Chapter 2 volume two

Chapter One The exploration of natural truth is not easy, but it can also be said that it is not difficult.People in the world have never been able to go straight into the depths of the truth, but everyone has their own insights, and they can often get what they want when they gather ideas and ideas. Some people may feel insignificant if they seem to have a god, or they will be at a loss, but after a long time It has been tested by many people, since ancient times, the accumulation of wisdom has been quite a lot.Because the truth is like a proverb's door, no one will enter it by mistake, and if it is used as a metaphor, learning is not difficult.However, people often acquire a lot of knowledge, and the part he is actually pursuing is really at a loss, which makes it difficult to explore.

There are two kinds of troubles. Perhaps the current troubles are not caused by the cases but by ourselves.Just as the eyes of a bat are illuminated by the sun, so is the intellect in our spirituality that is so dazzled by things. In fact, everything in the universe is clearly visible. We have benefited from our predecessors, and we should not only be grateful to those who agree with our views, but also not to forget their benefits to those more general thinkers; has contributed.It is true that without Timothy we would not have much lyric poetry; but without Frinny there would be no Timothy.The same is true of truth; we have inherited certain ideas from several thinkers, and these ideas have depended on previous thinkers for their emergence.

Philosophy is rightly called knowledge of truth.For the purpose of theoretical knowledge is truth, and the purpose of practical knowledge is its use.People who are engaged in practical studies always only think about the current problems and related things, so as to make them practical, and they don't care about the truth of things.Now when we talk about a truth, we must ask why, if the quality of one thing can infect other things, so that they have similar qualities, then it must be higher than another thing (for example, fire is the hottest, which is the cause of all things fever); Thus, that which can make other things have real consequences must be most real in itself.The principles of eternal things are always the truest principles (they are not only sometimes true), and they depend on nothing else to be what they are, but on the contrary they are the cause by which other things are what they are.Therefore the truth of each thing must agree with the reality of each thing.

Chapter Two Obviously, there must be first principles in the world, and things cannot have endless series of causes, nor can there be infinite types of causes.Because (a) a thing cannot be traced back to its material origin (material cause) as to the endless background, for example, muscle comes from the earth, earth comes from the air, and air comes from the fire, and the history is endless.Nor can we root out the source of its changes (cause) to become an endless series, for example, people move because of it, Qi moves because of the sun, and the sun moves because of struggle, and the analogy is endless.Similarly, the ultimate cause cannot be carried on endlessly - walking for health, health for happiness, happiness for other, other for other, such endless "for".The same is true for the question of what is the "principal cause".Because on the issue of "intermediate body", "intermediate body" must have two nouns before and after, and the reason why the former name must be the latter name.If people ask which of the three is the cause, we should answer with the first name; the last one is not the cause but the result, and the intermediate is only the cause of the last one (then the original cause should be found in the last one). first place>.

(It doesn't matter here whether the intermediates are one or many, and it doesn't matter whether their number is exhausted or endless.) If the series of intermediates is endless or the kinds are endless, it is still impossible to go down to any intermediate. It is an intermediate; if there is no "first", there will be no cause. After a starting point is established above, it cannot proceed endlessly downward, just like clouds and water are formed by fire, and the earth is formed by water. It cannot be that once there is a "cause" there will be endless consequences. "From" (EJ) has two meanings—here, "by" is not interpreted as "after";

One meaning is like "from" children to adults, and children become human beings; or the other meaning is like "from" to water.When we say "people come from childhood", what it means is "one thing changes and another thing becomes, one thing ends and another thing begins" (creation and change are originally between "what is" and "what is not" ; since the apprentice is a master in creation, we say that a master becomes "from" the apprentice); on the other hand, "air from water" means that one thing is destroyed and another is made.Therefore, the former type of change is irreversible, and adults cannot return to children (because this is due to change, it is not turned into "that is" because of "this is"; Baishu, just because Baishu followed Tianshu; like this, we can’t reverse it and say that Baishu became Tianshu); but another type of change is reversible.In both cases there cannot be an infinite number of items.Because the items of the former category are intermediates, which must be stopped, while the items of the latter category are mutual changes; their success and failure are connected.

At the same time, since the first cause is eternal, it should not be destroyed; because the process of creation is not endless in its upward direction (there must be a first cause), and subsequent things must be successively produced by the destruction of this first cause, then This first cause will not be eternal. Again, the ultimate cause is an "end" for nothing else, but for this end all other things are; with this end, the process does not go on endlessly; There is no ultimate cause, but those who advocate endless series are unconsciously obliterating the "goodness" (but anyone is helpless before there is no limit); the world will also lose its rationality; People always meet a purpose and then make a difference, which is the limit; the ultimate is "limitation".

Nor can "how is" lead to another, fuller definition.The original definition is always a closer definition than the derived one; in such a series, if the first definition is not right, the subsequent steps will not be right.Also, people who say this actually destroy scholarship; because it is impossible to achieve no reparsable terms.According to these ideas, knowledge also becomes impossible; if things really have such infinite meanings, how can one recognize things?Because this is not like a line, which can be divided infinitely, but in fact, as far as the line is concerned, the infinite differentiation is still unimaginable. To trace an infinitely divisible line, he cannot count how many segments). —It is also impossible to imagine the infinity of matter in terms of changeable things.If infinite things can exist, the idea of ​​infinity is not infinite.

But (b) if the kinds of causes were infinite, knowledge would also be impossible; for we can study knowledge only after we have ascertained several kinds of causes. Insiders can't list them. Chapter three For a group of listeners, the effect of academic courses depends on the habits of the listeners; we are happy to hear the language we are familiar with, and the unfamiliar language is contrary to our habits, it seems difficult to understand, and it seems to be a foreign language.Intelligible speech is customary speech.The power of habit is exemplified by the law, a law gradually produced by habit, in which the mythical and childish elements often predominate over the intellectual ones.Some people will not listen unless the speaker speaks in the language of mathematics, some will ask him to give examples, others will expect him to prove it in poetry.There are some who demand that everything be said with precision, and others find it abhorrent, because they themselves are rough, and fine speech does not connect with their thoughts, or because they regard precision as trivial.Sophistication is somewhat cumbersome in nature, and is therefore discounted both commercially and polemically.

Therefore, people must first understand and be familiar with various methods of debate, because both knowledge and learning methods require arduous efforts, which cannot be taught in the study of various specialized academic methods at the same time.Not all problems require a high degree of mathematical sophistication, sophistication is only required for metaphysical problems.Since all nature presupposes the existence of matter, natural science does not need excessively precise methods.We must first study what nature is, and then proceed to examine what the natural sciences discuss. [And whether the study of the causes and principles of things belongs to one or several disciplines. ]