Chapter 11 Chapter 9 Judging the Author's Subject Matter

The world of books is the same as the world of business, not only to know how to reach a consensus, but also to know how to make proposals.A buyer's or seller's proposal is a plan, an offer or a promise.In an honest transaction, when one proposes, one declares one's intention to do things according to a certain pattern.In successful negotiations, apart from honesty, the proposal must be clear and attractive.In this way, both parties to the transaction can reach a consensus. The proposal in the book, which is the main idea, is also a statement.That is the author expressing his judgment on something.He asserts something which he believes to be true, or denies something which he judges to be false.He insists that this or that is the truth.Such a proposal is a statement of knowledge, not of intent.The author's intention may have told us at the very beginning of the preface.In the case of an expository work, usually he promises to instruct us to do something.In order to determine whether he has kept these promises, we must find out his propositions.

In general, the reading process is the exact opposite of the business process.Businessmen usually come to a consensus after they figure out what the proposal is.But the reader has to reach a consensus with the author before he can understand what the author's main idea is and what kind of judgment he is declaring.That is why the fifth rule of analytical reading has to do with words and word meanings, and the sixth, which we are now discussing, has to do with sentences and proposals. The seventh rule is closely related to the sixth rule.A writer may express his thoughts honestly in terms of events, facts, or knowledge.Usually we also read with a sense of trust in the author.But unless we are extremely interested in the author's personality, we cannot be satisfied simply by knowing his point of view.If the author's subject is not supported by theory, he is just expressing his personal thoughts.If it is the book, the subject, that interests us rather than the author himself, then we want to know not only what the author claims, but why he thinks we should be persuaded to accept it.

Thus, the seventh rule is concerned with various arguments.A statement is always supported by many reasons and many methods.Sometimes we can forcefully assert the truth, and other times we can at best talk about the possibility of something.But any kind of argument contains some statement expressed in some way. "Because" that, so will say this. The word "because" represents a reason. When expressing an argument, words are used to connect related statements, such as: "if" is true, "then" will be that.Or "because" so, "so" like that.Or "according to" the discourse, that would be so.In the earlier chapters of this book, such causally related sentences also appear.Because for those of us who left school, we learned that if we were going to continue learning and discovering, we had to know how to let a book teach us.In that case, "if" we want to continue learning, "then" we need to know how to learn from a book, from a teacher who is not with us.

A statement is always a set or series of statements that provide grounds or reasons for a certain conclusion.Therefore, when illustrating an argument, it is imperative to use a paragraph of text, or at least some relevant sentences to illustrate it.The premise or principle of the argument may not be stated at first, but that is the source of the conclusion.If the argument holds, then the conclusion must be deduced from the premises.However, this does not mean that this conclusion must be true, because some or all of the premise assumptions may be wrong. The order in which we explain these rules is based on grammar and logic.From the consensus to the main idea, and then to the argument, the method of expression is from words (and words) to a sentence, and then to a series of sentences (or paragraphs) to illustrate.We went from the simplest combinations to the most complex ones.Of course, the smallest unit of meaning in a book is the word.But if it is said that a book is a combination of a series of words, it is not wrong, but it is not appropriate.In books, groups of words or sentences are often used as units.An active reader not only pays attention to words, but also to sentences and paragraphs.Other than that, there is no other way to discover an author's consensus, themes, and arguments.

When we come here to analytic reading—the purpose of which is to interpret the author's intention—seems to run counter to the direction of development of the first stage—the purpose of which is to grasp the structural outline.We have gone from a book as a whole, to its major parts, to its minor parts.But as you might have guessed, there will be points of intersection between the two approaches.The main sections, and main paragraphs, of the book contain many themes, and often many arguments.If you go on breaking down a book into parts, you end up saying, "In this part, the following points emerge." a discourse.

