“我想我开始了解经验主义的意义了。”
“在伦理学方面，休姆也反对理性主义者的想法。理性主义者一向认为人的理性天生就能辨别是非对错。从苏格拉底到洛克，许多哲学家都主张有所谓的‘自然权利’。但休姆则认为，我们的言语和行为并不是由理性决定的。”
“那么是由什么决定的呢?”
“由我们的感情来决定。譬如说，当你决定要帮助某个需要帮助的人时，那是出自你的感情，而不是出自你的理智。”
“如果我不愿意帮忙呢?”
“那也是由于你的感情。就算你不想帮助一个需要帮助的人，这也没有什么合理或不合理可言，只是不怎么仁慈罢了。”
“可是这种事一定有个限度呀。譬如说，每一个人都知道杀人是不对的。”
“根据休姆的看法，每一个人都能感受别人的悲喜苦乐，所以我们都有同情心。但这和理智没有什么关系。”
“这点我不太同意。”
“有时候，除掉一个人并不一定是不智的，甚至可能是个好办法，如果你想达成某个目的的话。”
“嘿，慢着!我反对。”
“那么请你告诉我，为什么你认为我们不应该把一个使我们头痛的人杀掉。”
“那个人也想活下去呀j因此你不应该杀他。”
“这个理由是根据逻辑吗?”
“我不知道。”
“你从一句描述性语句‘那个人也想活’而得出你的结论‘因此你不应该杀他’。后者是我们所谓的‘规范性语句’。从理性的观点来看，这是说不通的。否则我们岂不是也可以说‘有很多人逃漏税，因此我也应该逃漏税’。休姆指出，我们绝不能从‘是不是’的语句，得出‘该不该’的结论。不过，这种现象非常普遍，无论报纸的文章或政党的演讲都充满了这样的句子。你要不要我举一些例子?”
“要。”
“愈来愈多人出门时想搭飞机，因此我们应该兴建更多的机场。’你认为这样的结论成立吗?”
“不，这是说不通的。我们必须考虑环保问题，我想我们应该兴建更多的铁路才对。”
“也可能有人会说：‘开发油田将会提高人民的生活水准达百分之十，因此我们应该尽快开发新的油田。”
“胡说八道。我们还是应该考虑我们的环境，何况挪威的生活水准已经够高了。”
“有时有人会说：‘这项法令已经由参议院通过了，因此所有民众都应该加以遵守。’可是民众常常并不认为他们应该遵守这类法案。”
“嗯，我明白。”
“所以我们已经肯定我们不能以理智做为行事的标准。因为，我们之所以做出负责任的举动并不是因为我们的理智发达的结果，而是因为我们同情别人的处境。休姆说：‘一个人可能宁愿整个地球遭到毁灭也不愿意自己的手指被割到。这与理智并没有什么冲突。’”
“这种说法真可怕。”
“如果你看看历史，可能会觉得更可怕。你知道纳粹分子杀害了几百万犹太人，你会说是这些人的理性有问题呢，还是他们的感情有问题?”
“他们的感情一定异于常人。”
“他们当中有许多都是头脑非常清楚的人。要知道，最无情、最冷血的决定，有时是经过最冷静的筹划的。许多纳粹党人在战后被定了罪，但理由并不是因为他们‘没有理性’，而是因为他们的罪行令人发指。有时那些心智丧失的人倒可以免罪，因为我们说他们‘无法为自己的行为负责’。可是到目前为止还没有人因为丧失感情而被免罪。”
“本来就不应该这样。”
“我们还是不要谈这么可怕的例子吧。现在如果有几百万人因为洪水而无家可归，我们究竟要不要伸以援手完全是凭感情而定。
如果我们是无情冷血、完全讲求‘理性’的人，我们也许会觉得在世界人口已经过剩的情况下，死掉个几百万人其实也没什么不好。”
“太过分了，怎么可以这样想呢?”
