– [Kelly] Hi, I’m Kelly Schiffman.
嗨 我是凯莉·谢夫曼
I’m a PHD student at Yale University
我是耶鲁大学的一名博士生
And today I’m gonna talk about
今天我想谈一谈
the distinction between normative and descriptive claims.
规范性陈述和描述性陈述的区别
So, people make claims all the time.
人们总是会作出陈述
Someone might say, “The sky is beautiful today.”
有些人会说 “今天的天空很美”
Or “I just saw a UFO.”
或者 “我刚看到一个UFO”
Or “Chris Rick is hilarious”
或者 “克里斯·里克很搞笑！”
Or “The Golden Gate Bridge is in San Francisco.”
或者 “金门大桥在旧金山”
Now, of course, it’s important for us to figure out
现在 弄清楚像这样的陈述正确与否
whether claims like these are true or false
的确很重要
but before we can do that it’s important
但是在这之前
to understand what sort of claim it is.
去理解它是哪种类型的陈述则更重要
Philosophers find it useful
哲学家认为
to distinguish between two different sorts of claims:
把两种不同的陈述 即规范性陈述和描述性陈述
normative claims and descriptive claims.
区分开来是很有用的
When you make a descriptive claim,
当你作描述性陈述的时候
you’re describing something.
你是在描述一些东西
You merely express your understanding
仅仅是在表达你对一些事物
of how something is or could be
是什么或者可能是什么的理解
without offering any even implicit evaluation of it
而未提供它相对于某个标准 典范或替代方案的
relative to a standard, or ideal, or alternative.
任何隐形评估
Examples of descriptive claims include:
这里有一些描述性陈述的例子：
“The moon is made of cheese.”
“月饼是由奶酪做成的”
“Dinosaurs used to exist.”
“恐龙曾经存在过”
“Obama’s president.”
“奥巴马是总统”
“That boys has large ears.”
“那些男孩长着大耳朵”
“I could have more money.”
“我会有更多钱”
Notice that even if I’m likely to have an
请注意 即使我可能
opinion about somebody having large ears
对有人长着大耳朵
or the fact that I could have more money
或者有更多钱的事实有看法
this opinion isn’t being expressed
但这种观点不会在描述性陈述中
in the descriptive claim itself.
得到表达
Based just on the claim, you can’t tell
仅仅基于这个陈述
whether I think the way things are is better or worse
你分不清我眼中的事物相比于该事物本身
than the way they could be.
是更好还是更坏
When you make a normative claim
当你作规范性陈述时
you express your evaluation of something.
表达了你对某件事的评价
When you evaluate something you’re assessing it,
当你在评价某件事可能是什么时
often implicitly, relative to some standard,
你通常是在根据一些标准
or ideal, or alternative way that it could be.
典范 或者替代方案来含蓄地评估它
It’s to say that something is,
也就是在说
well, in some respect, better than or worse than
在某些方面 这件事比一些标准
or on par with some standard,
典范 或替代方案
or ideal, or alternative.
更好 更坏 或相当
When you make normative claims we often use words like
当你在作规范性陈述时 我们经常
good or bad or better than.
用“好” “坏”或“更好” 这样的词
For example, “Leonardo Di Caprio’s a really good actor.”
举个例子 “莱昂纳多是一个非常好的演员”
That’s a normative claim.
这就是一个规范性陈述
Or that “Tomatoes taste bad but ketchup tastes great.”
或者 “番茄难吃但番茄酱很好吃”
Or “My math class is no better than “and no worse than my English class.”
或者 “我的数学跟英语比 不好也不坏”
These are all normative claims.
这些都是规范性陈述
They contain an element of evaluation.
它们包含了一个评价的要素
Normative claims also include words like
规范性陈述也包括了一些这样的词
should and shouldn’t
像 “应该”和“不应该”
or right and wrong.
或者 ”对“和”错“
Example, “You should do your homework.”
例如 “你应该做家庭作业”
“You shouldn’t pick your nose.”
“你不应该挖鼻孔”
“It’s not okay to steal a candy bar.”
“偷糖果是不对的”
“Sending a thank you note is the right thing to do.”
“发感谢信是正确的事情”
These are also normative claims.
这些也是规范性陈述
But there are many, many more evaluative words
然而 还有许多 许多的评价性词语
that can appear in normative claims.
可以出现在规范性陈述中
Consider the following
想想接下来的几个
“It’s fine to eat three burgers a day.”
”一天吃三个汉堡是可以的“
“The movie was ridiculous.”
“这个电影很荒谬”
“Broccoli is disgusting.”
“西兰花令人恶心”
“Video games are awesome.”
“电子游戏太棒了”
And, “It’s not cool to skip school.”
还有 ”逃学并不酷“
These are all normative claims as well.
这些也都是规范性陈述
Now, once we figure out whether a claim is normative or discriptive
一旦我们弄清楚一个陈述是规范性还是描述性
that help us to assess its truth,
就会帮助我们去评估其真实性
answer certain questions,
回答一些问题
settle certain disagreements.
解决一些意见分歧
Consider a case in which you think our neighbor’s car is red
设想一下 你认为我们邻居的车是红色的
and I think it’s not.
但是我觉得不是
I think it’s blue.
我觉得它是蓝色的
Here we’re disagreeing about a descriptive claim.
在这里我们就对一个描述性陈述有了分歧
So, all we need to do to settle the disagreement
所以我们需要为解决分歧而做的
is to figure out whether that descriptive claim is true or not.
就是弄清楚 那个描述性陈述是对还是不对
We need to figure out how the world is.
我们需要弄清楚世界是怎样的
So, contrast this with a case in which you say
所以 对比接下来的例子
that red cars are better than blue cars
你认为红车比蓝车更好
and I say that blue cars are better than red cars.
然后我说蓝车比红车更好
Here we’re disagreeing over normative claims
在这我们对一个规范性陈述产生了分歧
so what we need to do is sort through that.
所以我们需要做的是分类整理
For example, I might argue
例如 我可能会说
that well blue cars are better than red cars
蓝车比红车更好
because red cars get pulled over disproportionately by the police.
因为红车更可能被警察拦住
Here we’re working through a normative issue.
这里 我们正在解决一个规范性问题
Either way, getting clear on whether something’s
不管怎样 弄清楚它是
a normative claim or a descriptive claim
规范性陈述还是描述性陈述
is the first step towards figuring out
是探寻真相
truth and towards settling debates like this.
和解决类似分歧的第一步