Chapter 10 9. The search for truth by the light of reason

introduction In this article, the author tries to expound a method that people should follow in pursuit of truth through dialogue, that is, rationality controls behavior.This is the way in which every man can discover himself, first by laying the foundation of his knowledge; second by bringing his knowledge to the highest possible height; third by bringing the light of truth to enrich and enrich his soul. The truth is sought only in the light of reason, without the help of religion and philosophy, to ascertain what an ordinary man holds about all that occupies his mind.These ideas touch on some of the most amazing mysteries in science.It is not necessary for an ordinary man to read every book, nor to study carefully everything taught in school; and it would be a great mistake in his education if he spent too much time in his studies.There were many other things to do in life, and he had to live in such a way that for the greater part of his life his own reason told him to do good deeds, and it might even be assumed that he only gained from them. Knowledge.But he was ignorant when he first came into this world, and as his early knowledge, he could only rely on his weak sense and the authority of the predecessors.Before his reason can control his actions, it is difficult for his imagination to be full of innumerable erroneous ideas; so he must have very good natural talents, and he must learn from a wise person, both of which can make He removes those false dogmas from the mind.Only in this way can he lay the foundation of his knowledge and bring it to the highest possible point.

In this book, I intend to explain what these methods are, and to bring the light of truth to enrich and enrich our souls, and to show everyone a way to discover himself without resorting to anything else. reached this point.This body of knowledge was so necessary in the course of his life that he succeeded in acquiring by study the most mysterious body of knowledge that human reason can possess.But the greatest thing about my plan is not to surprise you at first, so that you can't tell the north from the south because you trust my doctrine.I warn you that the business I am in is not as difficult as it may seem.In fact, those branches of science which do not exceed the capabilities of the human brain are magically linked together as if by a single vertebra.They can be reasoned out one after the other in the necessary order.In order to discover them, it is not necessary to have or master a lot of skills, just start with the simplest things, and then reach the peak step by step through learning.These are the things which I show you here by a series of very clear and simple reasoning.If a man can judge for himself without having observed the same thing, it can only be because he has not seen the matter correctly, or has not seen things as I do.To me it is as dishonorable to discover such problems as a passer-by who suddenly finds beneath his feet a treasure that has more than once escaped the detection of treasure-diggers.In this respect, the so-called "learned men" should have achieved more than I have, but they have not.I was of course very surprised by this.None of them had the patience or perseverance to find their way out of their difficulties, and most of them followed in the footsteps of those who, at the crossroads, give up the road they want to take, and find themselves in thorny fields. I lost my way and lost myself in the cliff.

But I don't expect to detect who is knowledgeable and who is ignorant.Whether all the knowledge we expect can be found in books proves enough to me.Those books contain the good, the useful, and a great deal of the useless, terribly confused, and bewildering stuff, so that to understand them must take more time than life gives us, and we learn from them Finding things that work takes more effort than proving them.This makes me hope to find a simpler method and road, so that the readers will no longer feel troubled.Although I have not quoted anything from Plato or Aristotle, the facts I have presented are difficult to accept by a few authorities.But Plato and Aristotle still have value in real life, just as money drawn from a treasure chest is worth more than money in a peasant's pocket.To this end I do my best to make them equally useful to all, and I cannot find a better way of accommodating this result than sincere conversation.In this honest conversation each family member can pour out his best thoughts to his friend.Messrs. Eudochus, Polyanda, and Episdman, I now suppose a man of normal intelligence, whose judgment is not disturbed by any erroneous thought, and who possesses all reason is purely rational, he would treat as guests two of the most eminent and interesting men of his day, one of whom said nothing at all, while the other knew all that could be learned at school. s things. (Among other discourses that everyone can conceive, as well as local conditions and particular surroundings, I will keep using them as analogies to make their concepts clearer), and they will introduce and deal with the two The main intention of the book's ending.Polyander, Episdman, Udoc Hughes.Polyander: I think you are very lucky to find all these things so perfect in Greek and Latin books.For me, if I had learned as much as you have, I wouldn't be who I am now.To me it might be an angel.I cannot forgive the stupidity of my parents who sent me to court and the army so early that I learned very little.Fortunately, I learned a lot while being your assistant, otherwise I might spend my life mourning my ignorance.