“请注意，现在生气的并不是你的理智。”
“好吧，我懂你的意思了。”
Berkeley
like a giddy planet round a burning sun
Alberto walked over to the window facing the town. Sophie followed him. While they stood looking out at the old houses, a small plane flew in over the rooftops. Fixed to its tail was a long banner which Sophie guessed would be advertising some product or local event, a rock concert perhaps. But as it approached and turned, she saw quite a different message: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HILDE!
"Gate-crasher," was Alberto's only comment.
Heavy black clouds from the hills to the south were now beginning to gather over the town. The little plane disappeared into the grayness.
"I'm afraid there's going to be a storm," said Alberto.
"So I'll take the bus home."
"I only hope the major isn't behind this, too."
"He's not God Almighty, is he?"
Alberto did not reply. He walked across the room and sat down again by the coffee table.
"We have to talk about Berkeley," he said after a while.
Sophie had already resumed her place. She caught herself biting her nails.
"George Berkeley was an Irish bishop who lived from 1685 to 1753," Alberto began. There was a long silence.
"Berkeley was an Irish bishop ..." Sophie prompted.
"But he was a philosopher as well..."
"Yes?"
"He felt that current philosophies and science were a threat to the Christian way of life, that the all-pervading materialism, not least, represented a threat to the Christian faith in God as creator and preserver of all nature."
"He did?"
"And yet Berkeley was the most consistent of the empiricists."
"He believed we cannot know any more of the world than we can perceive through the senses?"
"More than that. Berkeley claimed that worldly things are indeed as we perceive them, but they are not 'things.' "
"You'll have to explain that."
"You remember that Locke pointed out that we cannot make statements about the 'secondary qualities' of things. We cannot say an apple is green and sour. We can only say we perceive it as being so. But Locke also said that the 'primary qualities' like density, gravity, and weight really do belong to the external reality around us. External reality has, in fact, a material substance."
"I remember that, and I think Locke's division of things was important."
"Yes, Sophie, if only that were all."
"Goon."
"Locke believed--just like Descartes and Spinoza-- that the material world is a reality."
"Yes?"
"This is just what Berkeley questioned, and he did so by the logic of empiricism. He said the only things that exist are those we perceive. But we do not perceive 'material' or 'matter.' We do not perceive things as tangible objects. To assume that what we perceive has its own underlying 'substance' is jumping to conclusions. We have absolutely no experience on which to base such a claim."
"How stupid. Look!" Sophie thumped her fist hard on the table. "Ouch," she said. "Doesn't that prove that this table is really a table, both of material and matter?"
"How did you feel it?"
"I felt something hard."
"You had a sensation of something hard, but you didn't feel the actual matter in the table. In the same way, you can dream you are hitting something hard, but there isn't anything hard in a dream, is there?"
"No, not in a dream."
"A person can also be hypnotized into 'feeling' things like warmth and cold, a caress or a punch."
"But if the table wasn't really hard, why did I feel it?"
"Berkeley believed in a 'spirit.' He thought all our ideas have a cause beyond our consciousness, but that this cause is not of a material nature. It is spiritual."
Sophie had started biting her nails again.
Alberto continued: "According to Berkeley, my own soul can be the cause of my own ideas--just as when I dream--but only another will or spirit can be the cause of the ideas that make up the 'corporeal' world. Everything is due to that spirit which is the cause of 'everything in everything' and which 'all things consist in,' he said."
"What 'spirit' was he talking about?"
"Berkeley was of course thinking of God. He said that 'we can moreover claim that the existence of God is far more clearly perceived than the existence of man."'
"Is it not even certain that we exist?"
"Yes, and no. Everything we see and feel is 'an effect of God's power,' said Berkeley. For God is 'intimately present in our consciousness, causing to exist for us the profusion of ideas and perceptions that we are constantly subject to.' The whole world around us and our whole life exist in God. He is the one cause of everything that exists. We exist only in the mind of God."
"I am amazed, to put it mildly."
"So 'to be or not to be' is not the whole question. The question is also who we are. Are we really human beings of flesh and blood? Does our world consist of real things--or are we encircled by the mind?"