Thus, the two processes, mastery of outline and interpretive intent, intersect at the level of thesis and discourse.When you break down the parts of a book, you can find the main idea and discussion.Then you carefully analyze what themes and even the meaning of words constitute a discussion.When you have completed these two steps, you can say that you really understand the content of a book. ※ Sentence and subject We have already mentioned that in this chapter we will discuss other things related to this rule.Just like the question about words and consensus, we also have to talk about the relationship between language and thought.Sentences and paragraphs are the units of grammar and language.Themes and discourses are logical units, that is, units of thought and knowledge.

The problem we face here is very similar to the problem we faced in the previous chapter.Because language is not the perfect medium for interpreting ideas; because a word can have many meanings, and more than one word can represent the same meaning, we can see how complicated the relationship between an author's terms and technical terms is. .One word may represent multiple meanings, and one meaning may be represented by many words. Mathematicians compare the buttons and buttonholes on a good coat to a one-to-one relationship.Each button has a buttonhole that fits, and each buttonhole has a button that fits.Here's the point, though: the relationship between words and meanings is not one-to-one.The biggest mistake you can make in applying this rule is to think that there is a one-to-one relationship between language and thought or knowledge.

In fact, it would be wise not to make too simplistic assumptions, even about the relationship between buttons and buttonholes.Men's blazers have buttons on the sleeves, but no buttonholes.The jacket may have been worn for a while, and may have holes in it instead of buttons. Let us illustrate the relationship between sentences and gist.Not every sentence in a book is about the main idea.Sometimes, some sentences are expressing questions.They raise questions, not answers.Themes are the answers to these questions.The subject matter states knowledge or opinion.This is why we say that sentences expressing such statements are declarative sentences, while sentences that ask questions are interrogative sentences

oOther sentences express hope or attempt.These sentences may give us some insight into the author's intentions, but they do not convey the knowledge he wants to refine. In addition, not every narrative sentence can be regarded as expressing a main idea.There are at least two reasons for this.The first is the fact that words are ambiguous and can be used in many different sentences.Therefore, if the meaning of the words is changed, it is likely that the same sentence is expressing different ideas. "Reading is learning" is a simple statement.But sometimes we say "learning" as acquiring knowledge, and at other times we say learning as developing understanding.Because the meaning is different, the subject matter is also different.But the sentences are the same.

Another reason is that all sentences are not as simple as "reading is learning".When a simple sentence uses unambiguous words, it is usually expressing a single idea.But even if the words are not ambiguous, a compound sentence may express one or two main ideas.A compound sentence is actually a combination of sentences connected by words such as "and", "if...then" or "not only...but also".You may thus appreciate that it can be difficult to tell the difference between a compound sentence and a short paragraph of an article.A compound sentence can also express many different themes discursively.

Sentences like that can be difficult to interpret.Let us illustrate with an interesting sentence from Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince: Even if a king cannot win the love of the people, he must avoid hatred in order to arouse the awe of the people; because as long as he does not deprive the people of their property and women, he will not be hated, and he can endure the awe of the people for a long time.Grammatically speaking, this is a single sentence, but it is very complex.The semicolon and "because" are the main subparagraphs of the whole sentence.The gist of the first part is that the king should somehow arouse the awe of the people. And starting with "because" is actually another sentence. (This can also be narrated in another independent way: "The reason why he can bear the awe of the people for a long time is because..." etc.) This sentence expresses at least two main points: (1) A king should arouse the awe of the people. The reason for awe is that as long as he is not hated, he can be feared by the people for a long time. (2) To avoid being hated by the people, he should not deprive the people of their property and women. In a long and complex sentence, it is important to distinguish between different themes.Whether you want to agree or disagree with Machiavelli, you have to understand what he means.But in this sentence, he's talking about three things.You may disagree with one point, but agree with two others.You might think Machiavelli was wrong because he was promoting terrorism to all kings.But you may have also noticed that he shrewdly said that it is best not to let the people hate with awe.You might also agree that not dispossessing people of their property and women is necessary to avoid hatred.You can't tell what the author is talking about unless you can make out the different themes in a complex sentence. Lawyers are well aware of this truth.They look carefully at what sentences the plaintiff stated and what the defendant denied.A simple sentence: "John Don signed the lease on March 24." Seems simple enough, but says more than one thing, some of which may be true and some of which may not.John Don may have signed the lease, but not on March 24, and that fact may be important.To put it simply, even a single grammatical sentence can sometimes say more than two themes. We have made it clear enough between the distinction between the sentence and the subject.They are not a one-to-one relationship.Not only can a single sentence express different ideas, whether ambiguous or compound, but the same idea can be expressed in two or more different sentences.If you can catch the synonyms we use between the lines, you'll know we're talking about: "The functions of teaching and learning are coherent" and "The imparting of knowledge and the receiving of knowledge are closely related processes." , are talking about the same thing. Let's stop talking about the important points related to grammar and logic, and start talking about rules.In this chapter, as in the last, the hardest thing is to stop explaining.In any case, we assume that you already know a little grammar.We are not saying that you have to be completely proficient in sentence structure, but you should pay attention to the order of words in a sentence and the relationship between them.Some knowledge of grammar is necessary for a reader.Unless you can see beyond the surface of language to its meaning, you cannot deal with problems of meaning, tenor, and discourse—the elements of thought.As long as words, sentences and paragraphs are opaque and unparsed, they are a barrier to communication, not a medium.You read some words, but you do not acquire knowledge. Now for the rules.You've seen the fifth rule in the last chapter: Find keywords and agree with the author.The sixth rule can be said to be: Circle the most important sentences in a book to find the main idea.The seventh rule is: From the association of related sentences, try to construct the basic discussion of a book.You'll see in a moment why we don't use the word "paragraph" in this rule. Incidentally, these new rules apply to expository works as well as the previously stated rules of agreement with the author.When you are reading a book of literature—novels, plays, and poems—these rules about gist and argument are quite different.Later we will talk about how to make some changes in the application to read those books. ※ Find the key sentence In a book, where is the most important sentence?How should these sentences be interpreted in order to find the main idea or themes contained in them? Again, our focus is on picking out what's important.When we say that there are only a few really key sentences in a book, we don't mean that you can ignore other sentences.Of course, you should know every sentence.And most sentences, like most words, will come to you without difficulty.We mentioned when we talked about speed reading that you can read these sentences fairly quickly.From a reader's point of view, the sentences that matter to you are the ones that take a little effort to