Episdman: In this subject you can learn what you expect, which is the best.This knowledge is very common to people, because curiosity grows with knowledge, and it is like a demon that is difficult to get rid of.Its shortcoming is that when we come to know them, our souls are confused by it.Of course you are better than us, because you don't see things the way we do.But for you, what you lack is the concept of many things, problems, so this will make you troubled. Judoc Hughes: Or, in other words, Ipies de Man, so to speak, well-educated people, can they believe that there are indestructible demons in nature? In my opinion, like every As the nation satisfies the hungry with enough fruit and water, so the truth that can be known about anything satisfies the curiosity that fills the healthy mind.I think even a man who suffers from edema recovers more easily than someone who has a constant insatiable curiosity in his head.Episdurman: Indeed, I have heard that in the past our hopes could not be extended by nature to those seemingly impossible things, and that there was no need to do so, but many of them could be We know, and at the same time, that knowing these things is not only beneficial and satisfying, but necessary in the course of life.I do not believe that anyone can know them without good reason, nor that more can be learned by mere desire.

Judoc Hughes: What would you say to me if I told you that I no longer had the desire to learn at all, and that I was as ignorant as Diogenes? My neighbor's The level of knowledge does not limit my own level of knowledge, just like having my own small piece of land next to their field, without interfering with each other.My mind will deal with occasional problems on its own terms, rather than dreaming that someone else has discovered and solved them.That is to say, to know things by one's own brain, and to seek truth, to seek joy, like a king who lives in a very remote country, even though he is cut off from other people, and there is nothing around him but the barren land. Deserts and inaccessible mountains can also enjoy a kind of quiet beauty.

Episdman: If other people said this to me, then I would regard him as a mentally retarded or imbecile, without any curiosity; except you, in order to get rid of your arrogance, so as to find a connection You are, so to speak, conscious of the fact that this mode of escape saves you the least amount of suffering in an isolated place; so far you have done your part in the cause, and visited those learned places. Doctors, testing the hardest things in every science.This is enough to convince us that you are not lacking in curiosity, not lacking in the desire to learn.Therefore I can only say that you are very happy, and firmly believe that you must have more and more perfect knowledge than other people.

Judock Hughes: Thank you very much for giving me so many good opinions.But I don't want you to have to believe what I have said, and I don't want you to only believe what I say, so that your good intentions will be insulted.It is not necessary for us to offer opinions, opinions that are so far removed from vulgar beliefs, it must be that doing so does not at the same time demonstrate any practical effect; and that is why I invite you both to spend this delightful season here so that I may have an opportunity to explain to you some of what I know.For at the risk of flattering and exalting myself, not only will you realize that I have reason to be happy with this knowledge, but you will also find pleasure in what you are about to learn.

