辩论的艺术
So how do you deal with situations where your words are likely to be used out of context,
当你的话似乎被断章取义时 你是如何解决的呢？
let’s say.
假如说
And that’s a situation I’ve encountered.
这是我经历过的一种情况
Well, you see, you encounter a situation like that very frequently.
你知道的 你会经常遇到那样的情况
Everyone does in their life.
每个人都会在他的一生中遇到那样的情况
If you’re having a discussion with someone you live with, for example,
如果你正在和某个与你同居的人进行讨论 比如
so someone you have to be with for a long time – a lover, boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, husband, sibling
这个人是和你一起生活了很久的人——情人 恋人 配偶 兄弟姐妹
for that matter.
你们之间出现了这样的情况
You’re going to have contentious discussions about how to move forward
你们打算探讨事情该如何进展
and it’s very frequently the case that your words will be – that you’ll be straw-manned.
这时一种常见的情况是——你的言论将成为众矢之的
Your words will be taken out of context.
你说的话将被断章取义
The other person (and you too!) will try to win instead of trying to solve the problem.
对方（也可能是你！）会尽力去赢得争论 而不是去解决问题
What you have to kind of decide is – well two things.
你要决定的是两件事情
The first thing is: you’re probably wrong in some important way.
第一件事是：你可能在某些重要的方面错了
And you might think “Well, so what?”
你可能会想 “好吧 那又如何？”
But no, it’s not so simple.
但并不是 没这么简单的
Being wrong in some important way is like
在某些重要的方面出错就像
having a map that doesn’t correspond to the streets.
你拥有一幅和街道并不相符的地图
If you’re wrong in some important way,
如果你在某些重要的方面出错
when you go to where you’re going you will get lost
当你在去往目的地时你会迷路
and you might end up in a neighborhood that you don’t want to visit!
并最终来到一个你并不想去的街区！
So it actually matters if you’re wrong.
所以 你是否错了实际很重要
And so now if you’re talking to someone who is acting in opposition to you,
如果你现在正和与你观点相对的人交谈
it’s possible that during your contentious discussion they will tell you something—about
在接下来的讨论中 对方可能会告诉你
how you’re wrong—that’s accurate.
你是如何错了 而他是正确无误的
Now you’re not going to be very happy about that, because like who wants to discover that
这时你不会对此感到非常高兴 因为谁想有人发现
they’re wrong?
他们是错误的？
But it’s better to figure out that your map is inaccurate than it is to get lost.
但是 指出你地图上的错误好过你将会迷路
And so one of the things you have to remember when you’re discussing things with people,
当你和人们讨论事情时 你不得不记住的一件事情是
even if they’re out to defeat you, let’s say, is that there is some glimmering of
即使他们要打败你 比方说 他们身上的一些闪光点
the possibility that you could walk away with more knowledge than you walked in with.
可能使你在离开时比之前学到更多的知识
And that’s worth – that can be worth paying quite a price for.
这是值得的——值得付出相当大的代价
And so I’ve had the opportunity to engage in public debate of an exceptionally
因此 我有机会参加了一场非常有争议的公开辩论
contentious nature for let’s say 18 months nonstop, fundamentally.
这场辩论基本上是18个月不间断的
And it’s been very stressful.
它让我非常有压力
But the upshot of that is that my arguments are in much better shape than they were,
但这样做的结果是 我的论点比以前好得多
and—I shouldn’t say that.
而且——我不应该这么说
My THOUGHTS are much more refined than they were at the beginning of this process.
我的想法比这个过程开始时要细腻成熟得多
It’s not my arguments are in better shape.
不是说我的论点更好
That’s not the right way to think about it.
这么去思考并不正确
It’s that I’m clearer about what I know.
而是说我更清楚我所知道的
I can articulate it better.
我可以更好地去表达它
And that’s all forged in the heat of conflict.
而这一切都是在激烈的冲突氛围中形成的
If you’re discussing a contentious issue with someone you love and that you have to
如果你正在和你爱的人 且你不得不忍受
live with and put up with, you want to listen to them.
不得不接受 讨论一个有争议的问题 你想要听听他们的观点
Because what you really want to do is establish a lasting peace, and you might even have to
因为你真正想做的是建立一个持久的和平关系 你甚至可能不得不
make their arguments for them.
为他们提出论据
Maybe you’re more verbally fluent
也许你的口语比你的搭档的更流利
than your partner (which doesn’t mean, by the way,
（顺便说一句 这并不意味着
that you’re more right,
你的观点更正确
it just means you can construct better arguments on the fly.
这只是意味着你可以快速地构建更好的论点
It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re more accurate).
这并不一定意味着你的观点更准确）
You might have to help your partner formulate their arguments
你可能要帮助你的搭档提出他们的论点
so that you can really get to grips with what it is that they’re trying to say.
