散文UniversitiesandTheirFunctionWhitehead

Universities and Their Function Alfred North Whitehead About the author Alfred North Whitehead (18611947) was a British mathematician, logician and philosopher best known for his work in mathematical logic and the philosophy of science. In collaboration with Bertrand Russell, he authored the landmark three-volume Principia Mathematica数学原理 (1910, 1912, 1913) and contributed significantly to twentieth-century logic, philosophy of science and metaphysics形而上学.A short chronology of the major events in Whiteheads life 1861 Born February 15 in Ramsgate, Isle of Thanet, Kent, England. 1880 Enters Trinity College, Cambridge, with a scholarship in mathematics. 1884 Elected a Fellow in Mathematics at Trinity. 1891 Marries Evelyn Wade. 1903 Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society as a result his work on universal algebra. 1910 Moves to University College London. 1914 Appointed Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Imperial College of Science and Technology. 1924 Appointed Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University. 1931 Elected a Fellow of the British Academy. 1937 Retires from Harvard. 1945 Awarded Order of Merit. 1947 Dies December 30 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. worked primarily on issues in mathematics and logic concentrated mainly on issues in the philosophy of science and the philosophy of education. worked on more general issues in philosophy, including the development of a comprehensive metaphysical system which has come to be known as process philosophy. Whiteheads Influence Whiteheads philosophical influence can be felt in all three of the main areas in which he worked (i.e., logic and the foundations of mathematics, the philosophy of science and metaphysics) as well as in other areas including ethics, education and religion.Whiteheads Style Bacons style Forceful Aphoristic Parallelism Antithesis Forceful A university whick fails in this respect has no reason for existence. Imagination is not to be divorved from the facts. Youth is imaginative. Aphoristic The tragedy of the world is that those who are imaginative have but slight experience, and those who are experienced have feeble imaginations. Fools act on imagination without knowledge; pedants act on knowledge without imagination. The task of a university is to weld together imagination and experience. Parrallelism Paragraph 6 Antithesis Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them. Fools act on imagination without knowledge; pedants act on knowledge without imagination. Notes to the Language Points (P2)A fact is no longer a bare fact: it is invested with all its possibilities. It is no longer a burden on the memory: it is energizing as the poet of our dreams , and as the architect of our purpose.If taught imaginatively, students will be able to associate a pure fact with various meaning, seeing a fact as an agent that can bring out our dreams in a poetic fashion and help arrange our purpose into orderly structure. (P3)It enables man to construct an intellectual vision of a new world , and it preserves the zest of life by the suggestion of satisfying purposes. People with imagination will be able to form a new outlook which is different from that of people without imagination. Imagination is capable of preserving peoples enthusiasm for life because it can show people that life has many purposes which can be pleasing. (|P6)It requires that discipline of character which can say “yes” and “no” to other men , not by reason of blind obstinacy ,but with firmness derived from a conscious evaluation of relevant alternatives. A firm character should be able to decide to say “yes” or “no” to others point of view after taking all relevant choices into careful consideration. Such a decision is not made out of unreasonable stubbornness. (P7)The conduct of business now requires intellectual imagination of the same type as that which in former times has mainly passed into those other occupations . In the past, intellectual imagination was required for professionals such as the priests, the lawyers, the statesmen, the doctors, the men of science and arts as mentioned above in their work. Now business people should be able to apply this kind of imagination into their work, too. (P11)There is no reason why business men , and other professional men, should not pick up their facts bit by bit as they want them for particular occasions. Imagination and facts are not mutually exclusive. People trained in imagination should be able to pick up facts when necessary. Reading Comprehension 1. According to the author, the most important function of a university is A) to train students in their fields B) to provide opportunities for research C) to develop students imaginations D) to convey knowledge to students 2. As to the combination of imagination and experience, the author states that A) it depends on the students themselves B) its the job of the university C) it can be achieved through learning D) it is no longer a problem in universities 3. In the authors opinion, the main function of a business school is _. A) to pass on business knowledge to students B) to provide students with enough case studies C) to discipline students characters D) to promote students interests in business 4. Which of the following is NOT required of todays business organizations? A) an imaginative grasp of personal experience B) an imaginative understanding of the social effects produced by the conditions of the factories C) an imaginative grasp of peoples mind D) an imaginative understanding of the conditions in different regions 5. For a young man who works in a large company, the negative effect might come from A) a lack of imagination B) a lengthened routine job C) strict discipline D) a lack of experienceStudy Questions 1. How should knowledge be conveyed to students according to the author? 