鑽石舞台

中英文字幕

Suppose you have a choice between two jobs: you could be an investment banker or a graphic artist.

假設你要在兩份工作中挑選：你可以做投資銀行家，或做平面設計師。

There are a variety of things that matter in such a choice, like the excitement of the work,

在這樣的選擇中有很多重要的因素，比如工作的刺激性，

achieving financial security, having time to raise a family, and so on.

能獲得的經濟保障、顧家時間等等。

Maybe the artist's career puts you on the cutting edge of new forms of pictorial expression.

也許藝術家這個職業能讓你接觸最前沿的圖像表達技術。

Maybe the banking career puts you on the cutting edge of new forms of financial manipulation.

或許當銀行家你就能接觸最前端的金融操縱手段。

Imagine the two jobs however you like, so that neither is better than the other.

你可以想象任何兩種你喜歡的職業，兩者都不比另一方好。

Now suppose we improve one of them, a bit.

現在假設我們對其中一個選擇稍加改進。

Suppose the bank, wooing you, adds 500 dollars a month to your salary.

假設一間銀行嘗試拉攏你，給你的薪水每月增加500美元。

Does the extra money now make the banking job better than the artist one?

這一筆額外的收入會不會讓這份銀行家的工作優於當藝術家呢？

Not necessarily.

不一定。

A higher salary makes the banking job better than it was before, but it might not be enough to make being a banker better than being an artist.

更高的薪酬讓銀行家的工作優於過去，但額外薪水不一定足以使成為銀行家變得比成為藝術家好。

But if an improvement in one of the jobs doesn't make it better than the other, then the two original jobs could not have been equally good.

可如果對其中一種職業進行改進後結果並沒有讓一方優於另一方，那麼兩種選擇本身就不可能是一樣好。

If you start with two things that are equally good, and you improve one of them, it now must be better than the other.

如果兩件事一開始都同樣好，當你改進了其中一件，那它就一定會優於另一個。

That's not the case with options in hard choices.

在艱難抉擇中並非如此。

So now we've got a puzzle.

那麼現在我們就有一個疑惑了。

We've got two jobs.

這兩份工作，

Neither is better than the other, nor are they equally good.

沒有一方能完勝另一方，但又不是同樣好。

So how are we supposed to choose?

那麼，我們應該如何選擇呢？

Something seems to have gone wrong here.

貌似有些事情出錯了。

Maybe the choice itself is problematic, and comparison is impossible.

可能選項的本身就存在問題，導致我們無法比較。

But that can't be right.

但這也不對。

It's not like we're trying to choose between two things that can't be compared.

我們並不是要在兩種不能相比的事物間選擇。

We're weighing the merits of two jobs, after all, not the merits of the number nine and a plate of fried eggs.

我們說到底是在衡量兩份工作的利弊，不是對比數字9和一盤煎雞蛋的好處。

A comparison of the overall merits of two jobs is something we can make, and one we often do make.

對比兩份工作的總體優勢是我們能做到的，也是我們經常做的事。

I think the puzzle arises because of an unreflective assumption we make about value.

我認為疑惑產生的原因源於一種我們對價值的草率設想。

We unwittingly assume that values like justice, beauty, kindness, are akin to scientific quantities, like length, mass and weight.

我們無意識地認為，諸如正義、美麗、善良的價值觀都與一些科學度量類似，都能被量度，譬如長度、質量、重量。

Take any comparative question not involving value, such as which of two suitcases is heavier.

試想一個與價值觀毫不相關的比較，例如兩個行李箱中哪個更重。

There are only three possibilities.

只有三種可能性。

The weight of one is greater, lesser or equal to the weight of the other.

其中一個的重量大於、小於或等於另一個的重量。

Properties like weight can be represented by real numbers -- one, two, three and so on --

像重量這樣的性質能夠用真實的數字來表達——1,2,3……

and there are only three possible comparisons between any two real numbers.

而且在兩個數字間的比較中只有三種可能。

One number is greater, lesser, or equal to the other.

一個數字大於、小於或等於另一個數字。

Not so with values.