interpret because you don't fully understand them when you first see them.You understand these sentences only so far as you know there is more to understand.You will read these sentences more slowly and carefully.These sentences may not be the most important to the author, but they probably are, because when you come to the place that the author thinks is the most important, it should be particularly difficult.Needless to say, you should read these sections with great care. From the author's point of view, the most important sentence is the part that states the author's judgment throughout the argument.A book usually contains more than one or a series of expositions.The author explains why he has the views he has now, or why he thinks the situation has serious consequences.He may also discuss some of the words he wants to use.He will criticize other people's work.He will try to add as many relevant and supporting arguments as possible.But the main core of his communication is his positive and negative judgments.and why he did it.Therefore, to grasp the key points, it is necessary to see the important sentences that emerge from the article. Some authors will help you do this.They will underline the words.Either they tell you that these are the main points, or they use a different typography to make the main sentences stand out.Of course, none of this will help if you're groggy while reading.We have encountered many readers or students who simply do not pay attention to the marks that have been made so clearly.They just read along without pausing to pay close attention to the important sentences. There are a few books that will write the main idea first, and explain it in an obvious place.Euclid gives us one of the most obvious examples.Not only does he begin by stating his definitions, postulates, and principles—his basic themes—but he also demonstrates each of them.You may not know everything he says, and you may disagree with all of his arguments, but you cannot fail to notice these important sentences, or strings of sentences that prove what he says. The Summa Theologica, written by St. Thomas Aquinas, also highlights these points in the way that important sentences are explained.The way he does it is by asking questions.Questions are asked at the beginning of each paragraph.These questions all imply the answers that Aquinas wants to justify, and include diametrically opposed claims.When Aquinas wanted to defend his ideas, he marked it with a sentence like "My answer."In such a book—a book that states both reasons and conclusions—there is no reason not to miss important sentences.But for some readers who value everything equally, such a book is still a fog.Whether they read fast or slow, they read the entire book at the same speed.And that usually means that all the content is less important. Apart from books with special emphasis, calling the reader's attention to places that need interpretation, it is actually the reader's job to do for himself to find the important sentences.There are several things he can do.We have already mentioned one of them.If he finds that some sentences are easy to understand while others are difficult to understand when reading, he can determine that the sentence contains the main meaning.Perhaps you are beginning to understand that part of reading is to be confused, and to know that you are confused.Doubt is the beginning of wisdom, learning from books is the same as learning from nature.If you can't ask a single question about an essay, you can't expect a book to give you perspective you didn't already have. Another clue to find the key sentence is to find the words that make up the key sentence.If you have circled important words, it will definitely lead you to sentences worth noting.In interpretive reading, therefore, the first step is a preparation for the second.vice versa.Chances are you marked some words because you were confused about some sentences.In fact, although we have fixed the order before and after explaining these rules, you don't have to read them in this order.The meaning of words constitutes the subject, and the subject contains the vocabulary.If you know what the word means, you'll be able to grasp the gist of the sentence.If you understand the gist of a sentence, you have also grasped the meaning of its meaning. What follows is a further clue to find the main theme.These themes must be in