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第 60 期 · 核心追问 Ⅱ·01「知识从哪里来？」
Descartes' Philosophy - Bernard Williams & Bryan Magee (1987)
节目发布 2023-08-26章节 · 点击跳转视频
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笛卡尔生平与「现代哲学」的起点
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科学尚未存在：怀疑与狂热并存的时代
6:59
确定性与真理：先发制人的怀疑
11:05
苹果桶：感官、梦境、恶魔三级怀疑
14:06
怀疑的转折点：我思故我在
16:07
死角与上帝：从意识内容重建世界
24:30
心物二元与广延：蜡块论证
28:46
数学物理学的许可证：理性与实验
33:34
上帝可以退场：方法的世俗化
35:28
松果腺的丑闻：心身问题的遗产
37:27
认识论成为哲学中心的功与过
39:33
为何今天仍要读《沉思集》
本期小问 · 档案清单
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知识从哪里来？
14:06
什么是「我」？
24:30
身体对智能重要吗？
11:05
信念如何经受彻底怀疑的检验？
本期讲者
布莱恩·马基英国哲学普及者、作家与前工党议员，主持BBC系列节目《思想家》（The Great Philosophers，1987）与《思想人》（Men of Ideas，1978），以与顶尖哲学家的对谈著称。
伯纳德·威廉姆斯英国哲学家（1929—2003），时任剑桥大学国王学院院长，20世纪后半叶最重要的道德哲学家之一，著有《笛卡尔：纯粹探究的计划》（1978）、《伦理学与哲学的限度》（1985）。
01笛卡尔生平与「现代哲学」的起点
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when the term modern philosophy is used in universities it's usually to make a distinction from ancient and medieval philosophy so it doesn't mean just the philosophy of our own day here in the 20th century it means the philosophy of the last four centuries in fact there's one man who is generally and I think rightly regarded as the inaugurator of modern philosophy the Frenchman Descartes so in practice what the term modern philosophy means is philosophy from Descartes onwards Rene Descartes was born in France in 1596. he received an unusually good education but he also had unusual independence of mind and while still young he perceived that the various authorities he was studying quite often put forward arguments that were invalid as a young man he became a soldier and traveled widely in Europe though without seeing any fighting and he was struck by the fact that the world of practical life was as full of contradictions as the world of books he became fascinated by the question whether there was any way at all in
在大学里使用“现代哲学”这个术语时，通常是为了与古代哲学和中世纪哲学作区分，所以它并不只是指我们当下这个二十世纪的哲学，而是指过去四个世纪的哲学。事实上，有一个人被普遍认为——我认为也理应被认为——是现代哲学的开创者，那就是法国人笛卡尔。所以实际上，“现代哲学”这个术语指的就是从笛卡尔以降的哲学。勒内·笛卡尔于1596年出生在法国。他受过极为出色的教育，但他同时也有着非同寻常的独立思考能力。还很年轻的时候，他就察觉到自己研读的各种权威著作里，常常提出一些站不住脚的论证。青年时期他当过兵，在欧洲各地游历甚广，不过并没有经历过实战。让他印象深刻的是这样一个事实：现实生活的世界和书本的世界一样充满矛盾。他开始着迷于这个问题：我们人类究竟有没有任何途径可以确定无疑地认识某种东西？如果有，又是怎样的途径？他停止了游历，隐居到
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which we human beings could get to know anything for certain and if so how he stopped traveling and went into seclusion in Holland the country in which intellectual life in those days was at its freest and there during the 20 years from 1629 to 1649 he produced work of the profoundest originality in mathematics and philosophy and also did a great deal of work in science he invented the branch of mathematics known as coordinate geometry it was his idea to measure the position of a point by its distance from two fixed lines so every time we look at a graph we're looking at something invented by Descartes in fact those two familiar lines on a graph are known by his name they are called Cartesian coordinates Cartesian being the adjective from the name Descartes his most famous works of philosophy are the discourse on the method which was published in 1637 and the meditations published in 1642 he never married though he had an illegitimate daughter who died at the age of five he always had an eye to his
荷兰——那个年代思想生活最为自由的国家。在那里，从1629年到1649年这二十年间，他在数学和哲学上做出了极具原创性的工作，同时在科学方面也做了大量研究。他发明了数学中被称为坐标几何的分支。用一个点到两条固定直线的距离来确定它的位置，这正是他的想法。所以我们每次看图表的时候，看到的都是笛卡尔发明的东西。事实上，图表上那两条我们熟悉的直线就是以他的名字命名的，叫做笛卡尔坐标（Cartesian coordinates），Cartesian 就是从Descartes 这个名字来的形容词。他最著名的哲学著作是1637年出版的《谈谈方法》，以及1642年出版的《第一哲学沉思集》。他从未结婚，不过有过一个私生女，五岁时就夭折了。他一向很注重自己的
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own dress was proud of being an officer and on the whole preferred the company of men of Affairs to that of Scholars but during the years of his creative work he lived a very solitary life when he was 54 he was prevailed on by Queen Christina of Sweden rather against his will to go to Stockholm and become her tutor in philosophy it was a mistake in the bitter Swedish winter he succumbed to pneumonia and he died in the following year 1650. with me to discuss the work of this first of modern philosophers is the Provost of King's College Cambridge Bernard Williams author of a well-known book on Descartes Bernard Williams I think the best way we can begin is to try and get clear in our minds what it was that Descartes thought was the main problem he was going to have to confront when he started now what was that I think he'd been impressed by the education you referred to and his experience of the life around him with the idea that there was no certain way of acquiring knowledge it looked as if
穿着，以身为军官为荣，总体上更喜欢和实务界人士来往，而不是和学者往来。但在他创作旺盛的那些年里，他过着非常离群索居的生活。五十四岁那年，他多少是违背自己意愿地被瑞典女王克里斯蒂娜说动，前往斯德哥尔摩担任她的哲学老师。这是个错误。在瑞典严酷的冬天里，他染上了肺炎，并于次年，即1650年去世。今天和我一起讨论这位现代哲学开山者著作的，是剑桥大学国王学院院长伯纳德·威廉斯，他写过一本关于笛卡尔的知名著作。伯纳德·威廉斯，我想我们最好的开场方式，是先弄清楚笛卡尔认为自己一开始就必须面对的主要问题究竟是什么。那么，那是什么问题呢？我想，你提到的那种教育以及他对周遭生活的体验，让他产生了一个深刻印象：并不存在一条确定无疑的获取知识的道路。看起来是有某些种类的知识存在，但却没有一种可靠的方法，
02科学尚未存在：怀疑与狂热并存的时代
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there were some sorts of knowledge Iran but there was no reliable method by which people could Advance knowledge I think it's very important to put it in a historical context that one realizes that science in our sense really didn't exist I mean the concept of Science in our sense as an organized International Enterprise with research methods and Laboratories and all that simply didn't exist and there was room for an enormous range of opinions about what chances there might be of ever being on the science of the being a science I mean on the one hand there were people and perfectly sensible people who thought that if you just found the right fundamental method you could solve all the fundamental problems of understanding nature in a very short while for instance Francis Bacon the English Statesman thought that that you'd be able to get everything on the right Road in a very brief period on the other hand there were people skeptical people who thought you couldn't find any knowledge at all that there wasn't going
让人们能够推进知识。我认为很重要的一点是要把它放到历史语境中来看，要意识到我们今天意义上的科学当时其实并不存在。我是说，我们今天意义上的“科学”这个概念——一项有组织的、国际性的事业，有研究方法，有实验室等等——当时根本不存在。因此，关于将来究竟有没有可能出现一门科学，当时存在着极其广泛的各种看法。我是说，一方面，有些人——而且是完全理智的人——认为，只要你找到了正确的根本方法，你就能解决所有在很短的时间内解决理解自然的根本问题，比如英国政治家弗朗西斯·培根就认为，你能够在极短的时间里把一切都引上正轨；另一方面，也有人持怀疑态度，有些人认为你根本无法获得任何知识，将来也不会有什么知识，一切都是
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to be any knowledge that everything was up for grabs as it were I think one particular reason is quite important actually why there was so much skepticism around it was actually a result of the religious Reformation that after the religious Reformation there are all sorts of claims made about how you found out religious truth and they all conflicted with one another and there was no way of deciding between them and that gave rise to a tremendous amount of controversy in which people said in enemies of all religion said well there simply isn't a way of solving any of these questions all these people disagree with each other you can't put it on the foundation and then religious people sort of reacting against that in turn said well religion's no different than this from anything else there isn't a way of putting anything on a firm foundation so that skepticism was quite an important current in the intellectual climate of Descartes time coexisting in an odd way with very extravagant hopes of what science might be able to do and
悬而未决的。我想有一个特别的原因其实相当重要，就是为什么当时会有那么多怀疑主义，这其实是宗教改革带来的结果。宗教改革之后，关于如何发现宗教真理，出现了各种各样的主张，而它们彼此冲突，又没有办法在它们之间做出裁决，这就引发了极大的争论。在争论中，有人——那些一切宗教的敌人——说，根本就没有办法解决这些问题，所有这些人彼此意见相左，你没法把它建立在一个基础之上。而宗教人士反过来对此作出回应说，宗教在这一点上并不比其他任何东西特殊，任何东西都无法被安放在一个牢固的基础上。所以怀疑主义在笛卡尔时代的思想氛围中是一股相当重要的思潮，而它又以一种奇特的方式，与人们对科学可能有何作为的极其夸张的期望并存——比如说，科学可能通过我们今天所称的技术为人类做些什么。
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for instance might be able to do for Mankind through what we would Now call technology for instance there were great hopes that there could be a scientific medicine and the scientific industry and so on but nobody quite knew how to do it for a fundamental innovator like Descartes the institutional setup must have presented problems too or mustn't it I mean almost every serious institution of learning or study or teaching was in the hands of an authoritarian Church whose own intellectual leaders were for the most part enthrall to ancient Authority that is that is certainly true of course there were there were many different religious in influences as as we just said I mean that one effect of the Reformation had been that some seats of learning had more of a Protestant complete complexion while obviously those in Descartes are in Paris had a Catholic uh complexion and so on but of course the point you mentioned about Authority is very important although there had been a good deal of research
举例来说，当时人们非常期待能有科学的医学、科学的工业等等，但没有人真正知道该怎么做。对笛卡尔这样一位根本性的创新者来说，当时的体制格局想必也造成了不少问题吧？我是说，几乎所有严肃的学问、研究或教学机构都掌握在一个威权教会手中，而教会自己的知识领袖大多还臣服于古代权威。这当然没错。当然，正如我们刚才所说，当时有许多不同的宗教影响。我的意思是，宗教改革的一个后果是，一些学术重镇带有更多新教色彩，而笛卡尔所在的巴黎那些机构显然带有天主教色彩，等等。但当然，你提到的权威这一点非常重要。尽管在中世纪，人们对我们今天所称的力学
