现代西方人越来越喜欢钻牛角尖了。这是一个西方哲学的基本问题，只是现代科技让这个问题表明的更清楚了。年轻人每分每秒盯着手机，憋在自己脑袋里，失去了观察周围环境的能力。在哲学里，这是偏向理性主义和否定经验主义的表现。东方社会的基础建在儒、道、佛三家思维上。西方社会的基础建在苏格拉底的哲学与基督教上。道家和佛家是经验主义注重经验主义，而儒、苏格拉底、基督教注重理性主义。苏格拉底就是理性主义的奠基者。中文《约翰福音》1:1 翻译为：“太初有道，道与上帝同在，道就是上帝。” 但是这里的“道”不是老子所说的“道”，而是“理”。原文的希腊文用 “logos”，原义是“话语”。英文把“道”翻译成 “Tao” 或 “way”，把 “logos” 翻译成 “word”（“言”） 或 “logic”（“理”）。英文《约翰福音》1:1 翻译为：“在开始就是言，言跟上帝在一起，言是上帝。” 中文翻译里有道家和佛家的非二元论理解，而英文翻译的意义是一步一步的数理逻辑推论。道包括理、方法、现象、及所有东西，比“言”的理解广。华人基督徒生脆在儒、道、佛情境中，与西方基督徒对世界的直觉完全不同。他们信的不是一个东西！若果想要更深了解请看一部2016年电影《沉默》。所以东方思维注重方法而西方思维注重信息。现代科技的信息技术使人变得越来越信息与理性主义化，忘掉了有意义的生活方式及直接体验生活的美妙和教研。所以从十九世纪起，东方思维越来越影响西方社会及存在主义哲学必要诞生。
The modern Westerner is splitting hairs more and more. This is a fundamental problem with Western philosophy; modern technology has simply revealed and exacerbated the problem. Young people stare at their phones all day long, so they get stuck in their own heads and lose the ability to observe their surroundings. In philosophy, this is a bias towards rationalism in opposition against empiricism. The philosophical foundation of the East is based in Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. The philosophical foundation of the West are based in Socratism and Christianity. Taoism and Buddhism emphasize empiricism, while Confucianism, Socratism, and Christianity emphasize rationalism. Socrates was the founder of rationalism. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In the original Greek, “Word” was “logos”, which was the root word of “logic” and led to rationalism. In Chinese, “logos” is translated as “道”, which means “Tao” or “way”. John 1:1 in the Chinese translation says, “The Origin has Tao, Tao and God are simultaneously present, Tao is precisely God.” The Chinese translation gives the Taoist and Buddhist understandings of nonduality, while the English translation conveys a sense of step by step logical deduction. Tao encompasses reasoning, method, phenomenon, and everything else, so the understanding is broader than simply “Word”. Chinese Christians live in the context of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism; they perceive the world completely differently from Western Christians. For deeper understanding, please watch the 2016 film Silence. Therefore, Eastern thought focuses on method while Western thought focuses on information. Modern information technology forces people to become more and more information and logic oriented, and forget how to truly live life meaningfully and appreciate its wonders and lessons through experiences. This is why since the 19th century, the West has been increasingly influenced by Eastern thought and existentialism was born out of necessary inevitability.
钻牛角尖可以翻译为英文成语 “splitting hairs” （分裂头发） 或 “going down the rabbit hole” （下兔子洞）。钻牛角尖成语的故事：
老鼠钻到牛角尖里去了。它跑不出来，却还拼命往里钻。
牛角对它说：“朋友，请退出去，你越往里钻，路越狭了。”
老鼠生气地说：“哼！我是百折不回的英雄，只有前进，决不后退的！”
“可是你的路走错了啊！”
“谢谢你，”老鼠还是坚持自己的意见，“我一生从来就是钻洞过日子的，怎么会错呢？”
不久，这位“英雄”便活活闷死在牛角尖里了。
（摘自《中国二十世纪寓言选》湖北教育出版社）
The Chinese idiom “钻牛角尖” literally means burrowing into the point of the ox horn. It conveys the concepts of both “splitting hairs” and “going down the rabbit hole”. It means quibbling about frivolous details by appealing to logical technicalities. Here is the story explaining the idiom:
The rat burrowed into the ox horn. It can’t escape, yet it keeps on burrowing.
The ox horn said to it, “Hey buddy, please exit by stepping backwards. If you keep burrowing in, the road will get narrower and narrower.”
The rat angrily said, “No! I am a hero of progress! I only make progress and never take steps back!”
“But you’re going the wrong way!”
“Thank you,” said the rat, still insisting on his own position, “I’ve been burrowing all my life, why would this be wrong?”
Not long afterwards, this “hero” suffocated to death inside the ox horn.
