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philosophy 4-第7部分
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this。 They reached their building and separated。
V
One hour later they met。 Shaving and a cold bath and summer flannels;
not only clean but beautiful; invested them with the radiant innocence
of flowers。 It was still too early for their regular breakfast; and
they sat down to eggs and coffee at the Holly Tree。
〃I waked John up;〃 said Billy。〃 He is satisfied。〃
〃Let's have another order;〃 said Bertie。 〃These eggs are delicious。〃
Each of them accordingly ate four eggs and drank two cups of coffee。
〃Oscar called five times;〃 said Billy; and he threw down those cards
which Oscar had so neatly written。
〃There's multiplicity of the ego for you!〃 said Bertie。
Now; inspiration is a strange thing; and less obedient even than love to
the will of man。 It will decline to come when you prepare for it with
the loftiest intentions; and; lo! at an accidental word it will suddenly
fill you; as at this moment it filled Billy。
〃By gum!〃 said he; laying his fork down。 〃Multiplicity of the ego。 Look
here。 I fall out of a buggy and ask〃
〃By gum!〃 said Bertie; now also visited by inspiration。
〃Don't you see?〃 said Billy。
〃I see a whole lot more;〃 said Bertie; with excitement。 〃I had to tell
you about your singing。〃 And the two burst into a flare of talk。 To
hear such words as cognition; attention; retention; entity; and
identity; freely mingled with such other words as silver…fizz and false
hair; brought John; the egg…and…coffee man; as near surprise as his
impregnable nature permitted。 Thus they finished their large breakfast;
and hastened to their notes for a last good bout at memorizing
Epicharmos of Kos and his various brethren。 The appointed hour found
them crossing the college yard toward a door inside which Philosophy 4
awaited them: three hours of written examination! But they looked more
roseate and healthy than most of the anxious band whose steps were
converging to that same gate of judgment。 Oscar; meeting them on the
way; gave them his deferential 〃Good morning;〃 and trusted that the
gentlemen felt easy。 Quite so; they told him; and bade him feel easy
about his pay; for which they were; of course; responsible。 Oscar
wished them good luck and watched them go to their desks with his Iittle
eyes; smiling in his particular manner。 Then he dismissed them from his
mind; and sat with a faint remnant of his smile; fluently writing his
perfectly accurate answer to the first question upon the examination
paper。
Here is that paper。 You will not be able to answer all the questions;
probably; but you may be glad to know what such things are like。
PHILOSOPHY 4
1。 Thales; Zeno; Parmenides; Heracleitos; Anaxagoras。 State briefly
the doctrine of each。
2。 Phenomenon; noumenon。 Discuss these terms。 Name their modern
descendants。
3。 Thought=Being。 Assuming this; state the difference; if any; between
(1) memory and anticipation; (2) sleep and waking。
4。 Democritus; Pythagoras; Bacon。 State the relation between them。 In
what terms must the objective world ultimately be stated? Why?
5。 Experience is the result of time and space being included in the
nature of mind。 Discuss this。
6。 Nihil est in intellectu quod non prius fuerit in sensibus。 Whose
doctrine? Discuss it。
7。 What is the inherent limitation in all ancient philosophy? Who
first removed it?
8。 Mind is expressed through what? Matter through what? Is speech the
result or the cause of thought?
9。 Discuss the nature of the ego。
10。 According to Plato; Locke;êBerkeley; where would the sweetness of a
honeycomb reside? Where would its shape? its weight? Where do you
think these properties reside?
Ten questions; and no Epicharmos of Kos。 But no examination paper asks
everything; and this one did ask a good deal。 Bertie and Billy wrote
the full time allotted; and found that they could have filled an hour
more without coming to the end of their thoughts。 Comparing notes at
lunch; their information was discovered to have been lacking here and
there。 Nevertheless; it was no failure; their inner convictions were
sure of fifty per cent at least; and this was all they asked of the
gods。 〃I was ripping about the ego;〃 said Bertie。 〃I was rather
splendid myself;〃 said Billy; 〃when I got going。 And I gave him a huge
steer about memory。〃 After lunch both retired to their beds and fell
into sweet oblivion until seven o'clock; when they rose and dined; and
after playing a little poker went to bed again pretty early。
Some six mornings later; when the Professor returned their papers to
them; their minds were washed almost as clear of Plato and Thales as
were their bodies of yesterday's dust。 The dates and doctrines; hastily
memorized to rattle off upon the great occasion; lay only upon the
surface of their minds; and after use they quickly evaporated。 To their
pleasure and most genuine astonishment; the Professor paid them high
compliments。 Bertie's discussion of the double personality had been the
most intelligent which had come in from any of the class。 The
illustration of the intoxicated hack…driver who had fallen from his hack
and inquired who it was that had fallen; and then had pitied himself;
was; said the Professor; as original and perfect an illustration of our
subjective…objectivity as he had met with in all his researches。 And
Billy's suggestions concerning the inherency of time and space in the
mind the Professor had also found very striking and independent;
particularly his reasoning based upon the well…known distortions of time
and space which hashish and other drugs produce in us。 This was the
sort of thing which the Professor had wanted from his students: free
comment and discussions; the spirit of the course; rather than any
strict adherence to the letter。 He had constructed his questions to
elicit as much individual discussion as possible and had been somewhat
disappointed in his hopes。
Yes; Bertie and Billy were astonished。 But their astonishment did not
equal that of Oscar; who had answered many of the questions in the
Professor's own language。 Oscar received seventy…five per cent for this
achievementa good mark。 But Billy's mark was eighty…six and Bertie's
ninety。 〃There is some mistake;〃 said Oscar to them when they told him
; and he hastened to the Professor with his tale。 〃There is no
mistake;〃 said the Professor。 Oscar smiled with increased deference。
〃But;〃 he urged; 〃I assure you; sir; those young men knew absolutely
nothing。 I was their tutor; and they knew nothing at all。 I taught
them all their information myself。〃 〃In that case;〃 replied the
Professor; not pleased with Oscar's tale…bearing; 〃you must have given
them more than you could spare。 Good morning。〃
Oscar never understood。 But he graduated considerably higher than
Bertie and Billy; who were not able to discover many other courses so
favorable to 〃orriginal rresearch〃 as was Philosophy 4。 That is twenty
years ago; To…day Bertie is treasurer of the New Amsterdam Trust
Company; in Wall Street; Billy is superintendent of passenger traffic of
the New York and Chicago Air Line。 Oscar is successful too。 He has
acquired a lot of information。 His smile is unchanged。 He has
published a careful work entitled 〃The Minor Poets of Cinquecento;〃 and
he writes book reviews for the Evening Post。
End
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