the main argument of a book—either the premises or the conclusion.So if you can find these contextually related sentences in sequence—find the order of beginning and end—you may have found those important key sentences. The sequence we are talking about has a beginning and an end.The expression of any kind of discussion takes some time.You can finish a sentence in one breath, but when you want to express an argument, there are always some pauses.You say one thing, then another, and then another.A discourse starts somewhere, goes through somewhere, and arrives somewhere.That's an evolutionary shift in thought.It may be the conclusion at the beginning, and then slowly speak out the reasons.It may also be to state the evidence and reasons first, and then lead you to a conclusion. Of course, it's the same thing here: clues are of no use to you unless you know how to use them.When you see a statement, you need to refresh it.Despite some disappointing experiences, we still believe that the human mind is as sensitive to discourse as the eye is to color. (Of course, some people may be "discourse blind"!) But if the eyes are not open, you cannot see the color.If the mind is not alert, it cannot perceive where discourse occurs. Many people think they know how to read because they can read at different speeds.But they often pause in the wrong places and read slowly.They pause for a sentence that interests them, but not for a sentence that bothers them.In fact, this is the biggest obstacle when reading non-contemporary works.What an ancient work contains is sometimes surprising because it is different from life as we know it.But when you're reading for understanding, it's not that novelty you're after.On the one hand you are interested in the author himself, or in his language, or in the words he uses, and on the other hand, what you want to know is his thought.For these reasons, the rules we discuss are meant to help you understand a book, not to satisfy your curiosity. ※ Find out the gist Assuming you've found the important sentence, here's another of the sixth rule, Requirements.You have to find out what the main idea is contained in each sentence.This is another way of saying you have to know what the sentence is saying.When you discover the meaning of the words used in a passage, you have found agreement with the author.In the same way, after interpreting each word that makes up a sentence, especially the key words, you will find the main idea. Again, unless you know a little grammar, you can't do this well.You need to know the usage of adjectives and adverbs, the function of verbs relative to nouns, how some modifying words and clauses can limit or expand the words and sentences they modify, and so on.Ideally, you would analyze entire sentences according to the rules of sentence structure.But you don't have to do it formally.Although grammar teaching is not given much attention in schools these days, we still assume that you already know a little grammar.We can't believe you don't know this, but in the field of reading, you may feel rusty due to lack of practice. There are only two differences between finding out what the words mean and what the sentences are saying.One is that the latter involves more content.Just as you need to explain a particular word in terms of other surrounding words, you also need to understand the question sentence with the help of contextual sentences.In both cases, you progress from what you know to gradually understanding what you didn't know. Another difference is that complex sentences usually have more than one idea to say.You still can't fully interpret an important sentence unless you can analyze all the different, or related, themes.To do this proficiently requires regular practice.Try to find some complex sentences in this book and write the gist of them in your own words.List the numbers and find the correlation between them. "In your own words" is the best way to test whether you understand the gist of a sentence.If you are asked to paraphrase a sentence written by an author, and you just repeat what he said, or make a small change in order, you'd better wonder if you really understand the sentence.Ideally, you should be able to say the same thing in completely different terms.Of course, this ideal accuracy can be divided into many degrees.But if you can't let go of the words the author used, it means