意識形態 Ideology,又稱為價值觀,可以分為三大類:
一類屬於迷信、一類屬於信念、一類屬於信仰。
懂得如何將意識形態分類,是教育的首要課題。
「迷信」superstition,英文字典裡的定義是
belief which is not based on reason or fact,
就是未經過思考或考證,就已經接受某種事情或概念,
完全沒有保留,沒有存疑。
人云亦云,只是謠言,
如果自己沒有能力判斷謠言屬實的可能性,
而立即相信的話,亦算是「迷信」。
一些無傷大雅的「迷信」,可以增加生活的趣味,
例如某些習俗、習慣,
但有些「迷信」,則可以導致嚴重的後果。
「迷信」有一個「接近」真理的稱呼,
就是 irrationally held truths。
Irrationally held truths may be more harmful
than reasoned errors.
( Thomas Henry Huxley )
「迷信」源於「恐懼」,「恐懼」源於「無知」,
所以「迷信」的根源就是「無知」ignorance,
為了讓內心感到安全,「迷信」應運而生。
The one permanent emotion of the inferior man
is fear──fear of the unknown, the complex,
the inexplicable.
What he wants above everything else is safety.
( H. L. Mencken )
由於「無知」,所以容易產生「恐懼」fear,
於是「偏見」prejudice 和「不寬容」intolerance 就有了市場,
甚至導致「仇恨」hatred 和「戰爭」war。
所以有人認為:
The most violent element in society is ignorance.
( Emma Goldman )
比較悲觀的人甚至認為:
The cause of my life has been to oppose
superstition. It’s a battle you can’t hope to win
──it’s a battle that’s going to go on forever.
It’s part of the human condition.
( Christopher Hitchens )
所有文明、文化 civilization 最初的起步,
由於相對地「無知」及對自然界的「恐懼」,
都需要「迷信」來給予一切自然界的現象一個「合理」的解釋。
A paradoxical consequence of man’s predilection
for logical thought was his invention of the
important concept of the supernatural…
to provide an “explanation” for matters he
despaired of understanding. The development
of science can be described as the process of
transferring one after another aspect of human
experience from the supernatural category
into the realm of natural law.
( D. Woolridge )
在文明、文化最初起步時,誰敢說那些滿天神佛的解釋是「迷信」?
誰有能力可以判斷那些解釋是「迷信」?
對置身於剛起步的文明的人來說,那些「迷信」甚至是「信仰」!
We are all tattooed in our cradles
with the beliefs of our tribe.
( Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Poet at the Breakfast Table, 1872 )
How many things we held yesterday as
articles of faith which today we tell as fables.
( Michel de Montaigne )
We have, as human beings, a storytelling problem.
We’re a bit too quick to come up with explanations
for things we don’t really have an explanation for.
( Malcolm Gladwell )
每種文明都有長處和短處;
一個文明的壯大,最初也許是偏重於軍事,
但其後必然偏重於精神和教化,
所以必須靠語言和文字來傳遞各式各樣的概念,
包括最重要的精神文明。
也許我們可以說,一種偉大的文化之所以成功,
最初起步時依靠的「迷信」和「信念」,
其中一定有部份可以稱為「信仰」,
只不過文明起步的時候當然是沒法知道是那一部份!
如果最初起步時的概念全然是「迷信」的話,
這個文明一早就會衰亡。
Superstition sets the whole world in flames;
philosophy quenches them.
( Voltaire )