閱讀Bertrand Russell（1967）的A History of Western Philosophy。
他提出，哲學(xué)的定義是，以科學(xué)理性的手段探討神學(xué)、倫理問題。
Philosophy, as I shall understand the word, is something intermediate between theology and science. Like theology, it consists of speculations on matters as to which definite knowledge has, so far, been unascertainable; but like science, it appeals to human reason rather than to authority, whether that of tradition or that of revelation. All definite knowledge--so I should contend--belongs to science; all dogma as to what surpasses definite knowledge belongs to theology. But between theology and science there is a No Man's Land, exposed to attack from both sides; this No Man's Land is philosophy.
哲學(xué)學(xué)科存在的原因，正是要探討那些科學(xué)理性的手段無法確知的問題，但神學(xué)的答案又不那樣讓人相信的問題。這些問題，你如果三不管，那人活著會(huì)很困難。
Why, then, you may ask, waste time on such insoluble problems?
Ever since men became capable of free speculation, their actions, ..., have depended upon their theories as to the world and human life, as to what is good and what is evil.
人如果只有科學(xué)，會(huì)忘記我們其實(shí)對(duì)很多事情無知；只有神學(xué)，也會(huì)忘記我們其實(shí)對(duì)很多事情無知。歷史上偉大的哲學(xué)家，有個(gè)特性，是他們“能知道自己不知道”，蘇格拉底說，“我只知道一件事，就是我不知道。”孔子“知之者不如好知者，好知者不如樂知者”，正因?yàn)樗麄兂姓J(rèn)自己不知道，又樂于求知，所以踏上哲學(xué)的路途，以科學(xué)理性的手段探討神學(xué)、倫理問題。
Science tells us what we can know, but what we can know is little, and if we forget how much we cannot know we become insensitive to many things of very great importance. Theology, on the other hand, induces a dogmatic belief that we have knowledge where in fact we have ignorance, and by doing so generates a kind of impertinent insolence towards the universe.
因此，我們可以說，哲學(xué)學(xué)科的內(nèi)涵是“神學(xué)、倫理概念”+“科學(xué)理性思考方法”的綜合體。
THE conceptions of life and the world which we call "philosophical" are a product of two factors: one, inherited religious and ethical conceptions; the other, the sort of investigation which may be called "scientific," using this word in its broadest sense. Individual philosophers have differed widely in regard to the proportions in which these two factors entered into their systems, but it is the presence of both, in some degree, that characterizes philosophy.
當(dāng)我們學(xué)習(xí)哲學(xué)，我們要看到大哲學(xué)家如何在我們活著的世界以上，又架構(gòu)了超越界，如何講到神學(xué)問題，如何設(shè)立倫理的基礎(chǔ)。如蘇格拉底“洞穴隱喻”外的光、柏拉圖“理型論”（form）、老子“道”、孔子“天”。如康德推論人能通過道德實(shí)踐理解自己有靈魂會(huì)接受審判和作為審判者的上帝。如卡繆認(rèn)為通過反抗、自由和熱情，人可以理解人原本就不可能理解的神學(xué)和倫理問題（“不可能理解的神學(xué)和倫理問題”=“荒謬”；“可以理解”=“超越荒謬”）。
同時(shí)，我們也要學(xué)習(xí)到“科學(xué)理性思考方法”，如蘇格拉底“助產(chǎn)士”的方法來澄清概念、設(shè)定標(biāo)準(zhǔn)、建立系統(tǒng)，如康德通過理性來批判，如笛卡爾通過懷疑一切最終發(fā)現(xiàn)“我思故我在”，如卡繆通過“荒謬”的眼光指出這一切其實(shí)不可理解，而促使人努力去理解。
引文出處
Title: A History of Western Philosophy
Author(s): Bertrand Russell
Publisher: Touchstone
Year: 1967
ISBN: 9780671201586; 0671201581
附錄
Russell指出本書
- My purpose is to exhibit philosophy as an integral part of social and political life.
- I propose to use the word "Philosophy" in a very wide sense, which I will now try to explain.