that what he has passed on to you is only the "words", not his "thoughts or knowledge".You only know his words, not his thoughts.What he wants to communicate with you is knowledge, and what you get is just some words. The process of translating a foreign language into English is related to what we call this test.If you can't say in an English sentence what the French sentence is saying, then you know that you don't really understand the French sentence.Even if you could, your translation would probably be only colloquial—because even if you could paraphrase it in English accurately, you still might not know what the French sentence was trying to explain. To translate a sentence of English into another language is not just a matter of speaking.The new sentences you make up are not colloquial copies of the original.Even if it is precise, it is only the precise meaning.That's why if you want to make sure you've absorbed the gist and not just swallowed the words, it's the best way to test with this translation.Even if you fail the quiz, you'll still find out where your understanding falls short.If you say you understand what the author is saying, but can only repeat what the author has said, you will lose sight of the themes when they are expressed in other words. When an author writes, he may use different words to express the same idea.If the reader cannot see the gist of a sentence through the text, it is easy to regard different sentences as explaining different gist.It’s as if a person doesn’t know that although 2+2=4 and 4-2=2 are different formulas, they describe the same arithmetic relationship—this relationship is that four is double of two, or two is half of four. You can conclude that the person doesn't understand the problem at all.The same conclusion can fall on you, or anyone who cannot tell the same gist from many similar sentences, or who cannot make a similar meaning out of his own when you ask him to say the gist of a sentence. instruction of. Thematic reading is already covered here—reading several books on the same topic.Different authors often say the same thing in different words, or say different things in the same word.A reader can never compare related works without being able to discern meaning and purpose through the language of the text.Because of the variety of colloquial languages, he would mistakenly think that some authors disagree with each other, and he may ignore the differences between some authors because they describe similar terms. There is another test to see if you understand the main idea of ​​the sentence.Can you name an experience you have experienced that describes the subject, or is in some way related to the subject?Can you explain the general principles that apply to the particular situation that the author describes?You can make up a fictional example or quote a real one.If you can't give any examples or explain anything about the idea, you might suspect that you don't really understand what the sentence is saying. Not all themes are suitable for this testing method.Some require special experience, such as the subject of science, you may need to use the laboratory to prove whether you understand.But the main point is clear.The theme does not exist in a vacuum, but is related to the world we live in.Unless you can show some fact, actual or possible, relevant to the gist, you are juggling words, not understanding ideas or knowledge. Let's take an example.In metaphysics, a basic tenet may be stated thus: "Nothing works except what actually exists." We have heard many students repeat this sentence to us with complacency.They think that if they repeat the sentence perfectly in colloquial language, they have an answer to us or to the author.But when we ask them to express the main idea in this sentence in different sentences, they get confused.Few people can say: If something does not exist, it cannot have any effect.But this is actually the most obvious impromptu translation—at least, very obvious to anyone who understands the gist of the original sentence. Since no one could translate it, we had to ask them to give an illustration of the gist.If any of them could say that the grass does not grow by the raindrops that may fall, or that one's savings account does not increase by the possible savings.That way we know they really got the gist. The disadvantage of "verbalism" can be said to be a bad habit