☆ 批判精神應該源於對真理的熱愛。
很多人都有一個錯誤的觀念,
就是認為批判者一定自以為站在高地之上,
──不論是甚麼高地──
批判者一定十分驕傲;
而被批判者一定是被批判者踩踏在低地之上。
其實批判者只不過是希望通過批判這種方法,
令自己能夠一步一步、慢慢地攀登高地,
而這個高地,就是「真理」,
批判精神應該源於對真理的熱愛,
而不是由於受雇於人或者源於對面子的熱愛。
When we criticize something,
this is no arbitrary and impersonal event;
it is, at least very often,
evidence of vital energies in us
that are growing and shedding a skin.
We negate and must negate because
something in us wants to live and affirm
──something that we perhaps
do not know or see as yet.
( Friedrich Nietzsche, The gay science, 1882 )
Nothing great in the world has ever been
accomplished without passion.
( Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel )
討厭批判的人必然會 take it personal,
將自己的面子、輩份和思想結合在一起,永不分離,
代表著一個頑固,不願學習,不願進步的我,
然後說批判他的思想等同「人身攻擊」。
批判 critique 這個名詞或動詞本身就已經假設了
1. 我們相信有真理。
2. 尋求真理是非常重要的事情。
2. 我們相信批判是迫近真理的方法之一。
否則何必要批判?
批判思維,需要把追求真理的熱忱,
放在一向過度重視的面子、輩份和學位之上,
並且反思西方文明中這個價值觀念:
「我愛我的老師,但我更愛真理。」
喜愛面子的人會說
I love myself, I love my ego,
I regard face as more important than truth.
I accept myself because
I am happy with what I am.
We are the majority.
Birds of the same feather flock together.
We love and accept ourselves unconditionally.
We always surround ourselves with those
who appreciate us exactly as we truly are,
and cherish those who hold us up!
喜愛真理的人會說
I love myself, I love my soul,
I regard truth as more important than face.
I accept myself because
I am happy with what I am.
I am upgrading my soul everyday.
Truth doesn’t care whether we are the minority.
We like our honest selves !
Those who cannot understand
how to put their thoughts on ice
should not enter into the heat of debate.
( Friedrich Nietzsche )
這世界沒有適可而止的批判精神,所以任何接受批判精神者,
必須終身學習、晝夜思想,期望能夠迫近真理。
I still live, I still think:
I still have to live, for I still have to think.
( Friedrich Nietzsche )
同時亦必須明白有強權,就沒有真理。
All things are subject to interpretation.
whichever interpretation prevails at a given time
is a function of power and not truth.
( Friedrich Nietzsche )
所以我們發現如果一個人想在辯論中勝出,
並不是因為他有永不言敗的精神,
並不是因為他有強硬的「我 ego」,
而是因為他懂得內省和自我批判,
於是能夠和真理站在同一戰線之上。
The philosopher is primarily interested
in arriving at a position on a given topic
that is carefully formulated,
logically consistent, and rationally justifiable.
This posotion may take the form of
an explicit argument or a well-formed theory.
Whichever it is, it must be exposed
to his or her peers to see whether it can
withstand critical analysis and counter-examples.
( Avrum Stroll, Did my genes make me do it? , p.125-126 )