Sophie continued to bite her nails.
Alberto went on: "Material reality was not the only thing Berkeley was questioning. He was also questioning whether 'time' and 'space' had any absolute or independent existence. Our own perception of time and space can also be merely figments of the mind. A week or two for us need not be a week or two for God ..."
"You said that for Berkeley this spirit that everything exists in is the Christian God."
"Yes, I suppose I did. But for us ..."
"Us?"
"For us--for you and me--this 'will or spirit' that is the 'cause of everything in everything' could be Hilde's father."
Sophie's eyes opened wide with incredulity. Yet at the same time a realization began to dawn on her.
"Is that what you think?"
"I cannot see any other possibility. That is perhaps the only feasible explanation for everything that has happened to us. All those postcards and signs that have turned up here and there... Hermes beginning to talk ... my own involuntary slips of the tongue."
"I..."
"Imagine my calling you Sophie, Hilde! I knew all the time that your name wasn't Sophie."
"What are you saying? Now you are definitely confused."
"Yes, my mind is going round and round, my child. Like a giddy planet round a burning sun."
"And that sun is Hilde's father?"
"You could say so."
"Are you saying he's been a kind of God for us?"
"To be perfectly candid, yes. He should be ashamed of himself!"
"What about Hilde herself?"
"She is an angel, Sophie."
"An angel?"
"Hilde is the one this 'spirit' turns to."
"Are you saying that Albert Knag tells Hilde about us?"
"Or writes about us. For we cannot perceive the matter itself that our reality is made of, that much we have learned. We cannot know whether our external reality is made of sound waves or of paper and writing. According to Berkeley, all we can know is that we are spirit."
"And Hilde is an angel..."
"Hilde is an angel, yes. Let that be the last word. Happy birthday, Hilde!"
Suddenly the room was filled with a bluish light. A few seconds later they heard the crash of thunder and the whole house shook.
"I have to go," said Sophie. She got up and ran to the front door. As she let herself out, Hermes woke up from his nap in the hallway. She thought she heard him say, "See you later, Hilde."
Sophie rushed down the stairs and ran out into the street. It was deserted. And now the rain came down in torrents.
One or two cars were plowing through the downpour, but there were no buses in sight. Sophie ran across Main Square and on through the town. As she ran, one thought kept going round and round in her mind: "Tomorrow is my birthday* Isn't it extra bitter to realize that life is only a dream on the day before your fifteenth birthday? It's like dreaming you won a million and then just as you're getting the money you wake up."
Sophie ran across the squelching playing field. Minutes later she saw someone come running toward her. It was her mother. The sky was pierced again and again by angry darts of lightning.
When they reached each other Sophie's mother put her arm around her.
"What's happening to us, little one?"
"I don't know," Sophie sobbed. "It's like a bad dream."
柏克莱
……宛如燃烧的恒星旁一颗晕眩的行星……
艾伯特走到面向市区的那一扇窗户旁。苏菲也过去站在他身边。
当他们站在那儿看着外面那些古老的房子时，突然有一架小飞机飞到那些屋顶的上方，机尾挂了一块长布条。苏菲猜想那大概是某项产品、某种活动或某场摇滚音乐会的广告。但是当它飞近，机身转向时，她看到上面写的是：“席德，生日快乐!”
“不请自来。”艾伯特只说了一句。
这时，从南边山上下来的浓厚乌云已经开始聚集在市区上方了。小飞机逐渐隐没在灰色的云层中。
“恐怕会有暴风雨呢。”艾伯特说。
“所以我回家时必须坐车才行。”
“我只希望这不是少校的计谋之一。”
“他又不是万能的上帝。”
艾伯特没有回答。他走到房间的另一头，再度坐在茶几旁。
过了一会，他说：“我们得谈谈柏克莱。”
此时苏菲已经坐回原位。她发现自己开始咬起指甲来。
柏克莱“柏克莱(GeorgeBerkeley)是爱尔兰的一位天主教的主教，生于一六八五到一七五三年间。”艾伯特开始说，然后便沉默了很长一段时间。
“你刚才说到柏克莱是爱尔兰的一位主教……”苏菲提醒他。
“他也是一个哲学家……”
“是吗?”