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into what we would Now call mechanics or kind of mathematical physics in the Middle Ages and we shouldn't forget that fact a great deal of what was would go by the way of being science was actually in the form of commentary on ancient books above all though not exclusively those of Aristotle and one thing that Descartes and others of his generation absolutely knew was that historical Authority was not the same thing as it were first order research or inquiry so in other words what one can say is that Descartes in starting out on his famous search for certain knowledge was really looking for a way of moving forward from the situation that you've just outlined I mean he was looking for a research program as we might say in modern parlance and prior to that a research method yes I think that that's that's perfectly correct description situation it's very important as one further fact which conditions all of his work in which one finds a thread through it was that science was not conceived as a
或某种数学物理已经做了大量研究——这一点我们不应忘记——但当时被算作科学的东西，很大一部分其实是以评注古代典籍的形式出现的，首推亚里士多德的著作，虽然不限于此。而笛卡尔和他那一代人非常清楚的一点是，历史权威跟第一手的研究或探究完全不是一回事。所以换句话说，可以这么讲：笛卡尔着手他那著名的对确定知识的追寻时，实际上是在寻找一条从你刚才描述的处境中向前推进的道路。我是说，用现代的说法，他是在寻找一个研究纲领，而在此之前，是一套研究方法。是的，我认为这是对当时处境非常准确的描述。还有一个事实也非常重要，它制约着他的全部工作，并贯穿其中，那就是科学在当时并没有被设想成一项共享的、共同的或有组织的事业，不像今天的我们那样理所当然地
03确定性与真理：先发制人的怀疑
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shared or joint or organized Enterprise as it is now for us it's just taken for granted that science means scientists there are a lot of people and they communicate with each other and there's a division of labor it's a division of intellectual labor at that time in the first half of the 17th century it was still a reasonable project for one man to have the idea that he could lay the foundations of all future science and Descartes who did really fundamentally believe that it was not as it were a piece of megalomaniac Insanity on his part as it would be in the modern world for anybody to have that idea now in my introduction to this discussion I said that Descartes became fascinated by the question of whether there was anything that we could know for certain he was clear from the outset wasn't he that certainty and Truth are not the same thing and that the I mean to put it at its uttermost crudity uh certainty is a state of mind truth is relates to the way things are out there yes in your
认为科学就意味着科学家们——有很多人，他们彼此交流，还有分工，一种智识上的分工。在当时，也就是17世纪上半叶，一个人怀有为未来全部科学奠定基础的想法，仍然是个合乎情理的计划。而笛卡尔确实从根本上相信这一点，这在他身上并不算是一种狂妄自大的疯癫——尽管在现代世界里，任何人有这种想法都会被视为如此。在这次讨论的开场白中我说过，笛卡尔着迷于这样一个问题：是否存在什么是我们能够确定地知道的。他从一开始就很清楚，对吧，确定性和真理并不是一回事。我是说，用最粗糙的方式讲，确定性是一种心灵状态，而真理关乎外部事物本来的样子。是的，在你的
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world yeah uh but he seems to have thought that uh you could only be uh know that you've got the truth so to speak if you also had grounds for certainty so that his method was not only going to have to be one which delivered the goods in the form of worthwhile conclusions but also gave him a way of defending them against skeptical arguments so now how did he go about meeting that double barrel requirement well Descartes had a set of conditions on inquiry um and some of them were just sort of sensible rules about dividing questions up into handleable amounts trying to get your ideas clear and things like that but it had got this very characteristic stick an important rule for him that you shouldn't accept as true anything about which you could entertain the slightest doubt now of course as you said on the face of it that isn't an immediately sensible rule because in ordinary life we're constantly seeking true beliefs about things but we don't necessarily want to make those beliefs as certain as
世界里。是的。不过他似乎认为，只有当你同时拥有确定性的根据时，你才能知道自己掌握了真理。所以他的方法不仅要能拿出成果——即有价值的结论——还要给他一种手段，用来抵御怀疑论的论证。那么他是怎样着手满足这双重要求的呢？笛卡尔对探究提出了一套条件，其中有些只是些合乎常理的规则，比如把问题分解成可以处理的份量、力求让你的观念清晰，诸如此类。但其中有一条对他而言非常独特而重要的规则，那就是凡是你能对之抱有一丝一毫怀疑的东西，都不应当被接受为真。当然，正如你所说，乍看之下这并不是一条一眼就合情理的规则，因为在日常生活中我们不断在寻求关于事物的真信念，但我们并不一定想让那些信念尽可能地确定。一方面，我们得投入
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possible one thing we'd have to invest too much effort into making the ultimate you know ultimately certain beliefs all the time but Descartes who is trying to get at the foundations of Science and also not only the foundations of a science itself in the sense of fundamental General truths about the world but also to lay the foundations of inquiry that is to be able as he thought to lay the foundations of the possibility of going on to find out more things to establish that scientific knowledge was actually possible for him he felt that it was absolutely essential that you should start the search for truth with a search for certainty that what he wanted to do was to be able to put the scientific Enterprises we would put it into a shape in which it could no longer be attacked by Skeptics so the first thing he wanted to do was to engage in a kind we might call it preemptive skepticism in order to put the foundations of knowledge Beyond skeptical reach he said to himself I will do everything the Skeptics can do
太多精力，才能让信念时时刻刻都达到终极的确定。但笛卡尔想要触及科学的基础，而且不只是科学本身的基础——即关于世界的根本性一般真理——还要为探究本身奠定基础，也就是像他所设想的那样，为继续发现更多事物的可能性奠定基础，以确立科学知识确实是可能的。对他来说，他觉得绝对不可或缺的一点是：你对真理的寻求必须从对确定性的寻求开始。他想做的，是把我们所说的科学事业塑造成一种形态，使它再也无法被怀疑论者攻击。所以他首先想做的，是从事一种我们或许可以称之为先发制人的怀疑主义，好把知识的基础置于怀疑论够不着的地方。他对自己说：怀疑论者能做的一切我都要做，
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only better and what I can do by pressing the skeptical inquiry hard enough is he hoped come out the other side with something which would be absolutely foundational and rock hard and one of the most characteristic features of Descartes is not that he confuses the idea of looking for truth and the idea for looking for certainty he saw they were two separate separate things but he thought that the only sure way of searching for truth was by starting by searching for certainty and that led him didn't it to the famous Cartesian doubt yes as a method not not the discourse on the method that's not that's about something else but but doubt used as a method was fundamental to his procedure he adopted something that he called the method of doubt and indeed the method of Doubt is part of the method which is discussed in the discourse on the method but only one element that's that's the situation there now the method of Doubt worked but since he was looking for certainty by laying aside anything in which he could
而且做得更好；而通过把怀疑论式的追问推进得足够彻底，他希望能从另一端走出来，得到某种绝对基础性的、坚如磐石的东西。笛卡尔最具特点的地方之一，并不是他混淆了寻求真理和寻求确定性这两个想法——他看得很清楚，这是两件不同的事——而是他认为，寻求真理的唯一可靠途径，就是从寻求确定性开始。而这就把他引向了著名的笛卡尔式怀疑，对吧？是的，作为一种方法，不是《谈谈方法》——那不是同一回事，那讲的是别的东西——而是把怀疑当作方法来使用，这是他整个程序的根本。他采用了他称之为怀疑法的东西，而怀疑法确实是《谈谈方法》中所讨论的那个方法的一部分，但只是其中一个要素，情况就是这样。那么怀疑法是这样运作的：既然他在寻求确定性，他就把任何他能从中找到怀疑之处的东西搁置一旁，正如他那句名言所说的
04苹果桶：感官、梦境、恶魔三级怀疑
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find a doubt as he famously put it at one point it's like having a barrel of apples and some of them are bad and some of them are sound you want to keep out of the sound ones so you take them all out first look at them one by one throw away the ones that are dubious and put back only the absolutely sound ones so he started by emptying his mind of all beliefs laying aside anything in which he could see the slide has died and the way he did that was really in three stages he started by laying aside things with just an ordinary commonsensical grounds you might possibly find out for instance he reminded himself of such well-known facts as sticks can look bent in water or you know things can look curious colors to you if you have defects of eyesight and certainly the obvious thing but he wanted to go beyond though is absolutely sort of everyday kinds of Doubt or grounds of Doubt The Next Step he did was to entertain the idea that perhaps we could doubt that we were really awake and seeing things
有一点就像有一桶苹果，其中一些是坏的，一些是好的，你想把好的留下来所以你先把它们全部倒出来，一个一个地检查，把可疑的扔掉，只把绝对完好的放回去所以他从清空自己头脑中的一切信念开始，把任何他能看出有疑点的东西都搁置一旁他这样做其实分三个阶段，他先从搁置这些东西开始仅仅凭借普通的常识性理由，你或许就能发现，比如他提醒自己注意这样一些众所周知的事实：木棍在水中看起来是弯的，或者你知道，如果你视力有缺陷，东西在你看来可能会是奇怪的颜色当然这些都是显而易见的，但他想要超越的，正是这种完全日常层面的怀疑，或者说怀疑的理由。他接下来做的一步，是设想我们或许可以怀疑我们真的醒着、像我们通常认为的那样看到周围的事物。比如说，他刚刚想到了下面这个念头：
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around us as we ordinarily suppose for instance he just entertained the following thought he had often dreamed that in the past that he was perceiving things while he was dreaming at the time he was dreaming he thought just as he does now that he was seeing people or tables or whatever around him but of course he woke up and found that was all an illusion how could he be certain that at this very instant he wasn't dreaming well that's an unnerving kind of skeptical consideration it had been used by Skeptics before but he gave it an orderly and settled place in his inquiry now of course the dream doubt the doubt based on the dream does depend upon knowing something it depends upon knowing that in the past you've sometimes woken up and found you and dreaming I mean it depends on the idea you know something about the world for instance that sometimes you sleep sometimes you wake sometimes you dreams on he then took another step he said I will imagine I will go to the most extreme diet possible I will imagine the
他过去常常做梦，梦见自己正在感知事物；在他做梦的时候，他以为——就像他现在这样——自己正看到人、桌子或身边的种种东西，但当然，他醒来后发现那全都是幻觉。那么他怎么能确定，就在此时此刻，他不是在做梦呢？这是一种令人不安的怀疑论思路。在他之前，怀疑论者就用过它，但他把它有条理、有定位地安置在自己的探究之中。当然，梦的怀疑，也就是基于梦的这种怀疑，确实依赖于你知道某些东西。它依赖于你知道，过去你有时会醒来，发现自己刚才在做梦。我的意思是，它依赖于这样一个想法：你对世界是知道一些东西的。比如有时候你睡着，有时候你醒着，有时候你在做梦。然后他又往前迈了一步，他说，我要设想，我要走到最极端的怀疑，我要设想有一个恶意的精灵，某种邪恶的
13:00
