哲学家苏格拉底的故事——读原著学英语

今天是读原著学英语的第二篇文章，《哲学故事》(the story of philosophy)。通过图原著，学习地道的英语表达。学习英语，是为了读原滋原味的英文著作。今天是分享的是第一章，第二节，苏格拉底(Socrates)。

苏格拉底生活在公元前470年~公元前399年，与我国孔子大概在通过一个时代。而且他们俩有一个相似点: 他们的思想影响深远，但是都是通过弟子们的记录才得以流传下来。

百度搜索的苏格拉底半身像。按照书中描写，苏格拉底看起来不像哲学家，倒是像一个们同。

关于苏格拉底，大家最熟悉的故事大概就是他的悍妇老婆和他的死亡。苏格拉底经常做的一件事就是在闹市上高谈阔论，与人辩论和探讨。他是一个非常有趣而且谦虚的人，所以经常会有人请他吃饭，因为大家都喜欢他的陪伴，喜欢和他探讨问题。苏格拉底最喜欢的探讨方式就是提问。当你向他提出一个观点，你的得到的往往不是肯定或否定的答复，而是他的追问。因为他机智而又深刻地追问，逼迫着你对自己提出的概念给出一个清晰的定义，诱导探讨者最终达到问题的本质，获得深刻的思考。苏格拉底的思考启迪了古希腊人的思想，可是他的妻子似乎有不同的看法。一个男人，整天只能高谈阔论，不能挣钱养家，妻子自然是会抱怨的。幸好苏格拉底的妻子是个悍妇，爱着他，或者也正好护着他，维持着一个家庭。

苏格拉底生活时代的古希腊，整个社会是民主政治和多神信仰。在当时一个自由思想的时代，苏格拉底提出了自己不同的哲学思考，把哲学对自然的思考，引入对人自身的思考。在回答各式各样的问题中，苏格拉底提出的各种观点，挑战了当时的民主政治和道德体系，最终导致了自己被宣判死亡。柏拉图用散文的形式，记录了苏格拉底面对死亡的整个过程，下面会全文转载。

这里重点说一下苏格拉底在两千多年前，面对死亡，表现的从容与果敢，给我们树立了榜样也已发了我对“生”与“死”的思考。我一直认为，如何面对死亡是人生哲学的终极思考，不思考如何面对死亡，便不能深刻理解‘生’的意义。说实话，这个话题我也没想明白，可是看到苏格拉底主动选择死亡，让死亡变得比“生”更有意义，让一个伟大的灵魂在死亡面前得到升华，这让我有很大触动。我记得爱奇艺的《奇葩说》有一期的辩题探讨过类似的话题：“如果人可以永生，是好事还是坏事”。有一个观点特别有意思：如果人可以永生，有一个好处就是，我们可以主动的选择何时去死。当时间不再是稀缺资源，当生命可以永续到失去意义，“死”反而成为了一个幸福的追求。然而人生不过百年，还会有各种文人骚客感叹“逝者如斯夫”，每个人都还会面对“死亡”这个终点，于是“生”才有了探讨的意义。当学生们就苏格拉底出去的时候，他拒绝了，他是这样说的：“Be of good cheer,” he told his sorrowing friends, " and say that you are burying my body only.“ 柏拉图是这样记载的：

he rose and went into the bath-chamber with Crito, who bade us wait; and we waited , talking and thinking of .... the greatness of our sorrow; he was like a father whom we were bereaved, and we were about to pass the rest of our lives as orphans....Now, the hour of sunset was near, for a goof deal of time had passed while he was in.When he came out ,he sat with us again.... but not much was said. Soon the jailer...entered and stood by him,saying:" To you , Socrates, whom I know to be the noblest and gentlest and best of all whom ever came to this place, I will not impute the angry feelings of other men ,who rage and swear at me when , in obedience to the authorities, I bid them drink the poison－indeed I am sure that you will not be angry with me; for others, as you are aware,  and not I, are the guilty cause. And so fare you well, and try to bear lightly what must needs be; you know my errand."(这段狱卒说的话，比较难懂。首先，注意句式，是一个倒装句。To you ,...... I will not impute ......，这个句子是impute ...to...句式的倒装句，把 to 放前面了。） Then bursting into tears he turned away and went out.

Socrates looked at him and said:" I return your good wishe ,and while do as you bid." Then turning to us and said:"How charming the man is ; since I have been in prison he has always been coming to see me. . . and now see how generously he sorrows for me. But we must do as he says, Crito; Let the cup be brought, if the poison is preared; if not ,let the attendant prepare some."

文中的Crito 是苏格拉底的朋友。从文中，我们可以看出苏格拉底面对死亡的从容与淡定。当苏格拉底最终要停止呼吸的时候文章是这样写的：

He was beginning to grow cold about groin, when he uncovered his face (for he had covered himself up) and said, ——they were his last words,——“Crito，I owe a cock to Asclepius; will you remember to pay the debt?” "The debt shall be paid," said Crito:"is there anything else?" there were no answer to this question;but in a minute or two a movement was heard, and the attendant uncovered him; his eyes was set,adn Crito closed his eyes and mouth.

苏格拉底最后一句话是“还了欠人的一只鸡”。死亡总是让人悲伤的，向有趣而又伟大的灵魂致敬。