2. What is the tragedy of the world about imagination and experience? 3. How do foolish people and bookworms act respectively? 4. Who are the pioneers of knowledge in our society mentioned in the passage? 5. How should a university prepare its students for their future careers?Keys 1. According to the author, knowledge should be conveyed to students imaginatively.2. The tragedy of the world about imagination and experience is that those who are imaginative have but little experience, and those who are experienced have feeble imagination.3. Foolish people act on imagination without knowledge while bookworms act on knowledge without imagination.4. The pioneers of knowledge in our society mentioned in the passage are priests, lawyers, statesmen, doctors, scientists and writers.5. To prepare its students for their future careers, a university should promote the imaginative consideration of the general principles concerning those careers.Discussion 6. What does Whitehead see as the chief function of a university? Why is a university an ideal place to develop this talent? 7. If education and research are not the main functions of a university, why do you suppose university catalogues and presidents stress them heavily? 8.Why do you think Whitehead chooses business administration as his primary example rather than some more “speculative” study such as philosophy? 9.In paragraph 8, does Whitehead mean that young people in business should be given the imaginative jobs and the older employees assigned to “drudgery”? 10. Do you agree that “Fools act on imagination without knowledge; pedants act on knowledge without imagination”? Quotations A clash of doctrines is not a disaster-it is an opportunity. Everything of importance has been said before by somebody who did not discover it. I have suffered a great deal from writers who have quoted this or that sentence of mine either out of its context or in juxtaposition to some incongruous matter which quite distorted my meaning, or destroyed it altogether. If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer. It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious. Seek simplicity, and distrust it. The art of progress is to preserve order amid change. The deepest definition of youth is life as yet untouched by tragedy. The poet, the artist, the sleuth侦探 - whoever sharpens our perception tends to be antisocial. he cannot go along with currents and trends. The vitality of thought is in adventure. Ideas wont keep. Something must be done about them. There are no whole truths; all truths are half- truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil. We think in generalities, but we live in detail. Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern. The future belongs to those who can rise above the confines of the earth. Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them. Supplementary Reading The Aim of a University Education By John Henry Newman 纽曼(John Henry Newm an,18011890)是英国教育家,他是古典人文主义教育思想的主要代表,纽曼作为“牛津运动”的创始人,也是牛津大学办学理念“自由教育”的奠基人。纽曼的大学的理想(The Idea of a University,又译为大学的理念)对世界高等教育产生了广泛而深远的影响。 这是第一部专门论述大学理念的著作,沙斯特(George N.Shus-ter)在大学的理念1959年版的序言里十分自信的说“毫无疑义,在激发对于高等教育的性质和目的的思考方面,这部著作比其他任何著作的贡献都大。” 美国著名高等教育家布鲁贝克评价说:“在高等教育哲学领域的所有著述中,影响最为持久者或许当推红衣主教纽曼的大学的理想”。 纽曼关于自由教育思想通识性、宗教理性、非功利性的三个核心论断,对于充斥着功利主义思潮的当代高等教育仍然具有重要的现实价值。 If then a practical end must be assigned to a University course, I say it is that of training good members of society. Its art is the art of social life, and its end is fitness for the world. 如果一定要赋予大学教育一个切实的目的，我的主张是培养社会的好公民。大学教育的艺术就是社会生活的艺术，其目的就是使人适应这个世界。 It neither confines its views to particular professions on the one hand, nor creates heroes or inspires genius on the other. Works, indeed, of genius fall under no art; heroic minds come under no rule; 大学教育一方面既不应把着眼点局限于某些特定的职业上，另一方面也不应是造就英雄，培养天才。事实上，天才伟业无法人为造就，英雄的思想亦如天马行空。 A University is not a birthplace of poets or of immortal authors, of founders of schools, leaders of colonies, or conquerors of nations. It does not promise a generation of Aristotles or Newtons, of Napoleons or Washingtons, of Raphaels or Shakespeares, though such miracles of nature it has before now contained within its precincts. 大学不是诗人、不朽作家和学派创立者的诞生地，也不是殖民地头领或外族征服者的培训所。大学并不承诺要造就一批亚里士多德、牛顿、拿破仓、华盛顿、拉斐尔、莎士比亚式的巨人，尽管这些大自然的杰作此前曾在大学的院墙中出现过。 Nor is it content on the other hand with forming the critic or the experimentalist, the economist or the engineer, though such too it includes within its scope. 此外，大学也不应满足于培养批评家、实验人员、经济学家和工程师，尽管这些人才的培养也在大学教育的范畴之内。 But a University training is the great but ordinary means to a great but ordinary end; it aims at raising the intellectual tone of society, at cultivating the public mind, at purifying the national taste, at supplying true principles to popular enthusiasm and fixed aims to popular aspiration, at giving enlargement and sobriety to the ideas of the age, at facilitating the exercise of political power, and refining the intercourse of private life. 大学教育是一条通向伟大而平凡的目标的伟大而平凡的途径。大学教育旨在提高社会的知识氛围，培养国民的公心，净化国民的情趣，为浮躁的公众提供真正的公理，为公众的理想提供确定的目标，扩大时代的思想库并注入冷静的思考，促进政治权力的行使，提高人际交流的质量。 It is the education that gives a man a clear, conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them. 大学教育应让人清醒地认知自己的观点和判断，并正确地发挥，雄辩地阐述，有力地强调。 It teaches him to see things as they are, to go right to the point, to disentangle a skein of thought, to detect what is sophistical, and to discard what is irrelevant. It prepares him to fill any post with credit, and to master any subject with facility. 大学教育应教会人们看清事物的真实面目并直接抓住要害，教会人们解开思想的缰结，发现其中的诡辩之处，舍弃其中的不相关之处。大学教育使人做好准备，可靠地胜任任何职位，轻松自如地掌握任何科目。 It shows him how to accommodate himself to others, how to throw himself into their state of mind, how to bring before them his own, how to influence them, how to come to an understanding with them, how to bear with them. 大学教育教会人们如何适应他人，如何设身处地为人着想，如何把自己的想法转达给他人，如何影响他人，如何相互理解、相互宽容。