Episdman: I don't want to deny your help to me.Polyanda: I would be more than happy to participate in this discussion, but not that I believe I can learn anything good from it.Judoc Hughes: On the contrary, Polyanda believes me, he thinks you will gain a lot from it, just because you have no prejudice, compared to Epistadman, for me to lead an open-minded It's much easier for people to be on the right track, because Episodman often disagrees with us.But in order to make it easier and quicker for you to understand the nature of the knowledge I am about to study, please identify the difference that exists between the sciences and those simple forms of knowledge that can be acquired without the aid of reason, such as philology, history, , geography, etc., or in short, all knowledge, all things, by experience alone.I agree with this statement: one lifetime is not enough to learn all the knowledge this world contains.But I also convinced him that it would be very stupid to do so.Nor is it necessary, nor is it his duty, to require an ordinary and well-tempered man to know more Greek and Latin culture than he knows the language and culture of Switzerland or Breton.Of course it is not his responsibility to know the history of the British Empire any more than he knows the history of the smallest country in Europe.And I think this kind of people should spend their spare time on good, useful and meaningful things, just like spending money where it is most necessary.As for those so-called "sciences", they are just judgments made by us with the help of previously acquired knowledge.Some of them are deduced from ordinary things that everyone has seen, others are extremely rare and excellent ideas derived from experiments.At the same time I admit that it is impossible for us to study each of the above-mentioned sciences in detail; therefore we must first select from them those useful and valuable things to study; we have to admit the existence of "phoenix" , that is to say, we know nothing about reason, the mysterious things in nature.But I believe that I can realize my promise.In order to explain to you the truths that can be deduced from things that everyone knows, I will give you the power to discover them yourself, so that you will be rewarded, and you will be happy when you spare no effort to seek them. .

Polyanda: For my part, I believe it can be achieved, like everything that can be expected.I would be perfectly satisfied if you would just tell me some numbers, and rejoice that no one is ignorant and ignorant of them, as is the knowledge of God, of the rational soul, of the virtues, of their gifts.These theories and propositions are just like the ancient family members thought they were the most outstanding, although the nobility of the ancient people was only revealed from the remains, these propositions are also considered the most outstanding and prominent theories.I have no doubts that some people's theories began by leading people to believe that their theories could be proved with good reason; but their theories have since been seldom reproduced, and no one knows These theories are gone.Yet these theories are really important.It also cautiously advises us that rather than risk being deceived by blindly believing them, we should look forward to explaining them further sometime in the future.

Episdurman: As far as I am concerned, I have very little intellectual curiosity.You think I have quite a few particular difficulties in each branch of the body of knowledge.In this regard, I really appreciate your candor.You also point out that my difficulties lie chiefly in those knowledges of human art, phantasms, imaginations, in a word, all that are supposed to be the miraculous results of magic.I believe it is useful to know everything.To master them is not to use knowledge, but to make it difficult for one to make judgments because of being confused by an unknown thing. Judoc Hughes: I will do my best to satisfy both parties. In order to adopt a principle that we can finally use, first of all, I want Polyanda to talk to you about everything contained in this world, to know for yourself, and at the same time must It is premised on the premise that Epistmann interrupts our discussion as little as possible, because his observations often force us to leave our topic.In the end, we will come to know these things afresh, though under other circumstances they have little to do with us, and they may prove to be right or wrong, good or evil.We still do.It is in this context that Epistmann sometimes interprets the difficulties that exist in previous discourses.