idea of a malign Spirit sort of evil spirit malicious demon as it sometimes called in the literature whose sole intent is to deceive me as much as he can and then I put myself the following question Suppose there were such a spirit is there anything he couldn't mislead me about and this is of course is a pure thought experiment it's an abstract thought experiment we must emphasize that Descartes never meant this philosophical doubt to be a tool for everyday living He makes that point over and over again the the method of doubt and particular the fantasy or model of the evil spirit is used only as a form of intellectual critique in order to winnow out his beliefs and see whether some are more certain than others and of course the ultimate uh purpose for his long-range strategy of winnowing away everything that he can possibly in any imaginable circumstances does is to find rock hard indubitable propositions which can then function as the premises for arguments so well there's two things I mean he
精灵，在文献里有时被称作恶毒的魔鬼，它唯一的目的就是尽其所能地欺骗我，然后我给自己提出这样一个问题：假设真有这样一个精灵，有没有什么是它无法在这方面误导我的？当然，这纯粹是一个思想实验，是一个抽象的思想实验，我们必须强调这一点。笛卡尔从来没有打算把这种哲学怀疑当作日常生活的工具，这一点他反复强调过。这套怀疑的方法，尤其是那个恶灵的幻想或者说模型，只是被用作一种智识批判的形式，用来筛选他的信念，看看是否有些信念比另一些更确定。当然，他这套长远策略——把任何可以想象的情境下能怀疑的东西统统剥离掉——最终目的，是要找到坚如磐石、无可置疑的命题，这些命题随后可以充当论证的前提。嗯，其实有两件事。我是说，他想找到的——他当然想找到坚如磐石、无可置疑的命题，比方说
05怀疑的转折点：我思故我在
14:06
wants to find he certainly wants to find rock hard indubitable propositions let's say the propositions which in some sense which of course requires a bit of inquiry to what exactly is cannot be doubted which in some sense cannot be dieted which will resist the doubt he wants them in part as premises of arguments he also wants them in some rather more General role as to provide a kind of background which will validate the methods of inquiry I was referring to before and we pets can say something about how that works yes but now after peeling away all imaginably doubtable propositions what are the utterly indubitable ones that he finally arrives well the famous thing that he arrived at the what the some French commentators call the turning point of the doubt that's where the doubt has got to the end it does a U-turn and he starts coming back again constructing knowledge again the point at which it stopped was the reflection that he was himself engaged in thinking as he said the malicious demon can
那些在某种意义上——当然这需要一番探究，弄清楚究竟什么是不可怀疑的——那些在某种意义上无法被怀疑的、能经受住怀疑的命题。他一方面想把它们当作论证的前提，另一方面他也想让它们扮演一个更为一般性的角色，就是提供某种背景，用来为我之前提到的那些探究方法提供validate（辩护）。佩茨（音）能不能谈谈这是怎么运作的？可以，不过现在，在剥离掉所有可以想象地被怀疑的东西之后命题——他最终得出的那些绝对无可置疑的命题是什么呢？他得出的那个著名结论是一些法国评论者所说的怀疑的转折点，也就是怀疑推进到了尽头，它来了个一百八十度大转弯，他开始往回走，重新构建知识。怀疑停下来的那一点，是他反思到自己正在进行思考这件事。正如他所说，那个恶魔可以随心所欲地欺骗我，但它永远无法
15:05
deceive me as he will he can never deceive me in this respect namely to make me believe that I am thinking when I am not because if I have a false thought well that's a thought so in order to have a deceived thought I've got to have a thought so it must be true that I'm thinking and from that Descartes Drew another conclusion or at least he immediately associated with that another fundamental truth namely that he existed and so his fundamental first proposition or two propositions really was I am thinking therefore I exist or kogito Ergo some in the Latin formulation or as it's often called the kogito that's that it's worth making the point that he himself uh made it clear that by thinking he didn't just mean conceptual thought he meant all forms of Consciousness whatsoever absolutely experience feelings Etc in this Latin formulation equally for Descartes French formulations means all sorts of things like perceptions and pains and so on not just uh so it wouldn't be unfair to say that what he was saying was I am
在这一点上欺骗我，即让我相信我在思考而其实我并没有在思考。因为如果我有一个错误的想法，那它终究还是一个想法。所以要拥有一个被欺骗的想法，我就必须先拥有一个想法。因此这一点必定为真：我在思考。由此笛卡尔又得出了另一个结论，或者至少他立刻把它与之联系起来，另一条根本真理，即他存在。于是他那条根本性的第一命题，或者说其实是两个命题，就是：我在思考，所以我存在。用拉丁文表述就是 cogito ergo sum，或者人们常说的"我思"（the cogito）。这里值得指出一点：他自己明确说过，他所谓的"思考"并不只是指概念性的思维，而是指一切形式的意识，绝对包括各种体验、感受等等。在这个拉丁表述里同样如此。对笛卡尔来说，他的法文表述涵盖各种各样的东西，比如知觉、疼痛等等，而不只是——所以这样说应该不算不公平：他所说的其实是"我有意识地觉知，因此我知道我必定存在"。没错，正是如此，就是这样。他
06死角与上帝：从意识内容重建世界
16:07
consciously aware therefore I know that I must exist that's right yes yes that's it he does actually in the great work called the meditations in which this is most carefully and elaborately set out he does actually show a great deal of finesse in pushing the boundaries of the kogito forward step by step through various kinds of mental experience but the sum of what he gets to is exactly that yes but now in the process of peeling away everything that can possibly be doubted in order to arrive at these fundamental indubitable propositions he himself has shown that from these fundamental propositions nothing follows that although I am consciously aware I may draw all sorts of false inferences about for example the external world or whatever it might be from whatever the Deliverance is of my own Consciousness are so I'm conscious only I mean I can be sure only of the fact that I am having whatever immediate experience is it is I am I can't be absolutely certain of any inference I may make from that well it
实际上在那部叫《沉思集》的伟大著作里——这一点在书中得到了最细致、最详尽的阐述——确实展现出高超的精细功夫，一步一步地、穿过各种各样的心灵经验，把"我思"的边界不断向前推进，但他得出的结论加起来恰恰就是这个，是的。但现在，在剥离掉一切可以被怀疑的东西，以便抵达这些根本的、不容置疑的命题的过程中，他自己已经表明，从这些根本命题什么也推不出来——虽然我是有意识的，但我可能会做出各种各样错误的推论，比如关于外部世界之类的东西，不管我自己的意识所给出的是什么。所以我只是有意识的，我的意思是，我能确定的只有这个事实：我正在拥有那个当下的经验，而无论我从中做出什么推论，我都无法绝对确定。嗯，这
17:14
depends on what sort of inference it is uh what he thought was that the mere fact that I have the experience as it were of being confronted with this table for instance doesn't guarantee the existence of that table I mean that was got rid of even at the dream state of the doubt and of course it's even more got rid of by our friend the malicious demon who is maybe I might just have this experience and nothing actually been there so I can't immediately infer from my experience what Descartes tries to do is to construct now a set of considerations which will enable him to put the world back though it has to be it has to be said straight away that the the form in which the world is put back is rather different from that of Common Sense we don't just as it were having moved all the furniture out of the attic and of course the dad stuff it all back again in a totally unreconstructed form we have a different view of the world when we reconstituted than we did in our our everyday Common Sense experience and
取决于那是哪一类推论。呃，他所想的是，仅仅因为我有这样的经验——仿佛面前摆着这张桌子——这个事实并不能保证那张桌子的存在。我是说，这一点在怀疑的梦境阶段就已经被排除掉了，当然，被我们那位恶意的朋友排除得就更彻底了恶魔，也就是说我也许只是有这种体验，而实际上那里什么都没有，所以我不能立刻推断出从我的体验出发——笛卡尔试图做的，是构建一套论证，让他能够把世界重新放回去，不过必须马上说明的是，被放回去的那个世界的形态跟常识中的世界相当不一样。我们并不是把阁楼里的家具全搬出去之后，当然，然后又把那些东西原封不动地全塞回去；我们对世界有了一种不同的看法，在我们重构世界之后，跟我们日常常识经验中的看法是不同的。顺带一提，我们会讲到他是怎么
18:12
incidentally we'll come to how he does that but it's a very important fact about the method of dark but that is so it's extremely important because sometimes sometimes people talk about Descartes doubt as if all he did he had a kind of gratuitous doubt and then sort of put the whole world back again afterwards but it's very important that not only does he put it back for very special reasons but that what he puts back has actually been subtly Modified by an intellectual critique of how we can know things yeah but now how he puts it back I was going to say the point that I'm concerned to get at now is that he seems in arriving at his indubitable propositions to have painted himself into a corner because he's given himself indubitable propositions which he himself has shown at a previous stage of the inquiry can't be used to infer any certain truths about the existence of anything outside myself well he's always seen at the earlier stage of the proceedings is that the most obvious way of inferring the world from them isn't
做到这一点的，但关于笛卡尔的方法，这是一个非常重要的事实，之所以极其重要，是因为有时候，有时候人们会谈到笛卡尔式的怀疑，好像他所做的只是一种无端的怀疑，然后又把整个世界原样搬回来但很重要的一点是，他不仅是出于非常特殊的理由才把世界搬回来的，而且他搬回来的东西其实已经被一套关于我们如何认识事物的理智批判悄悄地改造过了——是的，不过他是怎么把它搬回来的呢，我想说，我现在关心的问题是，他在得出那些不容置疑的命题时，似乎把自己逼进了死角，因为他给自己留下的那些不容置疑的命题，正是他自己在探究的前一个阶段已经证明过、不能用来推出任何关于我之外的事物存在的确定真理的东西——嗯，他在前面那个阶段一直看到的是，从这些命题推出世界的最显而易见的那条路是不成立的；他现在要给你一条他声称可行的路，当然，有些
19:10
valid he's now going to give you away which he claims is now of course some people think that this actually is a bit of a Conjuring trick and that he actually tries to get himself out the government which is painted by the well-known hero the Thriller novel you know likely he threw off his bonds but I mean this is how it works he now having as you write let's say got to the point at which he it's his only the contents of his consciousness which he is acquainted with there's nothing else available to him it's obvious he's going to put the world back he's got to do it entirely out of the contents of his consciousness so he's got to find something in the contents of his Consciousness which leads outside himself and he claims that what this is is the idea of God he discovers among the contents of his Consciousness the conception of God and he argues that this is unique among all the ideas that he has among all things that are in his mind this alone is such that the mere fact that he has this idea proves that there is really
人认为这其实有点像变戏法，他其实是想把自己从这个困境里弄出来，就像惊悚小说里那位有名的英雄那样，轻轻一挣就挣脱了绳索；但我是说，它是这样运作的：正如你说的，他现在到了这样一个地步，他所能接触到的只有他意识的内容，除此之外他什么都没有；很明显他要把世界搬回来就只能完全从他意识的内容里搬，所以他必须在意识的内容中找到某种能通向他自身之外的东西；他声称这个东西就是上帝的观念——他在自己意识的内容中发现了上帝这个概念，并且论证说，在他所拥有的一切观念中、在他心中的一切东西中，唯独这一个是这样的：仅仅他拥有这个观念这一事实，就证明确实存在与之相对应的东西，也就是
