Section 2 The Problems
第二部分 问题
基本问题
MINE IS BETTER
我的就是好的
【不知道这一系列对别人有没有影响，我自己是慢慢感觉到了进步，今天虽然是因为其他原因时间晚了来不及逐一的进行中文翻译，不过在反复几遍的英文学习中，我发现我脑海中已经是英文思维了？也许还是半英文思维，是不是可以继续加强英文的练习，而不是中文的翻译呢？如果有认真看我这部分的朋友，希望得到反馈】
【尝试用自己的语言总结这一篇的内容，我们在学习锻炼训练自己批判性思维的时候，最重要的基本的问题就是克服或避免我的就是好的这样的潜意识或者思维习惯。因为这样的潜意识会阻止你接触到更全面的或者是更好的内容，会阻止你进步，结合其他方面学习，这个思维就是和原则里面的极度开放相违背，是科学学习里面的固定式思维的人，阻止你变成成长型思维的人，是笑来老师说的进取型人格的障碍。避免这样的途径有两种，一种是我们会对于涉及到自己的事情自身利益的事情表现出特殊的反应，这时候就要脱离出来，用元认知来谨慎的多思考一下，看是否自己被情绪影响了。另外一种是当自己的情绪发生特别好或者特别坏的极端表现时就要注意了。】
It's natural enough to like our own possessions better than other people's possessions. (One exception to the rule occurs when we are envying others. But that is a special situation that doesn't contradict the point here.) Our possessions are extensions of ourselves. When first graders turn to their classmates and say, "My dad is bigger than yours" or "My shoes are newer" or "My crayons color better," they are not just speaking about their fathers or their shoes or crayons. They are saying something about themselves: "Hey, look at me. I'm something special."
Several years later those children will be saying, "My car is faster than yours," "My football team will go all the way this year," "My marks are higher than Olivia's." (That's one of the great blessings of students –though they may have to stoop to compare, they can always find someone with lower grades than theirs.)
Even later, when they've learned that it sounds boastful to say their possessions are better, they'll continue to think they are: "My house is more expensive, my club more exclusive, my spouse more attractive, my children better behaved, my accomplishments more numerous."
All of this, as we have noted, is natural, although not especially noble or virtuous or, in many cases, even factual. Just natural. The tendency is probably as old as humanity.History records countless examples of it. Most wars, for example, can be traced to some form of "mine is better" thinking. Satirists have pointed their pens at it. Ambrose Bierce, for instance, in his Devil's Dictionary, includes the word infidel.Technically, the word means "one who is an unbeliever in some religion." But Bierce's definition points up the underlying attitude in those who use the word. He defines infidel this way:"In New York, one who does not believe in the Christian religion; in Constantinople, one who does."
For many people, most of the time, the "mine is better" tendency is balanced by the awareness that other people feel the same way about their things, that it's an unavoidable part of being a person to do so. In other words, many people realize that we all see ourselves in a special way, different from everything that is not ourselves, and that whatever we associate with ourselves becomes part of us in our minds. People who have this understanding and are reasonably secure and self-confident can control the tendency.
ETHNOCENTRIC PEOPLE
The problem is that some people do not understand that each person has a special viewpoint. For them "mine is better" is not an attitude that everyone tends to have about his or her things. It is a special, higher truth about their particular situation. Psychologists have a name for them "ethnocentric" people, people who believe strongly that their race,their religion, their culture, or their value system is superior to all others.This belief they consider above the normal processes of examination and questioning. Faced with a challenge to it or even a situation in which they are called on to explain it, they will resist. In their minds there is no point in examining or questioning it. The matter is settled.
Ethnocentric people,of course, are not born but made. Their early training in the home creates the habits of mind that characterize them. As children, they tend to expect and need strong leadership and strict discipline from their parents from their parents and teachers. Also, they are rigid and inflexible in their views, unable to face problems for which the outcomes or answers are not clear. They have no patience with complex situations and meet their daily affairs with oversimplifications.