Polyander: Then tell us the principles that will be followed in your interpretation!Judoc Hughes: As all our knowledge originates from the human soul, we must first begin with it; and having acquainted with its nature and substance, we can know God, the master of the soul; when When we know who God is and how He made everything in the universe, we can arrive at the most reliable knowledge of other things; and we can also know how our senses perceive things, and how our impressions how it becomes wrong or right.Thereafter, I will show you the material productive labor of human beings, or after you have been captivated by the most powerful machines, I will reveal to you rare automatons, extensive spatial imagination, the most imperceptible things that man can invent. The secrets of the very subtle tricks and so on, which are actually very simple, then you will no longer be confused by the things created by human beings.After I have known nature and explained to you all the changes in nature, the changes in their nature and the reasons why the souls of plants and animals are different from the souls of men, I will overturn your idea that the world is composed of sensible things thesis.The beauties of heaven, the positive conclusions of which we have observed, I shall examine, and I shall judge by the most reasonable guesses of which no one can affirmatively judge. At the same time, it is also to try to show the connection between the sensible and the rational, and also to show the co-creator of both--the eternal thing, the eternal thing, that is, God.Then we can come to the second part of this doctrine, in which we shall study all the sciences in detail, and select from each scientific discipline the most reliable knowledge.We shall also find a more useful and efficient method by which even a mediocre intellect can find himself, even the smallest things.When ready to judge the perfection of truth, we must follow our will, distinguish good from evil, and discover the real difference between virtue and evil.If you did that, I believe your thirst for knowledge would not be so strong.Everything I have told you seems so plausible that you might believe that even a man who has grown up in the desert and has never been helped too much by the light of reason, if he carefully analyzes and weighs the same cause , nor can he come to a view different from ours.Before embarking on this essay, we must question what humans know first: why is it that what is found in our minds is so perfect in the first place?Episdman: If we compare a child's imagination to a "whiteboard", our thoughts on this "whiteboard" are similar to the characteristics of everything we get from nature, that is, we directly obtain information from outside, Acquire knowledge, then what I am going to explain will become very clear and understandable.Feelings, intentions, God, and wisdom, they are all different "printers" and all have the ability to "imprint"; Bewildered instincts and foolish education go together.As wisdom, the last is the best, yet to acquire it often requires years of study, just as an apprentice must long follow his master's example before he dares to correct his mistakes.This, it seems to me, is one of the chief causes of the difficulty in obtaining true and reliable knowledge.For what our senses really perceive is often the only thing, and the grossest, the most common; They cannot compel us to accept their reason before our judgment has tested it.Their purpose is to fit the end result to their reason.It is like asking a clever painter to put his best strokes on a very bad picture drawn by a beginner. It is to use all his artistic talents to correct one defect after another. Useless.In the end, even if he made up for all the shortcomings of this painting, it is inevitable that there are still many shortcomings, because there were problems when the painting was conceived from the very beginning, and the objects and characters in this painting are very bad, and the mistakes are made in the wrong places. It accounts for a large proportion. Judoc Hughes: Your parable sets up the first obstacle in our pursuit of truth; we want to avoid it, but you do not show us the means by which it can be exploited.I think it would be better for your artist to just take a sponge and wipe everything off the painting and start over, rather than spend time revising it.Therefore everyone who has reached an intellectual age should always free himself from the inaccurate imaginations, though these ideas have hitherto deeply impressed on them, and at first they were difficult to form. new ideas.Moreover, if he has not perfected these thoughts, he has to exert all his intellect with such zeal, that his mistakes will appear not only in the weakness of the senses, but also in the errors of reason. . Episdurman: If we accept it easily, it will be a good medicine; but without the help of strong reason, it will not achieve the purpose of eliminating these false ideas.I hope you are not unaware of these consciousnesses that are deeply imprinted on us, and this is our only will.Judoc Hughes: This is why I want to teach you; if you want to gain anything from our intercourse, you must concentrate, give your all, and allow me to talk to Polyanda, for this I may feel sad for what he has learned.If this knowledge is not enough to satisfy him, it is bad and worthless, like a mansion without a solid foundation.On the contrary, in order to build a new building, I think the best way is to build a solid foundation.The same should be true for learning things, expressing opinions, and expounding one's own thoughts.You should have solid knowledge first, and then do other things.I myself do not wish to be a very ordinary craftsman.These people think that it is difficult for them