20:06
something corresponding to it that is say there really is a God that's a very difficult one for many modern reasons as well isn't it of course in fact he has two different arguments both of which he uses in the meditations for doing this one is an old medieval argument called the ontological argument which is uh I think pets we need and spend time on that is that is a kind of logical puzzle I think about a physical puzzle but it's it's much less characteristic of Descartes the one that's really characteristic of Descartes is the argument which says I have this idea in my mind but I see an absolutely intuitive necessary principle which is the Lesser cannot give rise to the greater the Lesser cannot be the cause of the greater now my idea of God is the idea of an infinite thing and although it's only an idea in itself it's nevertheless the idea of an infinite thing it involves the idea that I can conceive an infinite being but no finite creatures I know myself to be could possibly have given rise to
说确实有一位上帝——出于许多现代的理由，这一步也很难成立，对吧？其实他有两种不同的论证，两种他在《沉思录》里都用了；一种是中世纪的老论证，叫做本体论论证，这个我想我们大概不必花时间去讲，那算是一种逻辑上的谜题，我想更像是关于一个物理谜题的东西，但它远不那么具有笛卡尔的特色；真正具有笛卡尔特色的是这样一个论证：我心中有这个观念，但我看到一条绝对直观、必然的原则，就是较小者不能产生较大者，较小者不能成为较大者的原因；而我关于上帝的观念是关于一个无限存在者的观念，虽然它本身只是一个观念，但它毕竟是关于一个无限者的观念，它包含着我能设想一个无限存在者这回事；可是像我这样一个我知道自己所是的有限造物，不可能产生出这样一个观念，即关于一个无限存在者的观念——它只可能是被上帝亲自
21:08
such an idea the idea of an infinite being It could only have been implanted in Me by God himself as he memorably puts it at one point as the mark of the maker on his work God as it was signed me by leaving in this infinite idea of God himself when I reflect the less I cannot give rise to the greater in this way I realize that since I have this idea of God it can only be because there actually is a God who has created me so he's then put in the position of founding our knowledge of the external World on belief in the self-evidentness of the existence it's absolutely Central they they argue the next bit then goes that it it works like this he then says the things I know about this God I know that he exists I know that he's omnipotent I know that he created me and I know that he is benevolent these are of course all traditional Christian beliefs um and because God created me and is benevolent he is concerned as much with my intellectual welfare as with my moral welfare and what that means is that if I do my bit
植入我心中的；用他在某处那句令人难忘的话说，这就像工匠留在作品上的印记，上帝仿佛在我身上签了名，就是把这个关于他自己的无限观念留在了我心里；当我反思到较小者不能产生较大者时，我就这样意识到，既然我拥有上帝的观念，那只可能是因为确实存在一位创造了我的上帝；于是他就把我们关于外部世界的知识，建立在对上帝存在之不证自明性的信念之上——这一点是绝对核心的，他们是这么论证的；接下来的一段是这样运作的，他接着说，关于这位上帝我所知道的这些事：我知道他存在，我知道他全能，我知道他创造了我，我还知道他是仁慈的——这些当然都是传统的基督教信念；因为上帝创造了我并且是仁慈的，所以他既关心我的道德福祉，也同样关心我的理智福祉；这意味着，只要我尽到我这一份，
22:18
and that's very important and I clarify my ideas as much as I should and I don't assent precipitously to things I haven't thought out properly if I do my bit in that sense then God will validate the things which I am then very strongly disposed to believe now I find that however much criticism I make of my ideas however carefully I think out what is involved in my beliefs about the physical world and all that kind of thing although I can suspend judgment in the doubt I wouldn't have got to this point if I couldn't although I can suspend judgment in this doubt I do have a very strong tendency to believe that there is a material world there and since I have this disposition I've done everything in my power to make sure that my beliefs are not found in on error then God will at the end as it were make sure that I am not fundamentally and systematically mistaken that is there is such a world so you know by ending up arguing in effect that the world of science is given to us by a god whose existence is
这一点非常重要——只要我尽我所能澄清我的观念，不对那些我还没有想清楚的事情草率地表示赞同；只要我在这个意义上尽到了我的本分，那么上帝就会为我那些我强烈倾向于相信的东西提供担保。现在我发现，无论我对自己的观念作多少批判，无论我多么仔细地思考我关于物理世界的信念里究竟包含着什么，诸如此类，尽管我可以在怀疑中悬置判断——如果我不能，我根本就走不到这一步——尽管我可以在这种怀疑中悬置判断，我确实有一种非常强烈的倾向，去相信那里存在一个物质世界；既然我有这种倾向，而我又已经尽了一切努力去确保我的信念不是建立在错误之上，那么上帝最终就会、可以说，保证我不会从根本上、系统性地弄错，也就是说，确实存在这样一个世界。所以你看，他最后实际上论证的是：科学的世界是由一位存在不证自明、
23:25
self-evident and whose benevolence is self-evident he's so to speak not so much answered the Skeptics about science has jumped over them he's bypassed them well what he says is that he it's absolutely essential to his position that he believes that these arguments that involve God will be assented to by any person of good faith who concentrates on them enough that's absolutely essential he he cannot accept it's it would ruin his whole position if you accepted the idea that whether you believe in God is a matter of cultural or psychological upbringing and perfectly sensible people can disagree about whether the god or not however hard they think about it it is essential to Descartes that to deny the existence of God confronted with these arguments is as perverse and as totally in bad faith as it would be denied that tries to is for and therefore the idea is that if you lead the skeptic properly through it and the skeptic is an honest man that is not just mouthing words or trying to impress and you put these proofs before
仁慈也不证自明的上帝赐给我们的；可以说，他与其说是回答了那些关于科学的怀疑论者，不如说是从他们头上跳了过去，绕开了他们。嗯，他说的是，对他的立场来说绝对不可或缺的一点是，他相信这些涉及上帝的论证，任何一个诚心诚意、足够专注去思考的人都会赞同；这一点绝对不可或缺，他不能接受——如果你接受这样一种看法，说信不信上帝取决于文化或心理上的成长背景，说完全通情达理的人在有没有上帝这个问题上可以各执一词，无论他们想得多么努力——那就会毁掉他的整个立场。对笛卡尔来说，关键在于：面对这些论证还要否认上帝的存在，就跟否认二加二等于四一样，是同样的乖张，同样彻头彻尾的不诚实；因此他的想法是，如果你恰当地引导那个怀疑论者走完这一步步，而这个怀疑论者又是个诚实的人，也就是说他不只是嘴上说说、或想显得高明，那么当你把这些证明摆在他
07心物二元与广延：蜡块论证
24:30
him he must at the end ascent now people have not done this because they haven't thought hard enough they haven't splitted into they haven't done it in an orderly manner a lot of the Skeptics are in fact fakes who simply go around making a rhetorical position don't really think about it but if you're in good faith and think hard enough about it then you will come to see this truth and then you cannot consistently deny the existence of the external world that's what he believed now one very important outcome which this set of arguments had was that of positing a world which consists fundamentally of two different sorts of entity there's the external World which is as it were given to me by a God on whom I can rely but there's me who is observing this external world and he made a great Point again in this earlier stage of the argument when he's stripping away all the propositions that he can possibly doubt of seeing that when he's considering himself and the nature of his self he can even imagine
面前时，他最终必定会表示赞同。人们之所以没有做到，是因为他们想得不够努力，他们没有把问题拆开来，他们没有按部就班地去做；很多怀疑论者其实是冒牌货，只是到处摆出一副修辞性的姿态，并不真的去思考它；但只要你是诚心诚意的，并且足够努力地思考它，你就会看到这个真理，然后你就不可能再前后一致地否认外部世界的存在——这就是他所相信的。而这一整套论证带来的一个非常重要的结果是，它设定了一个从根本上由两种不同实体构成的世界：一方面是外部世界，可以说，它是由一位我可以信赖的上帝赐给我的；另一方面是正在观察这个外部世界的我。而他在论证的前一个阶段，也就是他剥除掉一切他可能怀疑的命题的时候，也很强调地指出了一点：当他考察他自己、考察自我的本性时，他甚至可以设想
25:34
himself existing without a body that's right but he can't imagine himself not having the the thinking awareness no that's the point about the I am thinking being indubitable right that's right so one consequence of that is that you get a world positive which consists on the one hand of thinking entities which are locationless and substanceless and a world a material world which this thinking entity is thinking about or observing and it's a world of Observer and observed mind and matter uh shall spirit and material which has become built into the whole Western way of looking at it that's absolutely but now uh Descartes ultimate aim from the beginning has been to establish the project of sound sort of what we've tried calls that's it the project of what we would call science and by the arguments that you've outlined he's now arrived at a certain view of the external world that's right now how is this external world to be treated scientifically now that's remember I mentioned earlier that when God we
自己没有身体也依然存在——对，但他没法设想自己没有那个进行思维的意识，这就是“我在思维”这一点不容置疑的意义所在——对，正是如此。这样一来，一个后果就是你得到了这样一个被设定的世界：一方面是没有位置、没有实体性的思维实体，另一方面是一个世界，一个物质世界，是这个思维实体所思考或观察的对象；这是一个观察者与被观察者、心灵与物质的世界嗯，精神与物质，这已经深深嵌入整个西方看待事物的方式当中了。——完全正确，不过那么，笛卡尔从一开始的终极目标，就是要确立那个稳固的、我们刚才所说的那种事业，也就是我们会称之为科学的事业。通过你刚才勾勒的那些论证，他现在得出了关于外部世界的某种看法。——对，那么这个外部世界该如何用科学的方式来处理呢？——记得我前面提过，当上帝……我们借助上帝之力把世界
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through the help of God we put the world back again we didn't put back quite the same world that we've thrown away that it's criticized in the process and in our Reflections we come to the collusion not only there is an external world the external world just as my Essence as a thinking thing is simply thought the external world has an Essence too and that's simply extension it simply it takes up space that it's susceptible to being treated by geometry and the mathematical Sciences all its as it were colorful aspects over the fact that it's color that there are certain taste and sound these are really subjective they're on the mental side they're subjective things that occur in Consciousness which are caused by this physical extended geometrical world he had an exam which I think it's worth mentioning it's a very good one yeah about a piece of wax he said if you take a piece of wax it has a certain size and shape in your hand a certain color smell texture feel temperature and so on and it seems to us to be the combination of