但價值觀卻並非如此。

As post-Enlightenment creatures, we tend to assume that scientific thinking holds the key to everything of importance in our world,

作為後啟蒙時期的生物，我們總是設想科學思維可以解決世界上一切重要的問題，

but the world of value is different from the world of science.

但價值觀的世界不同於科學的世界。

The stuff of the one world can be quantified by real numbers.

科學的世界中，一切事物可被數字度量。

The stuff of the other world can't.

可價值觀的世界中卻不能。

We shouldn't assume that the world of is, of lengths and weights, has the same structure as the world of ought, of what we should do.

我們不能認為充斥着「是否」、「長度」和「重量」的數字世界與「該不該」和「該做什麼」的價值世界有着同樣的架構。

So if what matters to us -- a child's delight, the love you have for your partner — can't be represented by real numbers,

所以，如果我們覺得重要的東西，如：孩子的幸福、對另一半的愛，不能用數字來表示，

then there's no reason to believe that in choice, there are only three possibilities -- that one alternative is better, worse or equal to the other.

那麼我們就沒有理由相信，在抉擇過程中只有三種可能性：其中一選項總會優於、劣於或等於另一項。

We need to introduce a new, fourth relation beyond being better, worse or equal, that describes what's going on in hard choices.

我們需要一種全新的思考維度，第四種關係除了優於、劣於和等於之外，第四種關係能描述艱難抉擇的運行模式。

I like to say that the alternatives are "on a par."

我偏好把各選項看做「等價」。

When alternatives are on a par, it may matter very much which you choose, but one alternative isn't better than the other.

當所有選項等價時，你的選擇就變得極為重要，但選項本身卻沒有哪個比其他更好。

Rather, the alternatives are in the same neighborhood of value, in the same league of value,

反之，所有的選項都有類似的價值，都處於同一種價值範疇當中，

while at the same time being very different in kind of value.

但同時它們又具有不同的價值。

That's why the choice is hard.

這正是讓選擇變得困難的原因。

Understanding hard choices in this way uncovers something about ourselves we didn't know.

如此理解艱難抉擇，我們就會在自己身上發現一些意料之外的東西。

Each of us has the power to create reasons.

我們每個人都有編造理由的能力。

Imagine a world in which every choice you face is an easy choice, that is, there's always a best alternative.

想象一下若在某個世界中，你只需面對簡單抉擇，那麼，永遠都有最佳項。

If there's a best alternative, then that's the one you should choose,

如果存在最佳選項，那就是你應該選擇的，

because part of being rational is doing the better thing rather than the worse thing, choosing what you have most reason to choose.

因為理性的一部分就是做更好的事情，而不是做壞事，選擇你最有理由選擇的東西。

In such a world, we'd have most reason to wear black socks instead of pink socks, to eat cereal instead of donuts,

在這樣的世界裡，我們有充足的理由穿黑色襪子而不是粉色襪子，吃麥片而不是甜甜圈，

to live in the city rather than the country, to marry Betty instead of Lolita.

留在城市裡而不呆在村鎮，娶貝蒂而不是洛麗塔。

A world full of only easy choices would enslave us to reasons.

一個充斥着只有簡單選擇的世界將使我們受制於理性。

When you think about it,

當你這樣想，

it's nuts to believe that the reasons given to you dictated that you had most reason to pursue the exact hobbies you do,

你會發現自己一定是瘋了才會相信，擺在面前的選擇會決定你追尋各種事物的理由，會決定你的愛好，

to live in the exact house you do, to work at the exact job you do.

讓你住現在的房子，讓你選當下的工作。

Instead, you faced alternatives that were on a par -- hard choices -- and you made reasons for yourself to choose that hobby,

事實上，當你面對的是多個選擇，多個等價的選擇，困難的選擇，你會為自己製造理由來選擇這項愛好、

that house and that job.

這所房子和這份工作。

When alternatives are on a par, the reasons given to us, the ones that determine whether we're making a mistake, are silent as to what to do.