to acquire new knowledge, because they just do it in the old way, step by step, stick to the old rules, and have no innovation.However, we can.Polyanda, when we destroy the whole edifice, at the same time we build a solid foundation as we intended.For the successful realization of our wishes, the best and strongest materials should be prepared; and supposing you will join me in examining those truths which men can know, which are the most certain and simplest knowledge. POLYANDA: Is there anyone here who doubts that sensible things (and here I mean things that can be seen and touched) are more certain than other things? It seems to me that if you can ask I should be amazed that I clearly state those things which are said to be created by God and our minds. Judoc Hughes: However, that's exactly what I'm hoping to do, and I'm amazed at how credulous people are about sensory perception, and that there's not a single person here who realizes that sensory perception is constantly deceiving us.Because of this, we have reason to distrust perceptual knowledge that has betrayed us. Polianda: I am quite aware that the senses (senses) sometimes deceive us when they are adversely affected, like a patient who thinks all food is bitter.Just like we look at the stars in the sky, it is difficult for us to know its size.The same is true for these perceptual knowledge, which are far from the true colors of things; that is to say, it is difficult for these perceptual knowledge to be consistent with the essence of things.But all these mistakes are easy to understand, and it doesn't stop me from seeing what you mean, or seeing you now; we walk together in the garden, the sun shines on us, in a word, all my feelings are usually real. Judoc Hughes: Although it is difficult for me to tell you under what circumstances how your perceived perceptual knowledge deceives us, but in order to prevent you from being deceived again in other situations where you are not aware of it, I will To ask you further, have you ever seen a person suffering from depression think he is a vase?Have you ever met someone who thought his body was gigantic?They might swear they had seen and touched what he had imagined.If a common man is considered ignorant because he finds it difficult to explain his knowledge of objective things, it would also seem correct to reason with this logic, since knowledge of objective things often depends on man's sense of them and on his imagine.But I ask if you don't want, and don't like, everyone else to be asleep - don't be mad! If you can't imagine seeing me when you're asleep, then go for a walk in the garden, the sun will surely shine With you, in a word, what everyone imagined will become a reality.Haven't you ever heard of a comedy that has "Am I awake or am I asleep"?How can you be so sure that you haven't been dreaming all your life?Is not your knowledge of the senses as fallible as that of your sleep?Even more amazing is when you know that you were created by a "Superman" who is omnipotent and created us without the difficulty I described, then you still believe that you are the original look? Polyander: If Epistadman is absorbed in thinking, there is certainly reason enough for him to be ashamed of his knowledge.As for me, if I never learn or detach my mind from perceptual knowledge, then I may become crazy, and I will think about those problems by myself, which may be a little beyond my ability. Episdman: I think it's extremely dangerous to stray too far from rationality. "Doubting everything" would take me directly to Socrates' "ignorance", or a degree of "skepticism".It's like having difficulty seeing our feet because the water is too deep. Judoc Hughes: I admit that it is certainly a risk to venture into the abyss without a guide, and that many will be lost, but follow me, and you have no reason to be afraid.Indeed, it is precisely because of this fear that it is difficult for many learned people to reach the pinnacle of science, and it is difficult to obtain a firm and definite theory that can be called "science", just like building a house on a pile of sand. Rather than building a house with a solid foundation in the ground.When it is assumed that there is nothing here to rely on from these learned men, their beliefs are more certain and sure than what our senses perceive.We can't just stop there and go on, although you don't want to examine the reasons I've stated in depth.As long as these reasons affect your imagination, they serve the purpose I hoped to achieve.Since they make you doubt everything, it shows that your knowledge is unreliable, and as a result you doubt the reliability of your own knowledge.This also shows that I have fulfilled my desire to shame you on your knowledge by showing its unreliability.However, in addition to being afraid, you lack the courage to continue to study deeply with me.I tell you, those questions that frighten you at first are like apparitions, hallucinations in the dim light of night.Assuming you can fly, you'll have nothing but wind and shadows as you get close to grabbing them. Polyanda: By trusting your reason, I wish to resolve all difficulties before me in the most vigorous manner.I wonder if I spend my life in a dream? Is it only through the "window" of my senses that my thoughts, thoughts can enter my brain? Can these thoughts be self-contained? It's like dreaming while sleeping , or when my eyes are closed, my ears are closed, in a word, can these thoughts still occur when all my sense organs stop working? If you follow this theory, I am not sure whether you exist in this world superior?Does the earth exist?Is there sun?Not only that, even when we were talking to each other, I wondered if I had eyes, ears, a physical existence?All in all, I doubt everything!