重新放回来的时候，我们放回来的并不完全是先前被抛弃的那个世界，它在这个过程中经受了批判。而在我们的沉思中，我们得出的结论不仅是存在一个外部世界；正如我作为一个思维之物，我的本质就只是思维，外部世界也有它的本质，那本质就只是广延。它无非就是占据空间，因而可以用几何学和数学科学来处理。它那些所谓五光十色的方面——它有颜色、有味道、有声音这个事实——这些其实都是主观的，它们属于心灵这一边，是发生在意识中的主观事物，是由这个物理的、有广延的、几何式的世界所引起的。他有一个例子，我觉得值得一提，是个非常好的例子。——是的，关于一块蜡的。他说，如果你拿一块蜡，它在你手里有一定的大小和形状，有某种颜色、气味、质地、手感、温度等等，在我们看来它似乎就是这些性质的组合。可如果你把同一块蜡放到火前，它
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those properties if you put the same piece of wax in front of a fire it immediately melts and then all those things change different color different smell different temperature different everything and yet we want to say it's the same wax now what about it what is there about it that's the same answer I suppose that there's a continuous history of space occupants yes there is as you know there is a great uh one of the disputed things in uh expanding Descartes is what exactly he thought the wax argument proved and how much he thought it proved just by itself but he certainly did use that example to illustrate if not actually to prove uh what he thought was the fundamental idea that as it were space occupancy just being a piece of space yes and it's all important regardless he did actually not think he really did think a piece of space he didn't think it was just a thing in space because he didn't believe in a vacuum he really did think that the whole world was one extended item and that separate item the
马上就融化了，然后所有这些东西都变了：颜色不同了、气味不同了、温度不同了、一切都不同了，然而我们还是想说它是同一块蜡。那么它究竟怎么回事？它身上有什么东西是不变的呢？——我想答案是，它有一段连续的占据空间的历史。——是的，确实如此。你知道，关于这一点有很大的争议，在阐释笛卡尔时，争论之一就是他到底认为蜡的论证证明了什么，以及他认为单凭这个论证本身能证明多少。但他确实用了那个例子来说明——就算不算是证明——他所认为的那个根本观念，也就是所谓的空间占据性，就是成为一块空间。——是的，而且不管怎样这一点至关重要。——他其实并不认为……他真正认为的是，它是一块空间，而不是认为它只是空间中的一个东西，因为他不相信真空存在。他确实认为整个世界就是一个有广延的整体，而那些分立的东西——我们所说的桌子之类的——
08数学物理学的许可证：理性与实验
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things it is we say tables or whatever really are local pieces of this in certain states of motion now this is a foundation for the mathematical physics of the 17th century in its own terms didn't come off I mean eventually it was going to be replaced by the classical physics and dynamics of Newton which had a different conception of a mathematical world but it did a tremendous amount to establish the notion of a physical world which is fundamentally of a mathematical character and permits mathematical physics to be done because it was one of the most important but striking facts about the Scientific Revolution starting in the period where discussing indicat's lifetime through his work is that the first of the great Sciences as it were to get going was in fact mathematical physics chemistry there's one of the things that deal with sorts of things in that much more that kind of detail is of course much more a product of the 18th and 19th century not not of this 17th century but wouldn't it be fair to say
实际上只是这个整体处于某些运动状态中的局部片段。这构成了17世纪数学物理学的一个基础，就其自身的内容而言并没有成功。我是说，它最终会被牛顿的经典物理学和动力学所取代，后者对数学化世界有不同的构想。但它极大地确立了这样一种观念：物理世界在根本上具有数学的性质，从而使数学物理学成为可能。因为关于科学革命——它开始于我们所讨论的这个时期，贯穿笛卡尔一生及其著作——最重要也最引人注目的事实之一，就是最先真正起步的那门伟大科学其实是数学物理学。化学这类处理更为具体细节的学科，那种层次的细节，当然更多是18和19世纪的产物，而不是这17世纪的产物。——不过是否可以说，笛卡尔在他那个时代，比任何人都更多地开创了科学的可能性，
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that Descartes in his time did more to launch the possibility of Science and to as it were cell science to the educated public than anyone else yes I should have thought that was probably true I mean the figure who was all also enormously favored famous and who's as a matter of fact whose actual physics is nearer to classical physics as it came out in the end it's actually Galileo rather than Descartes because Galileo was more notorious perhaps than respectable because he was tried and condemned by the Inquisition and so on uh yes I mean Descartes intellectual influence in this respect was simply enormous even though the details of his physics were eventually to be in good part repudiated now up to this point in the argument what Descartes show Descartes hasn't as it were provided us with any physics no what he's shown here is that a mathematically based physics is possible yes and is applicable to the real world yes can you expand on that distinction a little yes absolutely he what he hopes to have shown by the
并且可以说把科学“推销”给了受过教育的公众？——是的，我想这大概是真的。我是说，还有一位同样极受推崇、名声极大的人物，而且事实上他的实际物理学更接近最终成形的经典物理学，那其实是伽利略而不是笛卡尔，因为伽利略也许更多是声名狼藉而非受人尊敬，毕竟他受到宗教裁判所的审判和定罪等等。嗯，是的，我是说笛卡尔在这方面的思想影响简直是巨大的，尽管他物理学中的细节最终有很大部分被推翻了。——那么到论证进行到这一步为止，笛卡尔所展示的……笛卡尔可以说还没有给我们提供任何具体的物理学。——没有。他在这里所表明的是，一种以数学为基础的物理学是可能的。——是的，并且是适用于现实世界的。——是的。——你能稍微展开讲讲这个区分吗？——当然可以。他希望通过
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Maneuvers we've been through we've followed so far yeah is that is it where the world is so constructed that man is capable of knowing about it I mean in that sense man and the world are made for each other by God there is still a teleological thing at the end in God even though of course man in his Essence is not actually part of nature because man is this immaterial intellectual substance which isn't part of the natural thing man is not part of nature in that sense but he uses it where his intellection is quite well adjusted to it and that means we can conduct a mathematical physics above all now Descartes thought that some of the fundamental principles of physics could themselves be known by what we would call philosophical reflection he thought in particular we could know by such reflection that every physics had to have a concept Innovation law there had to be something that was conserved we talk about the conservation of energy the conservation of force and so on Descartes destructability of matter yes
我们一路跟随下来的这些论证步骤所表明的是，世界的构造使得人有能力认识它。也就是说，在这个意义上，人和世界是上帝为彼此而造的。这里最终在上帝那里仍然有一种目的论的成分，尽管当然，人就其本质而言并不真正是自然的一部分，因为人是这种非物质的、理智的实体，它不属于自然之物。在这个意义上人不是自然的一部分，但他运用它，因为他的理智活动与自然相当契合，这就意味着我们首先能够开展数学物理学。那么笛卡尔认为，物理学的某些基本原理本身可以通过我们所说的哲学反思而被认识。他尤其认为，我们可以通过这种反思知道，任何物理学都必须有守恒定律的概念，必须有某种东西是守恒的。我们谈能量守恒、力的守恒等等。——笛卡尔说的是物质的不可毁灭性。——是的，过去是这么叫的。当然现在我们知道物质
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as it used to be called and of course now we know the equivalence of matter and energy so through atomic reactions and so on now Descartes actually picked on the quantity it was conserved something which wasn't what was conserved indeed in terms of classical physics later it's not even well defined but the idea was there and that was a priori it was to be known by reflection further details of the laws of physics he thought required investigation and in particular how the world was actually laid out how different patterns of motion were to be founded he thought was a matter for experimental inquiry now this is quite important because people Descartes rightly said to be a rationalist philosopher that is that he thinks that fundamental properties of the world and of the mind and so on can be discovered by Reflection by a kind of philosophical reflection and he does not think that everything is just derived from experience or experimental thing it's sometimes supposed that he was such a strong rationalist that he thought
与能量的等价性，通过原子反应之类的。那么笛卡尔实际上选定的那个守恒量，其实并不是真正守恒的东西；事实上按照后来的经典物理学，它甚至都没有得到很好的定义。但那个观念在那里，而且是先天的，是要通过反思来认识的。至于物理学定律的更多细节，他认为需要研究探索，尤其是世界实际上是如何布置的、各种不同的运动模式该如何确立，他认为这属于实验探究的事情。这一点相当重要，因为人们……笛卡尔被恰当地称为一位理性主义哲学家，也就是说，他认为世界的、心灵的等等根本属性可以通过反思、通过某种哲学反思而被发现，他并不认为一切都只是从经验或实验中得来的。人们有时以为他是那么极端的理性主义者，以为他认为
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that the whole of science was to be deduced by purely kind of mathematical or logical reasoning from metaphysics and if I set and thought hard enough about the kogito and God and matter and all that I'd arrive with that with the whole of science he thought no such thing in fact he's absolutely consistent always in saying that experiments are necessary to distinguish it in some ways of explaining nature and others you can build different models this is very modern very modern aspect of his thought you can build as all construct different intellectual models of the world within his laws experiment is needed to discover which are truly there yes and his experiments seen by him as designed to test the answers or to give us the material for the premises to our argument it's designed for a number of different things actually but really the following that if you take the fundamental laws of nature the principles on which matter moves there are of different mechanisms you could imagine which would produce
整个科学都可以从形而上学出发、纯粹通过某种数学或逻辑推理演绎出来，仿佛只要我坐下来，把“我思”、上帝、物质这一切想得足够透彻，我就能由此得出整个科学。他绝无此意。事实上他始终非常一贯地强调，实验是必要的，用来在解释自然的不同方式之间做出区分。你可以建立不同的模型——这是非常现代的，他思想中非常现代的一个方面——你可以建构关于世界的不同理智模型，在他的定律——需要通过实验来发现哪些是真正存在的，是的；而在他看来，他的实验是被设计出来的用来检验答案，或者为我们的论证提供前提的素材；其实它是为好几种不同的目的设计的，但真正说来是下面这一点：如果你拿来自然的基本定律，也就是物质运动所依据的原理，你可以设想出若干种不同的机制它们在表面上会产生相同的效果；于是你就做判别性的实验，安排一套装置，使得如果某个模型才是真实存在的，就会发生某件事
09上帝可以退场：方法的世俗化
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superficially the same effect you then make differential experiments you then arrange a setup in which one thing will happen if one model is what's really there and it won't if another is and so you select between models and that really isn't quite a good description of quite a lot of what physicist is doing well it's the modern notion of the crucial order and he was very keen on that one of the things that Descartes was Admiral about was that it was simply no good blundering around the world trying out the spelling see what you can find out you had to ask the right question and that's again this thing where you're saying before God is on your side if you do your bit God will not allow you to be systematically deceived if you don't systematically deceive yourself so what you've got to do is to think of the right questions to ask and then God will assist nature and giving you the answer I think it's worth making the point at this stage in the discussion that although God is an absolutely indispensable element to
