HOWWETHINK(JOHNDEWEY)外文电子书籍Word格式文档下载.doc

1、Chapter 1: What is Thought? I. Varied Senses of the TermFour senses of thought, from the wider to the limitedNo words are oftener on our lips than thinking and thought. So profuse and varied, indeed, is our use of these words that it is not easy to define just what we mean by them. The aim of this c

2、hapter is to find a single consistent meaning. Assistance may be had by considering some typical ways in which the terms are employed. In the first place thought is used broadly, not to say loosely. Everything that comes to mind, that goes through our heads, is called a thought. To think of a thing

3、is just to be conscious of it in any way whatsoever. Second, the term is restricted by excluding whatever is directly presented; we think （or think of） only such things as we do not directly see, hear, smell, or taste. Then, third, the meaning is further limited to beliefs that rest upon some kind o

4、f evidence or testimony. Of this third type, two kinds or, rather, two degrees must be discriminated. In some cases, a belief is accepted with slight or almost no attempt to state the grounds that support it. In other cases, the ground or basis for a belief is deliberately sought and its（2） adequacy

5、 to support the belief examined. This process is called reflective thought; it alone is truly educative in value, and it forms, accordingly, the principal subject of this volume. We shall now briefly describe each of the four senses. Chance and idle thinking1. In its loosest sense, thinking signifie

6、s everything that, as we say, is in our heads or that goes through our minds. He who offers a penny for your thoughts does not expect to drive any great bargain. In calling the objects of his demand thoughts, he does not intend to ascribe to them dignity, consecutiveness, or truth. Any idle fancy, t

7、rivial recollection, or flitting impression will satisfy his demand. Daydreaming, building of castles in the air, that loose flux of casual and disconnected material that floats through our minds in relaxed moments are, in this random sense, thinking. More of our waking life than we should care to a

8、dmit, even to ourselves, is likely to be whiled away in this inconsequential trifling with idle fancy and unsubstantial hope.Reflective thought is consecutive, not merely a sequenceIn this sense, silly folk and dullards think. The story is told of a man in slight repute for intelligence, who, desiri

9、ng to be chosen selectman in his New England town, addressed a knot of neighbors in this wise: I hear you dont believe I know enough to hold office. I wish you to understand that I am thinking about something or other most of the time. Now reflective thought is like this random coursing of things th

10、rough the mind in that it consists of a succession of things thought of ; but it is unlike, in that the mere chance occurrence of any chance something or other in an irregular sequence does not suffice. Reflection involves not simply a sequence of ideas, but a consequence a consecutive ordering in s

11、uch a way that（3） each determines the next as its proper outcome, while each in turn leans back on its predecessors. The successive portions of the reflective thought grow out of one another and support one another; they do not come and go in a medley. Each phase is a step from something to somethin

12、g technically speaking, it is a term of thought. Each term leaves a deposit which is utilized in the next term. The stream or flow becomes a train, chain, or thread.The restriction of thinking to what goes beyond direct observationReflective thought aims, however, at beliefII. Even when thinking is

13、used in a broad sense, it is usually restricted to matters not directly perceived: to what we do not see, smell, hear, or touch. We ask the man telling a story if he saw a certain incident happen, and his reply may be, No, I only thought of it. A note of invention, as distinct from faithful record o

14、f observation, is present. Most important in this class are successions of imaginative incidents and episodes which, having a certain coherence, hanging together on a continuous thread, lie between kaleidoscopic flights of fancy and considerations deliberately employed to establish a conclusion. The

15、 imaginative stories poured forth by children possess all degrees of internal congruity; some are disjointed, some are articulated. When connected, they simulate reflective thought; indeed, they usually occur in minds of logical capacity. These imaginative enterprises often precede thinking of the c

16、lose-knit type and prepare the way for it. But they do not aim at knowledge, at belief about facts or in truths ; and thereby they are marked off from reflective thought even when they most resemble it. Those who express such thoughts do not expect credence, but rather credit for a well-constructed plot or a well-arranged climax. They produce good stories, not unless by c