of using words without realizing the thought conveyed in them, or not paying attention to the experience implied in them.That's just playing with words.As pointed out by the two test methods we proposed, people who refuse to use analytical reading are most likely to commit the problem of playing with words.These readers have never been able to go beyond the text itself.They can only memorize and recite what they read.One of the biggest mistakes made by modern educators is to violate the art of education. They only want to recite words, but in the end it is counterproductive.The failure of people to read without training in the arts of grammar and logic—and the ubiquitous “colloquialism”—is a testament to how the absence of such training can be a slave to words rather than a master. ※ Find the discussion We've spent a lot of time discussing the gist.Now for the seventh rule of analytical reading.What this requires the reader to deal with is a combination of a bunch of sentences.As we said earlier, there is a reason why we do not interpret this reading rule with a sentence such as "The reader should find the most important passage".The reason for this is that when the author writes, he does not set rules for paragraphs to follow.Some great writers, like Montaigne, Locke, or Proust, write incredibly long paragraphs; others, like Machiavelli, Hobbes, or Tolstoy, prefer short paragraphs.Modern people are influenced by the style of newspapers and magazines, and most writers will simplify paragraphs to meet the habit of fast and simple reading.For example, this paragraph may be too long now.If we want to please our readers, we might have to start another paragraph with the line "Some great writers." The problem isn't just about length.It also involves the question of the relationship between language and thought.The logical unit of the seventh rule that guides our reading is "discourse"—a series of sequences, some of which also have the purpose of providing examples and reasons.Just as "meaning" is to words and "theme" is to sentences, the logical unit of "discussion" is not limited to a certain writing unit.A statement may be explained in a single complex sentence.May be illustrated by a certain set of sentences in a paragraph.It may be equal to one paragraph, but it may be equal to several paragraphs. There is another difficulty.There are many passages in any book that contain no discussion at all—not even a portion of it.These paragraphs may be sentences describing details of the evidence, or how the evidence was collected.Just as some sentences are secondary because they are a bit off topic, so too are paragraphs.Needless to say, this part can be read quickly. Therefore, we suggest that the seventh rule could have another formula: If you can, find the passage in the book that illustrates the important argument.But if the argument isn't expressed that way, you're going to have to frame it.You have to pick out the sentences from this or that paragraph, and then sort out the main idea of ​​the sequence and the argument of its composition. Once you've found the main sentences, structuring some paragraphs becomes easy.There are many ways to try.You can take a piece of paper and write down all the main points that make up an argument.It is often better, as we have already suggested, to number the margins of the book, and to add other marks to mark out some of the sentences which should be read in sequence. In the reader's effort to label these discourses, the writer can be of some help.The author of a good expository book wants to say what's on his mind, not hide what's on his mind.But not every good author uses the same method.Like Euclid, Galileo, Newton (authors who wrote in geometry or mathematics), come close to the idea that a paragraph is an argument.In non-mathematical fields, most authors either usually have more than one or two arguments in a paragraph, or write several paragraphs for a single argument. When the structure of a book is relatively loose, the paragraphs are also relatively messy.You often have to read entire chapter passages to find the few sentences that fit together into an argument.Some books will make you work for nothing, and some books are not even worth it. A good book is one that summarizes as the discussion progresses.If the author summarizes for you at the end of a chapter, or in a well-designed part, you have