【2024BOOK05】"Lectures on History of Western Philosophy". This book is based on the liberal education course taught by Professor Zhao Lin at two universities in China, and it is definitely one of my favorite books I've read this year. I've always been curious about what Western philosophy is all about. Still, the books I had read before left me feeling confused and unable to grasp the essentials. "Lectures on History of Western Philosophy" gave me my first understanding of the basic knowledge of the history of Western philosophy———from the Milesian School to Hegel, in over 2500 years, what the renowned sages like Thales, Heraclitus, Democritus, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Abelard, Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Kant, and Hegel were actually contemplating; what their basic ideas were and how they related to one another; and, if we abandon the ideological bias, what those seemingly obscure terms, like metaphysics, scholasticism, materialism, idealism, agnosticism, and epistemology, actually mean. Professor Zhao Lin's book uses straightforward language and crystalizing analysis, allowing me to glimpse how philosophy, as a different path from science, has led human wisdom to reach one peak after another.
Besides, I deeply empathize with Professor Zhao Lin's opinion that we should be skeptical but educated. "You must truly understand the subject before being qualified to question it." This point is so enlightening, given a world full of polarized opinions.
【2024年的第5本书】《西方哲学史讲演录》。今年读过的最喜欢的书之一。我一直都很好奇西方哲学到底在讨论些什么,但是以前读的一些书都让我感觉云遮雾绕,不得要领。这本讲演录让我第一次感觉到对西方哲学史最基础的知识有了一点了解——从米利都学派到黑格尔,在这2500余年的历史长河里,泰勒斯、赫拉克利特、德谟克利特、毕达哥拉斯、苏格拉底、柏拉图、亚里士多德、托马斯·阿奎那、阿伯拉尔、培根、霍布斯、洛克、休谟、笛卡尔、斯宾诺莎、莱布尼茨、伏尔泰、让-雅克·卢梭、康德、黑格尔,这些名字如雷贯耳的先贤们究竟在思考些什么;他们的基本思想是什么,互相之间有怎样的关系;形而上学、经院哲学、唯物主义与唯心主义、可知论与不可知论,这些看上去晦涩难懂的名词在抛开意识形态偏见之后到底是什么意思。赵林老师的这本书用极其浅白的语言,条分缕析,让我得以一窥哲学作为科学以外的另一条道路,是如何引导人类的智慧登上一座又一座高峰的。
另:我很喜欢赵林老师在第一章里提到的一个观点——我们应该学会“有教养的怀疑”。“你必须真正懂得了你所怀疑的对象,这样你才有资格去进行怀疑。”在现在这个充满二极管思维的时代,这一点真的太重要了。