而如果是另一个模型，就不会发生。这样你就在各个模型之间做出取舍，而这其实相当准确地描述了物理学家所做的许多工作。嗯，这就是现代所谓的判决性实验的观念，他对此非常热衷。笛卡尔坚持不移的一点就是，在世界上盲目乱撞、随便试试看能发现点什么，是没有用的；你必须提出正确的问题。这又回到了刚才那件事，你之前说的：上帝站在你这边。如果你尽了自己的本分，上帝就不会让你被系统地欺骗，只要你自己不系统地欺骗自己。所以你要做的就是想出该问的正确问题，然后上帝就会协助自然给出答案。我想在讨论到这个阶段，值得指出一点：虽然上帝对笛卡尔来说，在他得出自己那套方法的过程中是绝对不可或缺的要素，可一旦你掌握了这个方法，
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Descartes in the course of arriving at his method once you've got the method you don't have to be any sort of believer in God to use it that is an exceedingly important point the Descartes wanted to free the process of science from theological constraints or Foundation laws one might say free it from theological foundations and hints from theological interference yeah but of course he was extremely Keen to say this does not mean that we've produced a Godless World we've produced a world which is in fact made by God and where our knowledge of it is guaranteed by God but where you have to appeal by God to God in your intellectual life is not in as you write they say in conducting science but in proving to Skeptics that it can be conducted and Descartes very sensibly thought you shouldn't spend a lot of time in proving to Skeptics that it can be conducted need to do it once he thought he'd done it now let's all get on with it there's his view now one phrase that's commonly used for an aspect of this whole system that he
你不必是任何意义上的上帝信仰者也能使用它。这一点极其重要——笛卡尔想把科学的过程从神学的约束、或者说神学的根基中解放出来，可以说，把它从神学的基础中解放出来，从而也摆脱神学的干预。是的，但他当然极力强调，这并不意味着我们造出了一个没有上帝的世界；我们得到的这个世界事实上是上帝造的，我们对它的知识也是由上帝担保的但在理智生活中你需要诉诸上帝的地方，并不像你写的、像人们说的那样是在从事科学的时候，而是在向怀疑论者证明科学是可以进行的时候。而笛卡尔非常明智地认为，你不该花大量时间去向怀疑论者证明这件事可以做，只需做一次就够了。他觉得自己已经做完了，那现在大家就接着往下干吧——这就是他的看法。那么，人们常用来指称他留给我们这整套体系某一方面的一个说法，就是笛卡尔式二元论
10松果腺的丑闻：心身问题的遗产
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provided us with is Cartesian dualism we've talked about this already I mean the Mind Body yes the the division of total reality into spirit and matter yes now didn't this give him a theoretical problem of a very important kind how did he explain the interaction I mean to put it very clearly how is a spirit able to push objects in the world around yes well I pray frankly the answer is that he never really did I mean leibniz someone's gone fully said on this subject the interaction he said Mr Descartes seems to given up the game so far as we can see he did have a theory in a late work just before he went to Sweden he wrote a book in which he did curiously try to localize the interaction between mind and body in the pineal gland which is the body at the base of the brain but of course it barely even makes sense I mean the idea that this purely sort of abstract non-material item something which is almost they're not quite as well the category of a number could induce a change in the physical
我们已经谈过这个了，我是说心与身。是的，就是把全部实在划分为精神和物质。是的那么，这难道没有给他带来一个非常重要的理论难题吗？他怎么解释两者之间的相互作用？我是说，说得更直白些：一个精神怎么能推动世界中的物体？是的。嗯，坦白说，答案是他其实从来没有真正解释过。莱布尼茨在这个问题上曾颇为不客气地说，就相互作用而言，他说，笛卡尔先生看来是认输了。就我们所见，他确实有过一个理论：在去瑞典之前不久的一部晚期著作里，他写了一本书，在其中很奇特地试图把心与身的相互作用定位在松果腺，也就是脑底部的那个器官。但这当然几乎连讲得通都算不上。我是说，这样一个纯粹抽象的、非物质的东西——某种几乎、虽然又不完全像“数”这个范畴的东西——竟能通过改变某些“动物精气”的方向来引起物理世界的变化（这正是他所相信的），这实在太
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world by redirecting certain Animal Spirits which is what he believed is so difficult to conceive even in sort of abstract principle that it was a kind of Scandal for everybody I mean a lot of the philosophy of the 17th century and indeed subsequently actually addressed itself to trying to find some more adequate representation of the relation of mind and body than Descartes actually left us with nevertheless some form of Cartesian dualism of distinction between Observer and observed subject and object got into Western thought for something like 400 years I think the distinction between subject and object nowhere and known is a distinction which is simply impossible for us to do without I mean there are indeed philosophical systems that constantly try to say that we simply have no conception of the known independently of the Noah we make up the whole world Zone but of course the trouble about that is that it's very difficult well I mean a complete idealism the idea that everything's there is really a product
难以设想了，哪怕只是在抽象原则的层面上，以至于对所有人来说都成了一桩丑闻。我是说，17世纪的许多哲学，乃至此后的哲学，实际上都致力于寻找一种比笛卡尔真正留给我们的更恰当的方式来表述心与身的关系。尽管如此，某种形式的笛卡尔式二元论，即观察者与被观察者、主体与客体之间的区分，还是进入了西方思想，历时大约四百年。我认为主体与客体、认识者与被认识者之间的区分，是我们根本无法抛开的。我是说，确实有一些哲学体系不断地想说，我们对被认识者根本没有任何独立于认识者的概念，说整个世界都是我们造出来的；但当然，麻烦在于那非常难以接受——我是说，一种彻底的观念论，即认为存在的一切其实都是我们心灵的产物，说得简单些，是相当难以相信的；而我们
11认识论成为哲学中心的功与过
37:27
of our minds is to put it a little simply quite difficult to believe and we all do and certainly all science does depend very much on a dualism between the knower and the name a world which we can know independently of our process of knowing it what I think very few people now are sent to is the absolute dualism between a completely pure mind and the body the the knower has to be seen as indeed of course it was in philosophy earlier than Descartes for instance by Saint Thomas or by Aristotle the Noah has to be seen as an essentially embodied creature him or herself as it were I mean yeah and not just as a kind of pure self well hey perhaps on Western philosophy has been uh uh I mean Descartes influences in simply Amendment yes and still is well if we summarize it in one thing is it is the Descartes an almost Descartes alone who brought it about that the Center of Western Philosophy for all these centuries has been the theory of knowledge the idea that philosophy starts from the question what can I know
所有人，尤其是整个科学，都非常依赖认识者与被认识者之间的二元区分——依赖一个我们能够独立于自己的认识过程去认识的世界。我想如今很少有人还会赞同的，是那种绝对的二元论即完全纯粹的心灵与身体之间的二元论。认识者必须被看作——当然，在笛卡尔之前的哲学里本来就是如此，比如在圣托马斯或亚里士多德那里——认识者必须被看作本质上是一个具身的存在者，他或她自己就是如此。是的，而不只是某种纯粹的自我。那么，也许……我是说，笛卡尔对西方哲学的影响，简直是无可估量的？是的，而且至今仍然如此。嗯，如果用一句话来概括，那就是：几乎正是笛卡尔一个人使得这么多世纪以来西方哲学的中心一直是知识论，也就是认为哲学起点是“我能知道什么”这个问题，而不是“那是什么”或“世界是怎样的”，而是我能知道什么
38:34
not from the question just what is that or how is the world but what can I know and not just what can I know but what can I know that is that it starts from a first personal egocentric question and it is very important for the structure of Descartes system I mentioned right at the beginning that it was possible in his time to think the Pet science could even essentially be done by one person but even if you lay that historical context aside it is very important part of his Enterprise that it is it is autobiographical it's no accident that he's two great works a disc goes on the method above all the meditations are written in the first person they are works of self philosophical self-inquiry and this first personal and epistemological aspect that is a aspect conservical theory of knowledge has been the overwhelming influence of Descartes now given that that all the things are wrong with the philosophy that we've touched on and of course there are more than we have touched yes and given that
而且不只是“能知道什么”，而是“我能知道什么”——也就是说，它从一个第一人称的、以自我为中心的问题出发这对笛卡尔体系的结构非常重要。我在一开始就提到过，在他那个时代人们还可以认为，科学基本上可以由一个人来完成。但即使把那个历史背景放到一边，他这项事业中非常重要的一部分，就在于它是自传性的。这绝非偶然：他的两部伟大著作——《谈谈方法》，尤其是《第一哲学沉思集》——都是用第一人称写的，它们是哲学上的自我探究之作。而这种第一人称的、认识论的方面，也就是关乎知识论的方面，一直是笛卡尔最压倒性的影响。那么，鉴于我们谈到的这套哲学存在种种问题，当然还有更多我们没谈到的——是的——又鉴于哲学的核心关切
12为何今天仍要读《沉思集》
39:33
the central concern of philosophy has now moved away from the problem of knowledge which was made Central by Descartes why is the study of Descartes now as valuable to a city as it is I mean if I may put this problem in this question in a personal way you Bernard Williams you spent as far as I can now almost 20 years of your life working on a book on Descartes you must have thought this enormous investment of yourself and your life was worth it why um I think for two reasons I mean all right let's lay aside the purely case of historical understanding the role that Descartes has played in getting us into our present situation where I think that just to know what he said in a little bit of detail is very important simply to understand who we are and where we've come from but the reason why I think that this book when I say this book above all I mean the particular book called The meditations is a book that won very much if one's interesting philosophy wants to read now is because the path it follows the path of asking
如今已经离开了那个被笛卡尔置于中心的知识问题，为什么研究笛卡尔如今仍然这么有价值？我是说，如果容我把这个问题问得私人一些：你，伯纳德·威廉斯，据我所知花了将近二十年的时间写一本关于笛卡尔的书，你一定觉得这样把自己和自己的生命投入进去是值得的——为什么？嗯，我想有两个理由。好吧，先把纯粹历史理解的那一面放到一边——笛卡尔在把我们带到今天这个处境的过程中所起的作用，我认为光是稍微详细地了解他说过些什么，就非常重要，因为这能让我们明白我们是谁、我们从哪里来。但我认为这本书——我说“这本书”，首先是指那本叫《沉思集》的书——之所以是一本任何对哲学感兴趣的人现在都值得一读的书，是因为它所走的那条道路，那条追问
40:35
what do I know what can I doubt and so on um is presented in an almost irresistible way and the point is it's not an accident that this emphasis in philosophy has been so overwhelmingly important it isn't that Jay cut just because he was a dazzling stylist or something of that kind could kind of perform a long distance mesmerism on the mind of Europe that isn't the reason the reason is because he discovered something which is intrinsically compelling that is the idea that I can ask myself well I have all these beliefs but how could I get round behind my beliefs to see if they're really true how could I stand back from my beliefs to see which of them are prejudices how much room for there is in skepticism these are really compelling questions and it needs an enormous amount of philosophical imagination and work to get oneself out of this very natural pattern of reflection and another very related question which it comes before you very dramatically in this extraordinarily written book is not just