这样你才能真正掌握他们想说什么
So that you can alter the way that you’re constructing your own narrative and your joint narrative,
这样你就可以改变构思你自己的叙述过程以及合叙的方式
so that you’re not butting heads unnecessarily as you move forward through life.
这样你就不会在生活中前进时发生不必要地分歧
It’s not a very good idea to win an argument with your wife, right?
想在同你的妻子争吵中获胜 可不是一个好主意 对吗？
That isn’t what you want, because then you have a defeated partner.
这不是你想要的 因为这样你就拥有了一个被打败过的搭档
And a defeated partner is not happy.
而一个被打败的搭档并不会开心
And a defeated partner is often out to reclaim the defeat.
被打败的搭档往往会想要挽回失败
And so as a strategy for moving forward with someone who you’re going to
所以如果你要继续交往一个
wake up beside 5,000 times,
会在你身边醒来5000次的人
it’s not a very advisable strategy.
这不是一个明智的策略
It’s better to listen, to flesh out the argument on both sides,
最好的方法是倾听 去充实双方的论点 看看你们是否
and to see if you can come to a mutually acceptable negotiated settlement.
看看你们是否能达成一个双方都能接受的协商解决方案
And that’s the case in most encounters in life if you can manage that.
这是生活中遇到的大多数情况 如果你能设法这样做的话
So but it’s easy to want to win.
所以想要赢是很容易的
One of the things I do in my psychology seminar is
我在心理学研讨会上做的一件事是
I assign papers to students and then I extract out propositions from the papers.
我会给学生布置论文 然后我会从论文中提取命题
And they’re propositions that are debatable.
这些命题是具有争议的
And so then I outline the Pro side and I outline the Con side.
然后我列出了赞成和反对的两个方面
Like “if you agreed with this, this is what you’d think”.
比如 “如果你同意 这就是你的想法”
If you disagreed with this, this is what you’d think.
如果你不同意 这里是你的想法
Then I divide the students into groups, like four people per group.
然后我把学生分成几个小组 比如每组四个人
“You four are pro.
“你们四个是持赞成观点
You four are con.
你们四个是持反对观点
You’ve got 20 minutes to make a pro argument.
你们有20分钟的时间来提出支持的观点
You’ve got 20 minutes to make a con argument.
你们有20分钟的时间来提出反对的观点
We’ll go around the table and we’ll see how, you know,
我们将绕着桌子看看进行得如何 你知道的
we’ll have each group rate the other
我们将会让每个小组对另一组进行评分
and we’ll see who comes out on top.”
我们将看看最后哪个小组的得分排在首位”
Well, what you want to do as an educator is you don’t want to
好吧 作为一名教育工作者 你想做的并不是
put forward a specific point of view.
提出一个明确的观点
Not when what you’re trying to do is to discuss a contentious issue!
当你想讨论一个有争议的问题时就不会想提出一个明确的观点了!
What you want to do is teach people how to take an argument apart and formulate a response.
你想做的是 教人们如何反驳一个论点并阐述一个回答
And to do that it’s actually extraordinarily useful to arbitrarily assign positions to people.
要做到这一点 那么随意地为人们分配立场实际上是非常有用的
It’s like, I don’t care what you think, you’re “pro” on this topic,
这就像 我不在乎你的想法 你在这个话题上是”赞成”的
generate an argument.”
那就形成你的论点
And what that does is it vastly widens people’s conceptualizations of the argumentative space.
这极大地拓宽了人们对辩论的空间概念
Because most really contentious issues – gun control, abortion, those sorts of things—there
因为大多数真正有争议的问题——枪支管制 堕胎 诸如此类的事情
is a lot to be said on both sides.
双方都有很多自己的观点要说
They wouldn’t be contentious issues otherwise.They’re issues that don’t go away.
否则 它们就不会成为有争议的问题 这些问题是不会停息的
Well why?
为什么呢？
Well because they’re so complex.
因为它们太复杂了
They don’t lend themselves to easy unitary solutions.
它们不适合用单一的对策去解决
One of the things you want to learn if you’re educated is that on any complex subject
如果你受过教育 你需要知道的一件事是 在任何复杂的主题上
there’s a lot to be said.
你都会有很多话要说
And that you’re going to come at that with your particular ideological bias,
而且你会带着你特定的意识形态偏见来看待
let’s say, your temperamental bias.
比方说 你的性格偏见
Maybe even you might even come at it with things you’ve actually thought about,
也许你甚至会想到一些你实际上考虑过的事情
although that’s pretty damn rare.
尽管这是非常罕见的
But you need to learn just exactly how localized your viewpoint is.
但你需要了解你的观点有多狭隘
There’s psychology experiments that demonstrate this quite clearly.