As adults,ethnocentric individuals tend to hard categorizing. They recognize no middle ground to issues. Things are either all one way or all the other. If such people are not completely for something, they are completely against it. The political party or candidate of their choice, for example, is the savior of the country; the opposition can only lead us to destruction.
The measure of any person or idea from them, of course, is its similarity to their race, their religion, their culture, their value system. Whatever blends with their outlook is worthy. Whatever differs from it is suspect, threatening, dangerous. This is a sad and undesirable attitude to take. But ethnocentric people find it quite satisfying. Psychologist Gordon Allport offers this explanation:
By taking a negative view of great groups of mankind, we somehow make life simpler. For example, if I reject all foreigners as a category, I don't have to bother with them – except to keep them out of my country. If I can ticket,then, all Negroes as comprising an inferior and objectionable race, I conveniently dispose of a tenth of my fellow citizens. If I can put the Catholics into another category and reject them, my life is till further simplified. I then pare again and slice off the Jews… and so it goes.
Ethnocentric people's prejudice has an additional use. It fills their need for an out-group to blame for real and imagined problems in society. Take any problem – crime in the streets, the drug trade, corruption in government, the assassination of a leader, a strike in a major industry, pornography, a rise in food prices – and there is a ready-made villain to blame it on. The "kikes" are responsible – or the "wops," "niggers," "spics,"or "polacks." Ethnocentric achieve instant diagnosis, as easy as matching column A to column B. and they get a large target to point their anger and fear and inadequacy and frustration at.
CONTROLLING "MINE IS BETTER" THINKING
It's clear what ethnocentric people's extreme "mine is better" attitude does to their thinking and judgment. It twists and warps it, often beyond correction. The effect of the "mine is better" tendencies of the rest of us is less dramatic, but no less real.
Our pride in our own religion can lead us to dismiss too quickly the beliefs and practices of other religions and ignore mistakes in our religious history. Our preference for our own political party can make us support inferior candidates and programs. Our allegiance to our own opinions can shut us off from other perspectives, blind us to unfamiliar truths, and enslave us to yesterday's conclusions.
Furthermore, our readiness to accept uncritically those who appeal to our preconceived notions leaves us vulnerable to those who would manipulate us for their own purposes. Historians tell us that is precisely whey Hitler succeeded in winning control of Germany and very nearly conquering the world.
"Mine is better" thinking is the most basic problem for critical thinkers because,left unchecked, it can both distort perception and corrupt judgment.
There are two helpful ways to control "mine is better thinking. The first is to remember that,like everyone else, we are prone to it and that its influence will be strongest when the subject is one that we really care about. As G. K. Chesterton observed,
We are exact and scientific on the subjects we do not care about. We all immediately detect exaggeration in an exposition of Mormonism or a patriotic speech from Paraguay. We all require sobriety on the subject of the sea serpent. But the moment we begin to believe in a thing ourselves, that moment we begin easily to overstate it; and that moment our souls become serious, our words become a little wild.
The second way to control "mine is better" thinking is to be alert for signals of its presence. Those signals can be found both in our feelings and in our thoughts:
In feelings:Very pleasant, favorable sensations, the desire to embrace a statement or a argument immediately, without appraising it further. Or very unpleasant, negative sensations, the desire to attack and denounce a statement or argument without delay.
In thoughts:Ideas such as "I'm glad that experts are taking such a position – I've thought it all along" and "No use wasting time analyzing this evidence – it must be conclusive." Or ideas such as "This view is outrageous because it challenges what I have always thought – I refuse to consider it."
Whenever you find yourself reacting this way, you can be reasonably sure you are being victimized by "mine is better" thinking. The appropriate response is to resist the reaction and force yourself to consider the matter fair-mindedly.
APPLICATIONS
1 Recall an occasion when you observed someone demonstrating one or more of the characteristics of ethnocentrism in his or her behavior. Describe the occasions, the way in which the characteristics were revealed, and the effect they had on the person's judgment.