“我知道什么”“我能怀疑什么”等等的道路，是以一种几乎无法抗拒的方式呈现出来的。要点在于，哲学中这种侧重如此压倒性地重要，并不是偶然的。并不是因为笛卡尔是个文采夺目的文体家或诸如此类，就能对整个欧洲的心灵施行某种远距离的催眠——那不是原因。真正的原因是，他发现了某种本身就具有强制力的东西，也就是这样一个念头：我可以问自己，我有这么多信念，可我怎样才能绕到自己的信念背后，去看看它们是否真的为真？我怎样才能从自己的信念中退开一步，看看其中哪些只是偏见？怀疑论究竟有多大的余地？这些都是真正让人无法回避的问题而要把自己从这种非常自然的反思模式中解脱出来，需要极大的哲学想象力和努力。还有另一个非常相关的问题，在这本写得非同寻常的书里极具戏剧性地摆在你面前：不只是“我能知道什么”，而是像我们在
41:37
what can I know but as we discovered already in the kogito what am I we can imagine ourselves we have this power of imaginative extraction from our actual circumstances we can imagine ourselves looking out on the world from a different body we can imagine looking into a mirror and seeing a different face and what's important looking into mirrors seeing a different phase not being surprised and this gives us the idea a very very powerful idea that I am independent of the body and the past that I have and that is an absolutely foundational experience of the Cartesian idea that I am somehow independent of all these materials the Cartesian dualism though once you look at it as it were sideways as a theory it's immensely difficult to believe for the reasons that we've touched on it also has evidence that it's almost impossible to resist if you go at it through a certain set of Reflections and I think the set of Reflections that Descartes with unexample Clarity and force lay before you to lead you down that path as I
“我思”那里已经发现的——“我是什么”。我们能够想象自己——我们有这种把自己从实际处境中想象地抽离出来的能力——我们能想象自己从另一个身体里望向这个世界，我们能想象照镜子时看到一张不同的脸；而重要的是，照镜子看到一张不同的脸时，并不感到惊讶。这就给了我们一个非常非常有力的想法：我是独立于我所拥有的这个身体和这段过去的。而这正是笛卡尔那个想法——“我以某种方式独立于所有这些物质性的东西”——的绝对基础性经验。笛卡尔式二元论，一旦你从侧面把它当作一种理论来看，出于我们谈到的那些理由，是极难相信的；但它同时又有一种几乎让人无法抗拒的明证性——如果你是沿着某一套反思走向它的话。而我认为，笛卡尔以无与伦比的清晰和力量摆在你面前、引你走上那条（我认为是错误的）道路的那套反思，不仅本身极有力量，而且可以说
42:42
think mistaken path and so not only powerful in themselves but as it were near to the boat that it is a prime philosophical task to try and arrive at an understanding of oneself one's imagination one's conception of what one might be that one would free one of that dualistic model thank you very much
切中要害。因此，一项首要的哲学任务，就是努力达成对自己、对自己的想象力、对自己关于“我可能是什么”的构想的一种理解，从而把自己从那个二元论模式中解放出来。非常感谢。
视频总结 · 一句话概括与核心要点
一句话概括
伯纳德·威廉斯与布莱恩·马吉梳理了笛卡尔如何以"方法论怀疑"寻找不可怀疑的确定性（我思故我在），再经由上帝存在的证明重建外部世界并为数学物理学奠基，同时指出其心物二元论的致命缺陷及其对西方哲学四百年的深远影响。
核心要点
- 笛卡尔被视为"现代哲学"的开创者：学院里的"现代哲学"指近四百年的哲学，实际上就是"从笛卡尔开始的哲学"。他 1596 年生于法国，1629–1649 隐居于当时思想最自由的荷兰，发明了坐标几何（"笛卡尔坐标"），代表作为《方法谈》（1637）和《沉思录》（1642）；1650 年在瑞典任克里斯蒂娜女王教师时死于肺炎。
- 他的问题根植于特定历史处境：17 世纪上半叶"科学"作为有组织的国际事业尚不存在。一方面培根等人乐观地认为找到正确方法就能迅速解决自然问题，另一方面宗教改革后各派真理主张互相冲突、无法裁决，催生了强烈的怀疑主义。学术机构又被教会把持，知识多为对亚里士多德等古代权威的注释。因此，一个人立志为全部未来科学奠基，在当时并非狂妄。
- 区分"确定性"与"真理"，但坚持从确定性出发：确定性是心灵状态，真理关乎世界本身。笛卡尔清楚二者不同，却认为寻求真理的唯一可靠途径是先寻求确定性——这是一种"先发制人的怀疑主义"：把怀疑论者能做的事做得更彻底，以求穿越怀疑抵达坚不可摧的基础。
- 方法论怀疑分三层递进：（1）日常感官错误（水中的棍子看似弯曲）；（2）梦境论证——我曾在梦中确信自己看到桌椅，如何确定此刻不是在做梦？（3）"恶魔"思想实验——假设有一个全力欺骗我的邪灵，还有什么是它无法欺骗的？威廉斯强调这纯属智识批判工具，笛卡尔反复声明不用于日常生活。苹果桶比喻：全部倒出，逐一检查，只放回完好的。
- 怀疑的"转折点"是我思：恶魔无法让我在没有思想时相信自己在思想，因为被骗的思想本身也是思想。由此得出"我思故我在"（cogito ergo sum）。"思"指一切意识形式（知觉、痛感、情感），故可译为"我有意识觉知，所以我存在"。
- 重建世界靠的是上帝，而非直接推论：怀疑已表明从意识内容无法直接推出外部世界。笛卡尔在意识中找到"上帝观念"，并借助"较小者不能产生较大者"的原则论证：有限的我不可能自生无限存在者的观念，它只能是上帝"在作品上留下的制造者印记"。上帝既全能又仁慈，关心我的智识福祉，因此只要我尽责地澄清观念、不轻率同意，上帝就保证我不会系统性地受骗——外部世界存在。威廉斯指出，许多人认为这是"变戏法"，且此论证要求任何诚实思考者都必然接受上帝存在，否则整个体系崩溃。
- 重建后的世界已被改造：本质即广延：正如心灵的本质是思，物质的本质是占据空间。颜色、气味、声音等被归为主观的意识现象。蜡块论证：一块蜡在火前融化后颜色、气味、温度全变，仍是"同一块蜡"，因为它是连续的空间占据者。笛卡尔不信真空，认为整个世界是一个连续广延体，物体只是其处于不同运动状态的局部——这为 17 世纪数学物理学提供了形而上学基础，虽后来被牛顿体系取代。
- 理性主义并非排斥实验：笛卡尔认为物理学必有某种守恒律可由哲学反思先验得知（尽管他选的守恒量在经典物理中甚至定义不清），但具体规律与世界布局需要实验。他明确主张可以在基本定律下构建多种解释模型，再设计"判决性实验"加以筛选——这一点极为现代。他还强调科学方法一旦确立，使用它无需信仰上帝；上帝只在向怀疑论者证明科学可能时出场一次。
- 心物二元论是公认的丑闻：非物质的心灵如何推动物体？笛卡尔从未真正回答，晚期著作试图将交互定位于松果腺，被莱布尼茨讥为"放弃了比赛"。此后 17 世纪大量哲学都在设法修补这一关系。但"认知者与被认知者"的主客二分却深植西方思想约四百年，科学本身也依赖它；如今少有人接受纯粹心灵与身体的绝对二分，倾向像亚里士多德、阿奎那那样把认知者视为有身体的存在。
- 笛卡尔的最大遗产是把认识论置于哲学中心：哲学从"世界是什么"转向第一人称的"我能知道什么"。《方法谈》与《沉思录》都以第一人称写成，是哲学自我探究之作。威廉斯认为其力量并非来自文风魅惑，而在于他发现了内在强迫性的问题：如何退到信念背后检验它们，以及"我是什么"——我们能想象自己在镜中看到另一张脸而不惊讶，这种想象力正是"我独立于身体"的二元论直觉源头。
结论与值得注意的细节
- 威廉斯为笛卡尔研究投入近二十年，他给出的理由有二：一是历史理解——不了解笛卡尔就不了解"我们是谁、从何而来"；二是《沉思录》所铺设的反思路径"几乎无法抗拒"，要从中脱身需要巨大的哲学想象力，这本身就是首要的哲学任务。
- 笛卡尔的目标是"研究纲领"与"研究方法"，这在科学尚未成为分工协作事业的年代是合理抱负；他对推广科学于教育公众的贡献超过同代任何人，尽管其物理学细节大多被否定，伽利略的物理反而更接近经典物理学。
- 人在笛卡尔体系中并非自然的一部分（作为非物质的思维实体），但其理智与世界"由上帝为彼此而造"，这一目的论残余是数学物理学可能性的最终保证。
核心句型 · 9
1. It's not X that …, it's Y
“It isn't that Descartes just because he was a dazzling stylist … could perform a long distance mesmerism … that isn't the reason the reason is because he discovered something which is intrinsically compelling”
先否定一个表面解释，再给出真正原因。适合在辩论或分析中纠正常见误解。仿写：It isn't that the plan failed for lack of money; the reason is that nobody owned it.
2. not so much A as B
“He's so to speak not so much answered the Skeptics about science has jumped over them he's bypassed them”
「与其说A，不如说B」，用于精准修正措辞。注意 as 后接与 A 平行的成分。仿写：He didn't so much solve the problem as redefine it.
3. I think it's worth making the point that …
“I think it's worth making the point at this stage in the discussion that although God is an absolutely indispensable element …”
学术讨论中引入一个补充要点的礼貌开场，语气克制而有分量。可替换为 It's worth noting / stressing that。
4. whatever … may be / whatever it might be
“I may draw all sorts of false inferences about for example the external world or whatever it might be”
用于举例后留出开放空间，表示「诸如此类」。口语与书面皆常用，比 etc. 更自然。
5. as it were
“Man and the world are made for each other by God … man is not part of nature in that sense”
插入语，表示「可以说、姑且这么讲」，用于提示接下来的说法是比喻或不够精确。威廉斯全篇高频使用，是英式学术口语的标志性缓冲语。
6. do more to V than anyone else
“Descartes in his time did more to launch the possibility of Science … than anyone else”
强调某人在某事上贡献最大。仿写：She did more to shape the company's culture than any other founder.
7. once you've got X, you don't have to … to use it
“Once you've got the method you don't have to be any sort of believer in God to use it”
表达「一旦获得，条件即可解除」的逻辑，适合说明工具或方法可脱离其起源独立使用。
8. It's no accident that …
“It's no accident that he's two great works … are written in the first person”
「……绝非偶然」，引出对某现象的结构性解释。常与 because / since 搭配给出原因。
9. however much / however carefully …, I do have …
“However much criticism I make of my ideas however carefully I think out … I do have a very strong tendency to believe”
让步结构，用 however + 副词开头，主句用 do 强调。适合表达「无论怎样……我仍然……」。
生词精讲 · 110 · 按出现顺序
inaugurator
/ɪˈnɔːɡəˌreɪtər/
n.
0:00
开创者、创始人
invalid
/ɪnˈvælɪd/
adj.
0:00
（论证）无效的、不成立的（逻辑学术语）
seclusion
/sɪˈkluːʒən/
n.
1:03
隐居、与世隔绝
profoundest
/prəˈfaʊndɪst/
adj.
1:03
最深刻的（profound 的最高级）
illegitimate
/ˌɪləˈdʒɪtəmət/
adj.
1:03
私生的；非法的
men of Affairs
phr.
2:11
实务界人士、从事实际事务的人
prevailed on
phr.
2:11
说服（某人做某事），常带勉强意味
succumbed to
phr.
2:11
死于（疾病）；屈服于
Provost
/ˈproʊvoʊst/
n.
2:11
（英国某些学院的）院长
up for grabs
phr.
3:13
悬而未决、人人可争的
gave rise to
phr.
4:11
引起、导致
current
/ˈkɜːrənt/
n.
4:11
思潮、潮流（此处非「当前」）
extravagant
/ɪkˈstrævəɡənt/
adj.
4:11
过分的、夸张的
authoritarian
/əˌθɔːrəˈteriən/
adj.
5:06
威权的、专制的
enthrall to
phr.
5:06
（原文为 in thrall to）受……奴役、臣服于
complexion
/kəmˈplekʃən/
n.
5:06
性质、色彩、倾向（引申义）
commentary
/ˈkɑːmənteri/
n.
5:59
评注、注释
first order
adj.
5:59
第一手的、直接的（与「对……的评论」相对）
parlance
/ˈpɑːrləns/
n.
5:59
说法、用语（in modern parlance 用现代的说法）
division of labor
phr.
6:59
分工
megalomaniac
/ˌmeɡələˈmeɪniæk/
adj.
6:59
狂妄自大的、妄自尊大的
at its uttermost crudity
phr.
6:59
用最粗糙的方式说
delivered the goods
phr.
7:59
拿出成果、兑现承诺（习语）
double barrel
adj.
7:59
双重的（原义「双管猎枪」）
entertain
/ˌentərˈteɪn/
v.
7:59
（在心中）怀有、考虑（某想法）
preemptive
/priˈemptɪv/
adj.
9:00
先发制人的
Beyond skeptical reach
phr.
9:00
置于怀疑论触及不到的地方
come out the other side
phr.
10:03
从另一端走出来、熬过去
rock hard
adj.
10:03
坚如磐石的
laying aside
phr.
10:03
搁置、放到一边
sound
/saʊnd/
adj.
11:05
完好的、健全的
dubious
/ˈduːbiəs/
adj.
11:05
可疑的、靠不住的
commonsensical
/ˌkɑːmənˈsensɪkəl/
adj.
11:05
合乎常识的
unnerving
/ʌnˈnɜːrvɪŋ/
adj.
12:01
令人不安的
orderly
/ˈɔːrdərli/
adj.
12:01
有条理的、井然的
malign
/məˈlaɪn/
adj.
13:00
恶意的、有害的
malicious
/məˈlɪʃəs/
adj.
13:00
恶毒的、怀有恶意的
winnow out
phr.
13:00
筛选、去芜存菁（原义扬谷去糠）
indubitable
/ɪnˈduːbɪtəbəl/
adj.
13:00
无可置疑的
premises
/ˈpremɪsɪz/
n.
13:00
（论证的）前提
validate
/ˈvælɪdeɪt/
v.
14:06
证实、为……提供有效性依据
U-turn
/ˈjuːtɜːrn/
n.
14:06
掉头、一百八十度转向
formulation
/ˌfɔːrmjəˈleɪʃən/
n.
15:05
表述、公式化表达
finesse
/fɪˈnes/
n.
16:07
精细手法、技巧
Deliverance
/dɪˈlɪvərəns/
n.
16:07
（此处）意识所给出的内容；本义为拯救、交付
unreconstructed
/ˌʌnriːkənˈstrʌktɪd/
adj.
17:14
未经改造的、原封不动的
reconstituted
/ˌriːˈkɑːnstətuːtɪd/
v.
17:14
重构、重建
gratuitous
/ɡrəˈtuːɪtəs/
adj.
18:12
无端的、无缘无故的
painted himself into a corner
phr.
18:12
把自己逼进死角（习语）
Conjuring trick
n.
19:10
戏法、魔术把戏
threw off his bonds
phr.
19:10
挣脱束缚
acquainted with
phr.
19:10
（哲学用法）直接认知、亲知
ontological
/ˌɑːntəˈlɑːdʒɪkəl/
adj.
20:06
本体论的
intuitive
/ɪnˈtuːɪtɪv/
adj.
20:06
直观的、凭直觉可知的
implanted
/ɪmˈplæntɪd/
v.
21:08
植入、灌输
self-evidentness
/ˌselfˈevɪdəntnəs/
n.
21:08
不证自明性
omnipotent
/ɑːmˈnɪpətənt/
adj.
21:08
全能的
benevolent
/bəˈnevələnt/
adj.
21:08
仁慈的
assent
/əˈsent/
v.
22:18
赞同、同意
precipitously
/prɪˈsɪpɪtəsli/
adv.
22:18
草率地、仓促地
suspend judgment
phr.
22:18
悬置判断
disposition
/ˌdɪspəˈzɪʃən/
n.
22:18
倾向、性向
bypassed
/ˈbaɪpæst/
v.
23:25
绕过、避开
good faith
n.
23:25
诚意、真诚（in good faith 诚心诚意地）
perverse
/pərˈvɜːrs/
adj.