有心理学实验非常清楚地证明了这一点
So imagine that you come into my lab and
所以想象一下 你来到我的实验室
I ask you whether you’re “pro abortion” or “pro life”.
我问你是否“支持堕胎”还是“反对堕胎”
And I get you to rate that on a scale.
然后我让你们按计分制来进行打分
Maybe you say, “Well, on a scale of one to ten, I’m eight prolife.”
也许你会说 “在1到10的范围内打分 我给反对堕胎打8分”
And I say “Okay, now you have to write a 500 word essay that’s opposed to your position.”
然后我说 “好的 你现在需要写一篇500字与你的立场相反的文章
Okay
好的
That’s the experiment.
这就是实验
And then I bring you back two weeks later
两周后我让你回来
and I ask you to rate your position on the same scale.
然后我请你给自己的立场用相同的评分范围打分
It will have shifted substantially
它将大大改变
to the position that you delineated in your written report.
你在书面报告中所描述的立场
And the reason for that is that most people’s arguments are unbelievably shallow.
其原因是 大多数人的论点都令人难以置信地肤浅
They’re not arguments, they’re just perceptual biases.
它们不是论点 它们只是知觉偏见
That’s one way of thinking about them.
这是一种思考方式
And if you get people to delineate out the space in any rigorous manner
如果你让人们以任何严谨的方式描述出辩论的空间
then their attitudes shift.
那么他们的态度就会改变
What you really want and if you’re going to engage in a discussion about say something
你真正想要的是 如果你打算参与讨论
like gun control is you want to be familiar with the entire range of arguments—deeply
像管制枪支这样的事情 你想要的是熟悉论点的所有范围
familiar.
非常熟悉
And have some respect for them.
并对它抱有敬意
I mean it’s pretty clear that guns kill people.
我的意思是 很明显枪会杀人
They’re dangerous.
它们是危险的
But then it’s also not self-evident that the only entities that should be allowed to
但是 同样不言而喻的是 唯一应该被允许
be dangerous are the state entities.
具有危险性的实体是国有经济实体
So there’s things that can be said that are intelligent across that entire distribution of opinion.
所以说 在所有不同的观点中 有些观点是很明智的
And if you’re educated then you should be conversant with the entire range of opinions.
如果你受过教育 那么你应该熟悉所有的观点
So that’s one approach as an educator, is to teach people how to analyze an argument
所以这是作为教育者的一种方法 那就是教人们如何分析一个论点
and to formulate their opinions.
并且形成他们的观点
You do people a great service by – that’s teaching them how to think.
你为人们提供了很好的服务 那就是教会他们如何思考
Not what to think, but how to think.
不是思考什么 而是该怎么思考
Now when I lecture my psychology courses which is a different approach,
当我讲授心理学课程时 这是一种不同的方法
let’s say, I take a position on the literature because I have to.
比如说 我对文学持某种立场 因为我必须这么做
There’s no being neutral about the literature.
对文学作品没有中立可言
What am I going to do, pick random studies?
我该做什么 随机挑选研究？
It’s like that isn’t how people work.
就好像人们不是这样工作的
I have a body of knowledge and it stems partly from my biases and from my temperaments.
我有丰富的知识 这部分源于我的偏见和我的性格
But it’s an informed body of opinion.
然而这只是一个见多识广的观点主体
But what I presented to the students as is, like look, this is my take on the literature.
但我呈现给学生们的是 看 这是我对文学的看法
That doesn’t mean I’m right!
那并不意味着我就是正确的
It means that I’m an informed observer.
这意味着我是一个见多识广的观察者
I’m an informed, singular observer.
我是一个见多识广的 独一无二的观察者
And what I’m doing then is modeling how an informed, singular observer would
而我当时正在做的是模拟一个见多识广的 独特的观察者如何
deal with a complex body of literature.
处理一个复杂的文学作品
So it’s partly, in that role I’m not exactly providing facts
所以在某种程度上 作为这个角色 我并没有确切地提供事实
and I’m not exactly teaching people how to think.
我也没有确切地教人们如何思考
I’m saying, “If you’re a psychologist, a research psychologist,
我是说 “如果你是一个心理学家 一个研究心理学家
and you want to engage with the literature, here is one way that you would do it.”
你想要接触文学 这里有一种方法可以做到这一点”
And so then I’m a model and I’m a model of a way to be in a particular domain.
因此 我是一个典范 我是一个在特定领域的典范
Now that doesn’t mean that you have to emulate me from top to bottom,
这并不意味着你必须从上到下模仿我
but at least you have a sense of what it’s like to be a person doing that.
但至少你知道这样做是什么感觉
And that’s a different form of pedagogy.
这是一种不同形式的教学