2 Compose a summary of this chapter for the person whose ethnocentrism you described in application 1. make it as persuasive as you can for that person.That is, focus on the particular occasion of his or her "mine is better" thinking and the effects of that thinking on his or her judgment.
3 Think of two illustrations of your own "mine is better"thinking. Describe that thinking and the way in which you first became aware of it. If you can, determine what caused you to develop that way of thinking.
4 State and support your position on each of the following issues. Be sure to recognize and overcome our "mine is better" tendencies and base your response on critical thinking.
Carl F. Henry, a leading evangelical theologian, warns that the widespread attitude that there are nomoral standards other than what the majority approves is a threat to our country. The survival of democratic society, he suggests, depends on recognizing definite moral standards, such as the biblical criteria of morality and justice.
Allen B. Ballard, Professor of Political Science at City College of New York, argues that Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn should not be taught in high school classes because hearing"nigger" read aloud often causes acute embarrassment to black students. He reasons, "Why should a learning experience intended to make children love literature instead end up inflicting pain upon black children?"He suggests the book be used as an optional choice for additional reading in high school or deferred until college.
A Hasidic rabbi serving a three-year term (for bank fraud) in a federal prison petitioned a U.S. district court to order the prison to provide a kosher kitchen, utensils, and diet for him. He argued that his health was failing because the food served at the prison did not meet his kosher requirement. He could eat only lettuce, oranges,apples, carrots, and dry rice cereal.
"Heavy metal" music has drawn pointed criticism from a number of social critics. They argue that it at least aggravates (and perhaps causes) antisocial attitudes and thus can beblamed for the increase in violent crime.
Some people believe the penalty for driving while intoxicated should be stiffened. One provision they are urging be added to the law is mandatory jail sentences for repeat offenders.
5 Read the following dialogues carefully. Note any evidence of "mine is better" thinking. Then decide which view in each dialogue is more reasonable and why. (Be sure to guard against your own "mine is better" thinking.)
Background Note:On a trip to Spain in November 1982, Pope John Paul acknowledged that the Spanish Inquisition, which began in 1480 and lasted for more than 300 years and resulted in many people's being imprisoned, tortured, and burned at the stake, was a mistake.
Ralph: It's about time the Catholic church officially condemned the Inquisition.
Chester: The Pope shouldn't have admitted that publicly.
Ralph: Why? Do you think five hundred years after the fact is too soon? Should he have waited for one thousand years to pass?
Chester: Don't be sarcastic. I mean that his statement will undoubtedly weaken the faith of many Catholics. If you love someone or something – in this case, the church – you should do nothing to cause it shame or embarrassment. Of course the Inquisition was wrong, but it serves no good purpose to say so now and remind people of the church's error.
Background Note:When an unmarried high school biology teacher in a Long island, New York,school became pregnant, a group of parents petitioned the school board to fire her. They reasoned that her pregnancy was proof of immorality and that allowing her to remain a teacher would set a poor example for students. The school board refused to fire her.
Arthur: Good for the school board. Their action must have taken courage. Pious hypocrites can generate a lot of pressure.
Guinevere: Why do you call them hypocrites? They had a right to express their view.
Arthur: Do you mean you agree with that nonsense about the pregnant teacher's being immoral and a poor example to students?
Guinevere: Yes, I suppose I do. Not that I think everybody deserves firing from her job in such circumstances. I think teachers are in a special category. More should be expected of them. They should have to measure up to a higher standard of conduct than people in other occupations because they are in charge of young people's education, and young people are impressionable.
6 Group discussion exercise: Reflect on the following quotation. Does it make sense? Does anything you read in this chapter help to explain it? If so,what? Discuss your ideas with two or three classmates.It doesn't matter if everyone in the world thinks you're wrong. If you think you're right, that's all that counts.
这个系列是对超越感觉：批判性思考指南 07版做的翻译练习，如果觉得有帮助可以点链接购买第九版中文，英文原版在这里Beyond Feelings：A Guide to Critical Thinking （英语）