當各選項等價時，我們面前的各種理性因素，這些讓我們分清對錯的因素，都無法給予我們一個答案。

It's here, in the space of hard choices, that we get to exercise our normative power -- the power to create reasons for yourself,

唯有在這個有艱難抉擇的世界裡，我們才能鍛煉自己的規範性力量，來創造自我的原由，

to make yourself into the kind of person for whom country living is preferable to the urban life.

讓自己變成心中想成為的人，一種更喜愛鄉村生活而不是城市生活的人。

When we choose between options that are on a par, we can do something really rather remarkable.

當我們需要在等價選項間抉擇時，我們能做出一些十分了不起的事。

We can put our very selves behind an option.

我們能把自身放在一個選項之後。

Here's where I stand.

這就是我的立場。

Here's who I am, I am for banking.

這就是我，我選銀行業。

I am for chocolate donuts.

我喜歡巧克力甜甜圈。

This response in hard choices is a rational response, but it's not dictated by reasons given to us.

在艱難抉擇中，這種反應是一種理性反應，但卻不是由我們面前的各種原因所決定的。

Rather, it's supported by reasons created by us.

反而，這是由我們自己創造的理由所支撐起來的。

When we create reasons for ourselves to become this kind of person rather than that, we wholeheartedly become the people that we are.

當我們為自我創造原由去成為這種人而非那種人時，我們就打心底里完完全全地成就了真正的自己。

You might say that we become the authors of our own lives.

你可以說，我們成了譜寫自我人生篇章的作者。

So when we face hard choices, we shouldn't beat our head against a wall trying to figure out which alternative is better.

所以當面對艱難抉擇，不應該拿腦袋撞牆絞盡腦汁地去想哪個選項更優。

There is no best alternative.

最佳項並不存在。

Instead of looking for reasons out there, we should be looking for reasons in here: Who am I to be?

與其在外界苦命尋找理由，我們該往心裡找：我想成為什麼樣的人？

You might decide to be a pink sock-wearing, cereal-loving, country-living banker, and I might decide to be a black sock-wearing, urban, donut-loving artist.

你可能會決定成為一個穿粉色襪子、愛好干麥片，還住在鄉村的銀行家，而我可能會決定成為一個穿黑襪子，住在城市裡，喜歡吃甜甜圈的藝術家。

What we do in hard choices is very much up to each of us.

面臨艱難抉擇時的反應很大程度上取決於我們自己每個人。

Now, people who don't exercise their normative powers in hard choices are drifters.

那些不鍛煉自己規範性力量的人會成為「漂流者」。

We all know people like that.

我們都認識這樣的人。

I drifted into being a lawyer.

我則「漂流」成了律師。

I didn't put my agency behind lawyering.

我並沒有全身心投入到律師業務當中。

I wasn't for lawyering.

我不適合當律師。

Drifters allow the world to write the story of their lives.

漂流者將譜寫他們的生命篇章的筆交給世界。

They let mechanisms of reward and punishment -- pats on the head, fear, the easiness of an option -- to determine what they do.

他們讓獎罰機制——鼓勵、畏懼、選擇的簡易性——來決定自己的道路。

So the lesson of hard choices: reflect on what you can put your agency behind, on what you can be for, and through hard choices, become that person.

艱難抉擇教會我們要審視自己，把身心與精力放到何處，自己究竟追求什麼，並通過艱難抉擇來成為那種人。

Far from being sources of agony and dread, hard choices are precious opportunities for us to celebrate what is special about the human condition,

艱難抉擇不是痛苦和恐懼的來源，而是難得的機遇，讓我們慶幸人類有如此特殊的選擇權利，

that the reasons that govern our choices as correct or incorrect sometimes run out, and it is here, in the space of hard choices,

慶幸有時候區分選項正誤的理性原因會用盡，而且，慶幸生活在這個具有艱難抉擇的世界裡，

that we have the power to create reasons for ourselves to become the distinctive people that we are.

我們有能力去為自己創造理由，去成為與眾不同的自己。

And that's why hard choices are not a curse but a godsend.

這就是為什麼，艱難抉擇不是一種詛咒，而是天賜之物。

Thank you.

謝謝。