“他觉得当时的哲学与科学潮流可能会对基督徒的生活方式有不利的影响。他认为他那个时代无所不在的唯物主义，将会腐蚀基督徒对于上帝这位创造者与大自然保护者的信心。”
“是吗?”
“然而他也是经验主义哲学家中理论最一贯的一位。”
“他也认为我们对世界的知识只能经由感官的认知而获得吗?”
“不只是这样。柏克莱宣称世间的事物的确是像我们所感知的那样。但它们并非‘事物’。”
“请你解释一下好吗?”．“你还记得洛克说我们无法陈述事物的‘次要性质’吗?例如，我们不能说一个苹果是绿的或酸的。我们只能说我们感觉到它是绿的或酸的。但洛克同时也说像密度、比重和重量等‘主要性质’确实是我们周遭的外在真实世界的特性。而外在的真实世界具有物质的实体。”
“我记得。而且我也认为洛克区分事物的方式是很重要的。”
“是的，苏菲，但事实上并不只于此。”
“说下去。”
“洛克和笛卡尔、史宾诺莎一样，认为物质世界是真实的。”
“然后呢?”
“但柏克莱却对这点提出了疑问。他利用经验主义的逻辑提出这个疑问。他说，世间所存在的只有那些我们感受到的事情。但我们并未感受到‘物质’或‘质料’。我们无法察知我们所感受到的事物是否确实存在。他认为，如果我们认定自己所感知到的事物之下有‘实体’存在，我们就是妄下结论，因为我们绝对没有任何经验可以支持这样的说法。”
“胡说八道!你看!”
苏菲用拳头重重地捶了一下桌子。
“好痛。”她说。“难道这不能证明这张桌子的确是一张桌子，既是物质，也是质料?”
“你觉得这张桌子怎么样呢?”
“很硬。”
“你感觉到一个硬的东西，可是你并没有感觉到实际存在于桌子里的物质，对不对?同样的，你可以梦见自己碰到一个硬物，可是梦里不会有硬的东西，对不对?”
“没错。”
“人也会在被催眠的状态下‘感觉’冷或热，感觉被人抚摸或被人打了一拳。”
“可是如果桌子实际上不是硬的，我又怎么会有这种感觉呢?”
“柏克莱相信人有‘灵’。他认为我们所有的观念都有一个我们意识不到的成因。但这个成因不是物质的，而是精神性的。”
灵苏菲又开始咬指甲了。艾伯特继续说：“根据柏克莱的看法，我们的灵魂可能是形成我们本身各种概念的原因，就像我们在做梦时一般。但世间只有另外一个意志或灵可能形成造就这个‘形体’世界的诸般概念。他说，万物都是因为这个灵而存在，这个灵乃是‘万物中的万物’的成因，也是‘所有事物存在之处’。”
“他说的这个‘灵’是怎样的一个东西?”
“他指的当然是天主。他宣称：‘我们可以说天主的存在比人的存在要更能够让人清楚地感知到。”’“难道连我们是否存在都不确定吗?”
“可以说是，也可以说不是。柏克莱说，我们所看见、所感觉到的每一件事物都是‘天主力量的作用’，因为天主‘密切存在于我们的意识中，造成那些我们不断体会到的丰富概念与感官体验’。他认为，我们周遭的世界与我们的生命全都存在于天主之中。他是万物唯一的成因，同时我们只存在于天主的心中。”
“太让人惊讶了。”
“因此，tobeornottobe并不是唯一的问题。问题在于我们是什么。我们真的是血肉之躯的人类吗?我们的世界是由真实的事物组成的吗?或者我们只是受到心灵的包围?”
