Meet Tony. He's my student. He's about my age, and he's in San Quentin State Prison. When Tony was 16 years old, one day, one moment, "It was mom's gun. Just flash it, scare the guy. He's a punk. He took some money; we'll take his money. That'll teach him. Then last minute, I'm thinking, 'Can't do this. This is wrong.' My buddy says, 'C'mon, let's do this.' I say, 'Let's do this.'" And those three words, Tony's going to remember, because the next thing he knows, he hears the pop. There's the punk on the ground, puddle of blood. And that's felony murder -- 25 to life, parole at 50 if you're lucky, and Tony's not feeling very lucky.
依位係東尼,佢係我嘅學生 佢同我差唔多大 佢係聖昆丁州立監獄嘅囚犯 喺佢16 歲嘅時候 有一日突然間,事情就噉發生︰ 「支槍係媽媽嘅。 我開頭諗著求其開一槍,嚇下個飛仔。 佢搶咗我哋嘅錢, 我就搶佢嘅錢,教訓下佢。 到最後,我就諗: 『唔得,我唔可以咁做。』 我朋友就話: 『快啲啦,我哋一齊搞掂佢。』 我就話:『好啦。』」 就係依兩個字,東尼永遠都會記住 因為接落嚟佢見到嘅,就係警察 個飛仔訓喺地上,流緊成灘血 佢犯咗謀殺罪,被判監 25 年 好彩嘅話,50 年後會得到假釋 不過東尼就唔係咁好彩啦
So when we meet in my philosophy class in his prison and I say, "In this class, we will discuss the foundations of ethics," Tony interrupts me. "What are you going to teach me about right and wrong? I know what is wrong. I have done wrong. I am told every day, by every face I see, every wall I face, that I am wrong. If I ever get out of here, there will always be a mark by my name. I'm a convict; I am branded 'wrong.' What are you going to tell me about right and wrong?"
當我哋喺監獄嘅哲學堂見面嘅時候 我話:「依堂課我哋要討論嘅 係道德嘅基礎。」 東尼就打斷我: 「你憑咩教我啱同錯啊? 我知咩係錯嘅。我做過錯事。 每一日每個我見到嘅人, 我見到嘅每一面墻, 都話我知我就係錯。 我一出獄,我都會一直孭住依個印。 我係一個犯過法嘅人;我就係『錯』。 所以你憑咩話我知咩係啱同錯啊?」
So I say to Tony, "Sorry, but it's worse than you think. You think you know right and wrong? Then can you tell me what wrong is? No, don't just give me an example. I want to know about wrongness itself, the idea of wrong. What is that idea? What makes something wrong? How do we know that it's wrong? Maybe you and I disagree. Maybe one of us is wrong about the wrong. Maybe it's you, maybe it's me -- but we're not here to trade opinions; everyone's got an opinion. We are here for knowledge. Our enemy is thoughtlessness. This is philosophy."
我就同東尼講: 「唔好意思, 不過個問題比你想像中要難。 你覺得你知道咩係啱同錯? 噉你可唔可以話我知咩係錯? 你唔可以齋同我舉例, 我想知道錯嘅本質係乜嘢, 個本質係乜嘢? 係乜嘢令一樣嘢變成錯嘅? 我哋點知一樣嘢係錯嘅? 你同我未必會有相同諗法, 或者我哋兩個之中 有一個嘅諗法係錯嘅。 可能係你,可能係我, 但係我哋唔喺嚟表達意見; 個個人都有佢哋自己嘅諗法, 我哋喺度嘅目的係求學, 我哋嘅敵人係唔理人哋。 依樣就係哲學。」
And something changes for Tony. "Could be I'm wrong. I'm tired of being wrong. I want to know what is wrong. I want to know what I know." What Tony sees in that moment is the project of philosophy, the project that begins in wonder -- what Kant called "admiration and awe at the starry sky above and the moral law within." What can creatures like us know of such things? It is the project that always takes us back to the condition of existence -- what Heidegger called "the always already there." It is the project of questioning what we believe and why we believe it -- what Socrates called "the examined life." Socrates, a man wise enough to know that he knows nothing. Socrates died in prison, his philosophy intact.
然後東尼就開始有啲改變啦 「可能我嘅諗法係錯嘅, 我已經厭倦咗一路都係錯。 我想知咩係錯, 我想知道我知道嘅嘢。」 喺過一刻,東尼見到嘅就係哲學計劃 一個以讚歎為開端嘅計劃 康德稱之為「對頭頂之上嘅星空、 同一切之中嘅道德法則嘅讚歎同敬畏」 作為大地生物之一, 我哋又可以知道呢方面啲咩呢? 就係依個計劃, 一直提醒我哋生存嘅條件 ——海德格爾稱之為「一直存在」 就係依個計劃畀我哋質疑 我哋信嘅嘢同點解要信佢哋 蘇格拉底稱之為「受考驗嘅生活」 蘇格拉底 ——一個聰明到瞭解自己無知嘅男人 最後喺獄中去世 不過佢嘅哲學留存落嚟
So Tony starts doing his homework. He learns his whys and wherefores, his causes and correlations, his logic, his fallacies. Turns out, Tony's got the philosophy muscle. His body is in prison, but his mind is free. Tony learns about the ontologically promiscuous, the epistemologically anxious, the ethically dubious, the metaphysically ridiculous. That's Plato, Descartes, Nietzsche and Bill Clinton.
東尼開始做佢嘅功課 學習發生喺佢身上嘅前因後果 學習佢嘅邏輯同佢嘅謬論 最後,佢喺哲學方面有所長足 雖然佢個人被困喺監獄 但係佢嘅思想卻好自由 東尼仲學識本體論混雜 認識論焦慮 倫理性質疑,同埋形而上學既謬論 依啲分別係柏拉圖、笛卡兒、尼采 同克林頓嘅哲學
So when he gives me his final paper, in which he argues that the categorical imperative is perhaps too uncompromising to deal with the conflict that affects our everyday and challenges me to tell him whether therefore we are condemned to moral failure, I say, "I don't know. Let us think about that." Because in that moment, there's no mark by Tony's name; it's just the two of us standing there. It is not professor and convict, it is just two minds ready to do philosophy. And I say to Tony, "Let's do this."
然後佢最後交咗佢篇論文 寫嘅係定言令色只會 喺我哋日常生活嘅矛盾裏邊 令雙方都拉据不下 同時請我話佢知 定言令色會唔會令我哋犯咗道德錯誤 我答佢:「我唔知個答案 不如我哋一齊諗下。」 因為喺嗰一刻 東尼無任何所謂身份嘅印 我同佢只係兩個人 唔係教授同囚犯 只係兩個準備要討論哲學嘅人 所以我就同東尼講: 「我哋一齊諗下佢!」
Thank you.
多謝
(Applause)
(掌聲)