to review the article you just read to find out what the sentence he summarized is.In the book, Darwin made a summary of the whole book for readers in the last chapter, entitled "Essential Summary and Conclusion".Readers who have read the entire book deserve such help.Those who haven't read the whole book don't need it. By the way, if you've skimmed a book before doing analytical reading, you'll know where the abstract, if any, is.You know how to use these summaries well when you want to interpret the book. Another sign of a bad or loosely structured book is neglecting the exposition step.Sometimes these omissions are harmless and cause no inconvenience, because even if the subject is unclear, the reader can fill in the gaps by common sense.But sometimes such omissions can be misleading, even deliberate.One of the most common tricks some orators or propagandists do is to leave unsaid words that are extremely relevant to their discourse, but which, if stated clearly, might be challenged.We are not worried about such a device by an earnest author who wants to instruct us.但是对一个用心阅读的人来说，最好的法则还是将每个论述的步骤都说明得一清二楚。 不论是什么样的书，你身为读者的义务都是一样的。如果这本书有一些论述，你应该知道是些什么论述，而能用简洁的话说出来。任何一个好的论述都可以作成简要的说明。当然，有些论述是架构在其他的论述上。在精细的分析过程中，证实一件事可能就是为了证实另一件事。而这一切又可能是为了作更进一步的证实。然而，这些推理的单位都是一个个的论述。如果你能在阅读任何一本书时发现这些论述，你就不太可能会错过这些论述的先后顺序了。 你可能会抗议，这些都是说来容易的事。但是除非你能像一个逻辑学家那样了解各种论述的架构，否则当作者并没有在一个段落中说明清楚这论述时，谁能在书中找出这些论述，更别提要架构出来？ 这个问题的答案很明显，对于论述，你用不着像是一个逻辑学者一样来研究。不论如何，这世上只有相对少数的逻辑学者。大多数包含着知识，并且能指导我们的书里，都有一些论述。这些论述都是为一般读者所写作的，而不是为了逻辑专家写的。 在阅读这些书时用不着伟大的逻辑概念。我们前面说过，在阅读的过程中你能让大脑不断地活动，能跟作者达成共识，找到他的主旨，那么你就能看出他的论述是什么了。而这也就是人类头脑的自然本能。 无论如何，我们还要谈几件事，可能会有助于你进一步应用这个阅读规则。首先，要记住所有的论述都包含了一些声明。其中有些是你为什么该接受作者这个论述的理由。如果你先找到结论，就去看看理由是什么。如果你先看到理由，就找找看这些理由带引你到什么样的结论上。 其次，要区别出两种论述的不同之处。一种是以一个或多个特殊的事实证明某种共通的概念，另一种是以连串的通则来证明更进一步的共通概念。前者是归纳法，后者是演绎法。但是这些名词并不重要。重点在如何区分二者的能力。 在科学著作中，看一本书是用推论来证实主张，还是用实验来证实主张，就可以看出两者的区别。伽利略在《两种新科学》中，借由实验结果来说明数学演算早就验证的结论。伟大的生理学家威廉·哈维(William Harvey)在他的书《心血运动论》(On the Motion of theHeart)中写道：“经由推论与实验证明，心室的脉动会让血液流过肺部及心脏，再推送到全身。”有时候，一个主旨是有可能同时被一般经验的推论，及实验两者所支持的。有时候，则只有一种论述方法。 第三，找出作者认为哪些事情是假设，哪些是能证实的或有根据的，以及哪些是不需要证实的自明之理。他可能会诚实地告诉你他的假设是什么，或者他也可能很诚实地让你自己去发掘出来。显然，并不1是每件事都是能证明的，就像并不是每个东西都能被定义一样。如果每一个主旨都要被证实过，那就没有办法开始证实了。像定理、假设或推论，就是为了证实其他主旨而来的。如果这些其他的主旨被证实了，就可以作更进一步论证的前提了。 换句话说，每个论述都要有开端。基本上，有两种开始的方法或地方：一种是作者与读者都同意的假设，一种是不论作者或读者都无法否认的自明之理。在第一种状况中，只要彼此认同，这个假设可以是任何东西。第二个情况就需要多一点的说明了。 近来，不言自明的主旨都被冠上“废话重说" (tautology)的称呼。这个说法的背后隐藏着一种对细微末节的轻蔑态度，或是怀疑被欺骗的感觉。这就像是兔子正在从帽子里被揪出来。你对这个事实下了一个定义，然后当他出现时，你又一副很惊讶的样子。然而，不能一概而论。 譬如在“父亲的父亲就是祖父”，与“整体大于部分”两个主旨之间，就有值得考虑的差异性。前面一句话是自明之理，主旨就涵盖在定义之中。那只是肤浅地掩盖住一种语言的约定：“让我们称父母的父母为祖父母。”这与第二个主旨的情形完全不同。我们来看看为什么会这样。 “整体大于部分。”这句话在说明我们对一件事的本质，与他们之间关系的了解，不论我们所使用的文字或语言有什么变迁，这件事都不会改变的。定量的整体，一定可以区分成是量的部分，就像一张纸可以切成两半或分成四份一样。既然我们已经了解了一个定量的整体（指任何一种有限的定量的整体），也知道在定量的整体中很明确的某一部分，我们就可以知道整体比这个部分大，或这个部分比整体小了。到目前为止，这些都是口头上的说明，我们并不能为“整体”或“部分”下定义。这两个概念是原始的或无法定义的观念，我们只能借着整体与部分之间的关系，表达出我们对整体与部分的了解。 这个说法是一种不言自明的道理—尤其当我们从相反的角度来看，一下子就可以看出其中的错误。我们可以把一张纸当作是一个“部分”，或是把纸切成两半后，将其中的一半当作是“整体”，但我们不能认为这张纸在还没有切开之前的“部分”，小于切开来后的一半大小的“整体”。无论我们如何运用语言，只有当我们了解定量的整体与其中明确的部分之后，我们才能说我们知道整体大于部分了。而我们所知道的是存在的整体与部分之间的关系，不只是知道名词的用法或意义而已。 这种不言自明的主旨是不需要再证实，也不可否认的事实。它们来自一般的经验，也是普通常识的一部分，而不是有组织的知识；不隶属哲学、数学，却更接近科学或历史。这也是为什么欧几里得称这种概念为“普通观念"(Common notion)。尽管像洛克等人并不认为如此，但这些观念还是有启迪的作用。洛克看不出一个没有启发性的主旨（像关于祖父母的例子），和一个有启发性的主旨（像整体与部分关系的例子），两者之间到底有什么不同—后者对我们真的有教育作用，如果我们不学习就不会明白其中的道理。今天有些人认为所有的这类主旨都是“废话重说”，也是犯了同样的错误。他们没看出来有些所谓的“废话重说”确实能增进我们的知识—当然，另外有一些则的确不能。 ※ 找出解答 这三个分析阅读的规则—关于共识、主旨与论述—可以带出第八个规则了，这也是诠释一本书的内容的最后一个步骤。除此之外，那也将分析阅读的第一个阶段（整理内容大纲）与第二阶段（诠释内容）连接起来了。 在你想发现一本书到底在谈些什么的最后一个步骤是：找出作者在书中想要解决的主要问题（如果你回想一下，这在第四个规则中已经谈过了）。现在，你已经跟作者有了共识，抓到他的主旨与论述了，你就该检视一下你收集到的是什么资料，并提出一些更进一步的问题来。作者想要解决的问题哪些解决了？为了解决问题，他是否又提出了新问题？无论是新问题或旧问题，哪些是他知道自己还没有解决的？一个好作者，就像一个好读者一样，应该知道各个问题有没有解决—当然，对读者来说，要承认这个状况是比较容易的。 诠释作品的阅读技巧的最后一部分就是：规则八，找出作者的解答。你在应用这个规则及其他三个规则来诠释作品时，你可以很清楚地感觉到自己已经开始在了解这本书了。如果你开始读一本超越你能力的书—也就是能教导你的书—你就有一段长路要走了。更重要的是，你现在已经能用分析阅读读完一本书了。这第三个，也是最后一个阶段的工作很容易。你的心灵及眼睛都已经打开来了，而你的嘴闭上了。做到这一点时，你已经在伴随作者而行了。从现在开始，你可以有机会与作者辩论，表达你自己的想法。 ※ 分析阅读的第二个阶段 我们已经说明清楚分析阅读的第二个阶段。换句话说，我们已经准备好材料，要回答你在看一本书，或任何文章都应该提出来的第二个基本问题了。你会想起第二个问题是：这本书的详细内容是什么？如何叙述的？只要运用五到八的规则，你就能回答这个问题。当你跟作者达成共识，找出他的关键主旨与论述，分辨出如何解决他所面对的问题，你就会知道他在这本书中要说的是什么了。接下来，你已经准备好要问最后的两个基本问题了。 我们已经讨论完分析阅读的另一个阶段，就让我们暂停一下，将这个阶段的规则复述一遍： 分析阅读的第二个阶段，或找出一本书到底在说什么的规则（诠释一本书的内容）： (5)诠释作者使用的关键字，与作者达成共识。 (6)从最重要的句子中抓出作者的重要主旨。 (7)找出作者的论述，重新架构这些论述的前因后果，以明白作者的主张。 (8)确定作者已经解决了哪些问题，还有哪些是未解决的。在未解决的问题中，确定哪些是作者认为自己无法解决的问题。