苏菲再度咬起指甲来。艾伯特继续说：“柏克莱不只质疑物质真实性的问题，他也提出了‘时间’和‘空间’是否绝对存在或独立存在的问题。他认为，我们对于时间与空间的认知可能也只是由我们的心灵所虚构的产物而已。我们的----两个星期并不一定等于上帝的一两个星期……”
“你刚才说柏克莱认为这个万物所存在于其中的灵乃是天主?”
“是的。但对我们来说……”
“我们?”
“……对于你我来说，这个‘造成万物中之万物’的‘意志或灵’可能是席德的父亲。”
苏菲震惊极了。她的眼睛睁得大大的，一副不可置信的样子。
但同时她也开始悟出一些道理来。
“你真的这么想吗?”
“除此之外，我看不出还有别的可能。只有这样，才能解释我们所经历的这些事情，包括那些到处出现的明信片和标语、汉密士开口说人话……还有我经常不由自主地叫错你的名字。”
“我……”
“我居然叫你苏菲，席德。我一直都知道你的名字不叫苏菲。”
“你说什么?你这回是真的胡涂了。”
“是的，我的脑子正转呀转的，像围绕燃烧的恒星旋转的一颗晕眩的星球。”
“而那颗恒星就是席德的父亲吗?”
“可以这么说。”
“你是说他有点像是在扮演我们的上帝吗?”
“坦白说，是的。他应该觉得惭愧才对。”
“那席德呢?”
“她是个天使，苏菲。”
“天使?”
“因为她是这个‘灵’诉求的对象。”
“你是说艾勃特把关于我们的事告诉席德?”
“也可能是写的。因为我们不能感知那组成我们的现实世界的物质，这是我们到目前为止所学到的东西。我们无法得知我们的外在现实世界是由声波组成还是由纸和书写的动作组成。根据柏克莱的说法，我们唯一能够知道的就是我们是灵。”
“而席德是个天使……”
“是的，席德是个天使。我们就说到这里为止吧。生日快乐，席德!”
突然间房里充满了一种红光。几秒钟后，他们听见雷电劈空声音，整栋房子都为之摇撼。
“我得回家了。”苏菲说。她站起身，跑到前门。她刚走出来，厉本在门廊上睡午觉的汉密士就醒过来了。她走时，仿佛听到它说“再见，席德。”
苏菲冲下楼梯，跑到街上。整条街都空无一人。雨已经开始滂沱地下着。
偶尔有一两辆车在雨中穿梭而过。但却连一辆公车的影踪也没有。苏菲跑过大广场，然后穿过市区。她一边跑时，脑中不断浮现一个念头。
明天就是我的生日了，苏菲心想。在十五岁生日前夕突然领悟到生命只不过是一场梦境而已，那种感觉真是分外苦涩啊！就好像是你中了一百万大奖，正要拿到钱时，却发现这只不过是南柯一梦。
苏菲啪哒啪哒地跑过泥泞的运动场。几分钟后，她看见有人跑，向她，原来是妈妈。此时闪电正发怒般一再劈过天际。
当她们跑到彼此身边时，妈妈伸出手臂搂着苏菲。
“孩子，我们到底发生什么事了?”
“我不知道，”苏菲啜泣。“好像一场噩梦一样。”
Bjerkely
an old magic mirror Great-grandmother had bought from a Gypsy woman ...
Hilde Moller Knag awoke in the attic room in the old captain's house outside Lillesand. She glanced at the clock. It was only six o'clock, but it was already light. Broad rays of morning sun lit up the room.
She got out of bed and went to the window. On the way she stopped by the desk and tore a page off her calendar. Thursday, June 14, 1990. She crumpled the page up and threw it in her wastebasket.
Friday, June 15, 1990, said the calendar now, shining at her. Way back in January she had written "15th birthday" on this page. She felt it was extra-special to be fifteen on the fifteenth. It would never happen again.
Fifteen! Wasn't this the first day of her adult life? She couldn't just go back to bed. Furthermore, it was the last day of school before the summer vacation. The students just had to appear in church at one o'clock. And what was more, in a week Dad would be home from Lebanon. He had promised to be home for Midsummer Eve.