自以为是的现代西方人大多信任进步主义。他不疑问是否他进展的梦想是个逼到牛角尖的死路。邓小平说：“不管黑猫白猫，能捉老鼠的就是好猫”。太追求理性主义或进步主义的人忘掉了常识。他们计较鸡毛蒜皮的事，却看不见整体。现代华人也随着对比竞争追着西方人掉下了这个陷阱，因为他没意识到儒家思想与西方理性主义不同。虽然孔子是个理性主义者但他从来不钻牛角尖而善于总结整体。西方思维善于分析但是缺乏总结。中文的优势是它丰富的成语词汇，能让华人远远超过西方人的总结能力。所以在国外的大多数华人搞理科分析实际上是可惜了华人诗意的总结能力。但是我们需要实用，有时候钻研和分析是需有的优点，只是不能一直把它们当成最高的美德。若果中国想超越西方科技和经济，应该注重学习中国古文才能避免钻牛角尖和利用上华人的竞争优势。有些在硅谷想的最远的人喜欢读《道德经》，如果中国人注重把古文用到科技和经济发展上会更有优越。现代的中国已经随着邓小平理论追上了西方社会，下一步路不能模仿西方思维，而必须用东方思维真实的创新。这就是克服拟态和获得套利的方法。
The Modern Westerner who believes himself to be intelligent tend to believe in progressivism. He doesn’t question if his vision of progress is simply trapping himself inside the ox horn. Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping said, “Doesn’t matter if it’s a black cat or a white cat, it’s a good cat if it can catch mice.” These who chase after rationalism or progressivism eagerly tend to forget common sense. They bicker about trivial matters, yet fail to see the big picture. The modern Chinese has also fallen into this trap as a consequence of mimetic rivalry, because he doesn’t realize that Western rationalism is not Confucianism. Although Confucius was a rationalist, he never split hairs and excelled at summing up the big picture. Western thought excels at analysis, but is poor for summation. Chinese language has the advantage of a rich vocabulary of idioms, allowing the Chinese to far surpass the Westerner’s ability to speak about the big picture. It’s a pity that most overseas Chinese are in technical analysis fields and are unable to demonstrate their abilities for poetic summarization. But we have to be pragmatic, sometimes research and analysis are necessary and good; however, they cannot constantly be the highest virtues. If China wants to overtake the West in technology and economics, more emphasis should be placed on studying the Chinese classics to avoid the trappings of hyper-rationalism and capitalize on the comparative advantages of Chinese people. Some of the best Silicon Valley visionaries love to read the Tao Te Ching, so if Chinese people can take the wisdom of the classics into technological and economic development, they will gain a huge advantage. China has already caught up to the West following Deng Xiaoping Theory, so for the next step, we cannot imitate Western thought, and must use Eastern thought to truly innovate. This is the method of overcoming mimesis to gain arbitrage.
I'm not sure I agree with the sharp distinction between Western and Eastern thought. At least in Buddhism, I find much rational argument. It's not like they just expect you to believe. That's the fundamental distinction for me: belief (faith) vs evidence. The one you're making is I think not so much a distinction as varying levels of the same thing, like casual rationalism on the one extreme and hair-splitting rationalism on the other.
Having said that, I think I know where you're coming from. In my philosophical posts I'm often trying to express points that are somewhat subtle, and even though I try to simplify them as much as I can, I still get misunderstood by people who I think are often hair-splitters, lack subtlety, and lack the virtue of trying to understand what the other person is saying, which is cardinal in my view if you really want to have a constructive conversation.
The key word I think here is "burrowed". Noticing that people "burrow" is the first step. We need to ask why they do it. My feeling is that what they're doing is "digging their heels in", that's what "burrowing" means. In other words, they go into hair-splitting because they refuse to let go of their false belief. The Church did it with epicycles. Another example is the free will vs determinism debate. Philosophers have been at it for years. And now they finally all agree: every action is 100% determined. Science also agrees: your decisions are made before you're aware of them. But has philosophy declared the matter solved? Oh no! Now it's compatibilists vs incompatibilists! That's how someone like Daniel Dennett can believe both that our actions are 100% determined and that we possess free will at the same time! That's basically the refusal of the "free-willer" to concede defeat. Which isn't really defeat at all because we all gain from the truth, but our competitive culture interprets it as defeat.
More cynical minds will say philosophers make their living by arguing, so they have to invent debatable topics in order to keep earning their bread and butter. But I don't think that's the case: there's always new topics to argue about. I do think they literally just dig their heels in. Or, something more subtle: they're afraid that once they've declared a matter solved, they will be ethically obligated to get the word out! Out of the safety of their Ivory Towers! To engage the masses! The riff-raff! The hoi-polloi! Into the mouths of these uneducated wolves! Who don't even know what the word determinism is probably! Once out there they'll see how much all their philosophy is really worth! The world's utter ignorance will just hit them like a panic attack. That puts the fear in them and they invent reasons to keep themselves locked in their debate-rooms.
At any rate, I think the matter is psychological, and the refusal to admit defeat. Let's say a person believes the Earth is 10,000 years old. Or that the Earth is flat. If I debate a flat-earther right now I'm probably gonna lose the argument because he has split-haired his position to the point of saturation, whereas I simply rely on common sense. At some point the flat-earther was confronted with clear evidence that he's wrong, but he decided to burrow. And then kept deciding that. The more he invested - the deeper he dag in - the longer the return journey became. It's easier to dig one inch further than to walk several km back.
Anyway, need to close this cos it's probably longer than your article itself!
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I enjoyed your article! It was a good read. Somehow the Chinese made it more interesting even though I don't understand a word of it!
I don't have much time to reply right now, but I do really appreciate the reply and agree with much of what you said! I also just joined the Steem Deepthink Discord.
👍
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Thanks!
Looks like a good culture though :-)
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