisy: You are a good student。

黛西:你真是个好学生。

Denis Diderot

狄德罗

狄德罗是18世纪法国唯物主义哲学家,美学家,文学家,百科全书派代表人物,第一部法国《百科全书》主编。 狄德罗是法国十八世纪杰出的启蒙思想家、唯物主义哲学家和教育理论家。他的最大成就是主编《百科全书》。此书概括了18世纪启蒙运动的精神。

About Diderot

关于狄德罗

Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer。 He was a prominent persona during the Enlightenment and is best-known for serving as co-founder and chief editor of and contributor to the Encyclopédie。

Denis Diderot was born in the eastern Langres and commenced his formal education in the Lycée Louis le Grand。 In 1732 he earned a master of arts degree in philosophy。 He abandoned the idea of entering the clergy and decided instead to study law。 His study of law was short-lived however and in 1734 Diderot decided instead to become a writer。 Because of his refusal to enter one of the learned professions, he was disowned by his father, and for the next ten years he lived a rather bohemian existence。

He studied history and developed a great fear that knowledge would continue to be destroyed by the Christians, who had a one-thousand year’s history of destroying libraries, burning books, ripping paintings, smashing marbles, and torturing anyone who voiced an unorthodox thought。 To prevent it from happening in the future he produced the Encyclopedie, a history of what was known, and then distributed it world wide。 He wrote almost a thousand of its articles, over a 20 year period。 The rest were submitted by the scholars of the world including our own Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Rush。 It took 35 volumes and a lot of commotion to get it all together。

Diderot also contributed to literature, notably with Jacques le fataliste et son ma·tre (Jacques the Fatalist and his Master), which emulated Laurence Sterne in challenging conventions regarding novels and their structure and content, while also examining philosophical ideas about free will。 Diderot is also known as the author of the dialogue, Le Neveu de Rameau (Rameau’s Nephew), upon which many articles and sermons about consumer desire have been based。 His articles included many topics of the Enlightenment。

狄德罗的哲学思想既反映形而上学的思维方式,又夹杂着一些辩证法的因素。1749年发表的《论盲人书简》充分表述了无神论思想。这种思想没有停留在以触觉为衡量事物存在与否的准则上,深入到了理论思维的领域。