23:25
乖张的、有悖常理的
mouthing words
phr.
24:30
言不由衷地说、空口说白话
positing
/ˈpɑːzɪtɪŋ/
v.
24:30
设定、假定（某物存在）
stripping away
phr.
24:30
剥除、剥离
locationless
/loʊˈkeɪʃənləs/
adj.
25:34
没有位置的、不占空间的
Essence
/ˈesəns/
n.
26:44
本质（哲学术语）
extension
/ɪkˈstenʃən/
n.
26:44
广延（笛卡尔物质的本质属性：占据空间）
susceptible to
phr.
26:44
可被……处理的；易受……影响的
space occupants
n.
27:42
占据空间的东西
vacuum
/ˈvækjuːm/
n.
27:42
真空
didn't come off
phr.
28:46
没有成功、没有实现
of a mathematical character
phr.
28:46
具有数学的性质
notorious
/noʊˈtɔːriəs/
adj.
29:42
声名狼藉的、臭名昭著的
Inquisition
/ˌɪnkwəˈzɪʃən/
n.
29:42
宗教裁判所
repudiated
/rɪˈpjuːdieɪtɪd/
v.
29:42
否定、推翻、拒绝接受
teleological
/ˌteliəˈlɑːdʒɪkəl/
adj.
30:42
目的论的
intellection
/ˌɪntəˈlekʃən/
n.
30:42
理智活动、理解作用
conservation
/ˌkɑːnsərˈveɪʃən/
n.
30:42
守恒（物理学）
equivalence
/ɪˈkwɪvələns/
n.
31:40
等价、等同
a priori
/ˌeɪ praɪˈɔːraɪ/
adj./adv.
31:40
先天的（地）、先验的（不依赖经验）
rationalist
/ˈræʃənəlɪst/
n./adj.
31:40
理性主义者（的）
deduced
/dɪˈduːst/
v.
32:39
演绎、推导出
metaphysics
/ˌmetəˈfɪzɪks/
n.
32:39
形而上学
differential experiments
n.
33:34
判别性实验、区分性实验
blundering around
phr.
33:34
盲目乱撞、跌跌撞撞地摸索
Keen to
phr.
34:27
急于、热切地想要
Godless
/ˈɡɑːdləs/
adj.
34:27
无神的、不信神的
dualism
/ˈduːəlɪzəm/
n.
35:28
二元论
given up the game
phr.
35:28
认输、放弃
pineal gland
/ˈpɪniəl ɡlænd/
n.
35:28
松果腺
Scandal
/ˈskændəl/
n.
36:27
（此处）令人难堪的公开难题；丑闻
idealism
/aɪˈdiːəlɪzəm/
n.
36:27
观念论、唯心论（哲学术语）
do without
phr.
36:27
没有……也行、离开……
embodied
/ɪmˈbɑːdid/
adj.
37:27
具身的、有身体的
egocentric
/ˌiːɡoʊˈsentrɪk/
adj.
38:34
以自我为中心的
autobiographical
/ˌɔːtəˌbaɪəˈɡræfɪkəl/
adj.
38:34
自传性的
epistemological
/ɪˌpɪstəməˈlɑːdʒɪkəl/
adj.
38:34
认识论的
irresistible
/ˌɪrɪˈzɪstəbəl/
adj.
40:35
无法抗拒的
dazzling
/ˈdæzlɪŋ/
adj.
40:35
耀眼的、令人眼花缭乱的
mesmerism
/ˈmezməˌrɪzəm/
n.
40:35
催眠术、迷惑力
intrinsically
/ɪnˈtrɪnzɪkli/
adv.
40:35
本质上、内在地
get round behind
phr.
40:35
绕到……背后（去检视）
prejudices
/ˈpredʒədɪsɪz/
n.
40:35
偏见、成见
imaginative extraction
n.
41:37
想象性抽离（把自己从实际处境中想象地抽出）
unexample
/ʌnɪɡˈzæmpəld/
adj.
41:37
（原文应为 unexampled）无与伦比的、空前的
near to the boat
phr.
42:42
（原文疑为 near the bone）切中要害、一针见血
理解自测 · 11 题 · 是真懂了，还是以为自己懂
1. 笛卡尔的怀疑分为哪三个阶段？每一阶段比前一阶段「更彻底」在哪里？
三个阶段依次是：感官错觉（如木棍在水中看起来是弯的）、梦境论证（我怎能确定此刻不是在做梦）、恶魔假设（设想一个全力欺骗我的恶灵）。威廉斯在「苹果桶」一节指出，第一阶段只是日常层面的怀疑理由；第二阶段把「我在感知周围世界」整体悬置，但它仍预设了某些世界知识（人会睡、会醒、会做梦）；第三阶段则不依赖任何经验前提，连数学与外部世界的存在都可被怀疑，因此是最极端、最纯粹的思想实验。
2. 笛卡尔所说的「思」（thinking）指什么？为什么这一点对理解「我思故我在」很重要？
威廉斯与麦基都强调，笛卡尔的「思」并不只指概念性的推理，而是涵盖一切形式的意识：知觉、疼痛、感受、体验等。所以「我思故我在」更准确的意思是「我有意识地觉知，因此我必定存在」。这一点重要，是因为恶魔论证的核心在于：任何被欺骗的想法本身仍是一个想法，只要我在意识，「我在思」就为真；若把「思」窄化为推理，就会误以为笛卡尔只证明了「理性思考者存在」，而错过论证的普遍性。
3. 威廉斯为什么说在17世纪上半叶「一个人为全部未来科学奠基」不算狂妄？
因为当时我们今天意义上的「科学」——一项有组织、国际性、有实验室与分工的集体事业——根本不存在。知识多以评注亚里士多德等古代典籍的形式出现，「科学家共同体」这个概念尚未形成。威廉斯在讨论历史语境一节（第3—7段）指出，在那种条件下，一个人设想自己找到根本方法并为所有科学打下地基，是合乎情理的计划；只有放到现代，这种想法才会被视为狂妄自大。这也提醒读者不能用当代科学社会学的标准评价笛卡尔。
4. 笛卡尔如何区分「确定性」与「真理」？为什么他仍主张从追求确定性开始？
麦基概括：确定性是一种心灵状态，真理关乎外部事物本然的样子；威廉斯确认笛卡尔清楚二者不同，并未混淆。但笛卡尔认为，只有同时拥有确定性的根据，你才能「知道」自己掌握了真理，方法必须既能产出结论，又能抵御怀疑论。因此他采取「先发制人的怀疑」：自己把怀疑论者能做的都做一遍且做得更好，剩下经受住的东西就无人能再攻击。这是他与日常认知态度的根本差异——日常生活中我们不要求信念达到终极确定。
5. 主持人说笛卡尔「把自己逼进了死角」，具体指什么困境？笛卡尔怎样走出来？
困境在于：怀疑的结果只剩「我在有意识」这一不可怀疑命题，而笛卡尔自己在前一阶段已证明，从意识内容不能确定地推出任何外部事物的存在（桌子的经验不保证桌子存在）。他走出困境的方式是在意识内容中寻找唯一能「通向外部」的观念——上帝观念。依据「较小者不能产生较大者」的因果原则，有限的我不可能是「无限存在者」观念的来源，所以必有上帝存在且创造了我，如同工匠在作品上留下的印记。威廉斯坦言不少人视此为「变戏法」。
6. 上帝在笛卡尔体系中扮演什么认识论角色？为什么威廉斯说方法一旦确立就不再需要信仰上帝？
上帝的角色是「担保者」：他存在、全能、是我的创造者、仁慈，因此不会让尽了本分（清晰思考、不草率赞同）的人被系统地欺骗；由此我对物质世界的强烈信念获得保证，科学得以可能。但威廉斯指出（第33—34段），需要诉诸上帝的地方不是在从事科学时，而是在向怀疑论者证明科学可以进行时；这一证明只需做一次。所以笛卡尔实际上把科学过程从神学约束中解放出来，使用者无需是信徒，这是他方法能被世俗化继承的原因。
7. 蜡块论证想说明什么？它如何导向「物质的本质是广延」的结论？
一块蜡在手中有形状、颜色、气味、质地、温度，放到火前后这些全变了，我们却仍说它是「同一块蜡」。那么不变的是什么？麦基答「一段连续的占据空间的历史」，威廉斯同意：笛卡尔用它说明物体的本质只是占据空间，可用几何与数学处理；颜色、味道、声音等只是意识中的主观效果，由广延世界引起。威廉斯补充，学界对此论证究竟「证明」了多少有争议，但它确实用来阐明这一根本观念，且笛卡尔更进一步认为物体是「一块空间」而非空间中的东西，因为他否认真空。
8. 威廉斯如何纠正「笛卡尔是极端理性主义者」的误读？请结合他对实验的看法说明。
常见误读是：笛卡尔认为整个科学可从「我思—上帝—物质」出发纯靠数学或逻辑演绎得出。威廉斯明确否认：笛卡尔只认为某些根本原理（如物理学必须有守恒定律）可由哲学反思先天得知，而世界实际如何布置、运动模式如何，必须通过实验探究。他还指出笛卡尔思想中「非常现代」的一面：在基本定律之内可以建构多种模型解释同一现象，需用判别性实验在模型间取舍——这与现代「判决性实验」观念一致。笛卡尔反对盲目试探，主张先提出正确的问题。
9. 为什么笛卡尔的二元论既「极难相信」又「几乎无法抗拒」？威廉斯如何解释这一悖论？
极难相信，是因为作为理论它无法解释非广延的心灵如何推动广延的身体——松果腺方案几乎讲不通，莱布尼茨说他「认输了」，17世纪哲学大多在为此善后。几乎无法抗拒，是因为它来自一种人人都有的经验：我们能想象自己从另一个身体望向世界、照镜子看到另一张脸而不惊讶，这种「想象性抽离」的能力让人觉得「我」独立于身体与过去。威廉斯的结论是，哲学的首要任务是理解自己的想象力为何会把自己引向这条错误道路，而不是简单地宣布二元论错了。
10. 如果有人反驳说「上帝是否存在显然取决于文化与心理背景，理性的人可以合理分歧」，笛卡尔会如何回应？这一回应暴露了什么弱点？
依威廉斯（第23—24段），笛卡尔会说：面对这些论证仍否认上帝，就像否认二加二等于四一样乖张且不诚实；分歧者要么想得不够努力、没有按部就班分析，要么是「冒牌」怀疑论者，只在摆修辞姿态。只要诚心诚意、足够专注，任何人都必定赞同。但威廉斯指出这正是体系的致命弱点：它要求有神论论证具有数学般的明证性；一旦承认信仰可以合理分歧（这在今天几乎是常识），整个从上帝担保外部世界与科学的链条就会断裂，笛卡尔就只是「跳过」而非回答了怀疑论者。
11. 把笛卡尔的怀疑法迁移到今天的AI语境：一个只能接触自身「意识内容」（训练数据与输入）的系统，能否重建对外部世界的知识？笛卡尔式框架给出什么启示？
按本期的论证结构，笛卡尔从孤立自我出发重建世界必须借助一个「通向外部」的保证者（上帝），否则只剩意识内容而推不出任何确定的外部事实。类比之下，一个封闭系统若只有内部表征，也无法凭内部一致性证明这些表征对应实在，需要某种外在的担保或反馈（如与世界的交互、实验校正）。威廉斯在结尾的评估提供了另一层启示：主体/客体的区分不可抛弃，科学预设一个可独立于认识过程被认识的世界；但认识者必须被理解为「具身的」而非纯粹心灵——这暗示脱离身体与环境的纯表征系统，正重演笛卡尔式的困境。这是推论性的迁移，视频本身并未直接讨论AI。
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