哲學(xué)的用處

林巍

就專業(yè)2來講，“ 哲學(xué)”現(xiàn)在可能要算大學(xué)里的冷門了。不像電腦、金融、財會等，哲學(xué)似乎太抽象、遙遠(yuǎn)、不實用。

其實，從根源上講，哲學(xué)與科學(xué)的關(guān)系最緊密?！罢軐W(xué)”一詞源于希臘文Φιλοσοφ?α，意為“熱愛智慧”，涵括了所有學(xué)問。那時的哲學(xué)家同時也是科學(xué)家，他們的智慧始于發(fā)問。在那由超自然的各種神靈主宰的世界里，泰勒斯敢于質(zhì)疑其真實性，提出了萬物由水而來3的命題，阿那克西米尼認(rèn)為空氣是物質(zhì)的主要元素，亞里士多德更是要檢測空氣與陽光，等等，由此引發(fā)了最早的智慧——哲學(xué)。

就人與世界的關(guān)系而論，主要有三大類4，即人與自然、人與社會及人與自身的關(guān)系。第一類是人類認(rèn)識、改造自然的知識，如物理學(xué)、化學(xué)、數(shù)學(xué)、生物學(xué)等;第二類是人們認(rèn)識、改造社會的知識，即社會學(xué)、經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)、政治學(xué)、法學(xué)、倫理學(xué)等;第三類是你我認(rèn)識自身思維的知識，包括腦科學(xué)、神經(jīng)學(xué)、心理學(xué)、邏輯學(xué)等。但是，哲學(xué)不是這些具體學(xué)科，而是超越5其上、對其加以抽象和概括的學(xué)問。

典型的，如物理學(xué)中有作用與反作用、化學(xué)中有化合和分解、生物學(xué)中有同化和異化等，哲學(xué)并不陷入6這些細(xì)節(jié)，而是從整體上把握人與世界的關(guān)系，從具體學(xué)科的關(guān)聯(lián)中抽象出最實質(zhì)的內(nèi)容和最普遍的規(guī)律，如“對立統(tǒng)一規(guī)律”。這種規(guī)律來自具體學(xué)科7，又可反過來對其指導(dǎo);因而，哲學(xué)看似無用，實則用大。

首先，可擺正自己與自然、社會、心靈的關(guān)系，正可謂“定位宇宙，安排人生”。蘇格拉底認(rèn)為，未經(jīng)反省的生活是沒有價值的生活;只有在大格局8上把握事物發(fā)展規(guī)律的人，才不會被表面的現(xiàn)象所誤導(dǎo)、被眼前的挫折所困擾。

其次，哲學(xué)可使人的思維更加系統(tǒng)化，善于把零零碎碎的材料整合起來，提高邏輯分析能力，并與方法論相統(tǒng)一。哲學(xué)在性質(zhì)上是一種關(guān)于“思考的思考”，不輕易相信9任何未經(jīng)各個角度深刻思考過的事情，特別注重縝密的反思，即對思維對象的再思、三思、多思，同時又反過來對思維過程本身進(jìn)行思考，因而形成鞭辟入里的批判性思維。

再次，哲學(xué)可錘煉人的品格。由于思考、推理、綜合、分析本身是個艱難的過程，因而可在更深層次上使人堅毅。在根本上，哲學(xué)是關(guān)于“生”的學(xué)問，因而通過完善性格，使人懂得怎樣活著才更有價值10。

在某種意義上講，哲學(xué)是最實用的，哲學(xué)人才又是“通才”;不但許多自然科學(xué)、社會科學(xué)專家通曉11哲學(xué)，哲學(xué)專業(yè)者從事相關(guān)領(lǐng)域、甚至轉(zhuǎn)行成為名人的也大有人在，國內(nèi)國外莫不如此。

所以，哲學(xué)并不抽象，也不遙遠(yuǎn)，實有“大用”。

As a “major” at university， philosophy may not be so popular nowadays， for it seems to be too abstract， remote and impractical， unlike subjects such as computing， finance， accounting and so on.

Fundamentally speaking， the word “philosophy”， derived from the Greek Φιλοσοφ?α， meaning “l(fā)ove of wisdom”， originally embraced all kinds of knowledge. In that world dominated by supernatural deities， philosophers and scientists were identical， and their wisdom was initiated by asking questions： Thales queried the substance of the world by assuming the ubiquity of water， Anaximenes believed that everything in the world is composed of air， Aristotle attempted to scrutinize the air and sun—these quests developed their wisdom.

The relations between man and the world may be divided into three categories， namely the relationships between man and nature， man and society and within the human self， which are studied respectively by the natural sciences （to understand and change nature）， such as physics， chemistry， mathematics， biology etc.; social sciences （to understand and change society）， sociology， economics， politics， law， ethics etc.; and sciences of thinking （to understand the nature and hyphology of the brain）， such as brain science， neuroscience， psychology， logic， etc. Philosophy， however， is none of these branches of learning but their abstraction and generalization.

Typically， various laws functioning in different fields of study—such as action and reaction in physics， combination and decomposition in chemistry， assimilation and alienation in biology—are not the focus of philosophical study. Philosophy， instead， contributes to abstracting the basic nature and general laws operating in these disciplines as a whole， such as “the law of the unity of opposites”. These laws， once conceptualized， can in turn be applied to specific disciplines as devices， far more useful than they might at first sight seem to be.

The benefits of studying philosophy may be realized as follows：First， it assists people to properly adjust the relations between nature， society and the self， becoming fully aware of where they stand both macrocosmically and microcosmically. As Socrates believed that no life is worth living without introspection， people cannot be misled and perplexed when they have grasped the general law of development in the world.

Second， it makes people think more systematically， integrating various “segmented materials” into a coherent theoretical framework by enhancing logical analysis and combining methodologies. Essentially， philosophy is the study of thinking， penetrating into issues from different angles before anything can be taken in. Special attention is paid to rigorous reflection during every stage of thinking and this process itself is included as part of its study， so as to form a pattern of incisive critical thinking.

Third， philosophy can also temper ones character. Arduous thinking， reasoning and synthesizing results in people becoming firmer and more persistent in a deep sense. Since philosophy is ultimately about living， it leads to an appreciation of meaningful life through perfecting personality.

In a sense， philosophy is in fact widely applicable and has been studied and acquired by experts of natural and social sciences and many philosophers， both at home and abroad， have become celebrities either in their specialist fields of study or in their switched professions as generalists.

Therefore， philosophy is not abstract， nor remote， but of profound use.