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Groundless Beliefs
无根据的信念
Alfred Ernest Monder
艾尔弗雷德·欧内斯特·曼德
In the future we are going to follow the practice—until it becomes a habit—of classifying propositions according to their grounds. Of every statement we come across, we shall ask: "HOW DO WE KNOW THAT? WHAT REASON HAVE WE FOR BELIEVING THAT? ON WHAT 'GROUND' IS THAT STATEMENT BASED?" Probably we shall be astonished at the number of propositions met with in everyday life which we shall find it necessary to class as groundless. They rest upon mere tradition, or on somebody's bare assertion unsupported by even a shadow of proof...
今后，我们将按依据来划分各种观点--直至这种做法成为一种习惯。对于我们所遇到的每一种观点，我们都应该问：“我们是如何知道的？我们有什么理由相信它？这种说法有什么‘根据’？我们可能会吃惊地发现，日常生活中我们所见到的大量说法有必要归类为毫无根据的说法。这些说法或是仅仅基于传统，或是仅仅基于某人毫无证据的断言……
It may be a belief which we originally accepted as a result of simple "suggestion," and we have continued to hold it ever since. It has now become one of our regular habits of thought. Perhaps somebody-somewhere-sometime told us a certain thing, and quite uncritically we accepted and believed it. Perhaps it was way back in our early childhood—before we had even developed the power of questioning anything that might be told to us. Many of our strongest convictions were established then; and now, in adult life, we find it most difficult even to question their truth. They seem to us "obviously" true.
情况很可能是这样的：我们最初仅仅因为别人的“暗示”而接受了这样的观点，并且此后我们继续坚持这种观点。这种观点现在已成为我们不变的思维习惯。也许某人于某时、某地告诉我们某件事，我们就不加评判地接受并相信了。这种做法或许可以追溯到我们早期的童年时代--在我们有能力质疑别人可能告诉我们的任何事情之前。我们的许多根深蒂固的信念都是那时建立起来的；而现在长大了，我们却发现甚至很难对这些信念的真实性提出质疑。这些信念在我们看来“显然”是正确无疑的。
