【TED英语演讲课】道德如何帮助我们做出更好的决定

　　演讲题目：How ethics can help you make better decisions演讲简介：如果康德遭遇了一场车祸，他会怎么办？在这次有趣且内容丰富的演讲中，电视编剧兼制片人迈克尔·舒尔向我们讲述了如何面对生活中的道德困境，并且告诉了我们，理解道德理论可以帮助一个人做出更好、更友善的决定。

　　中英文字幕

　　I've been a television comedy writer for almost 25 years. I have written sketches and animated shows and sitcoms. But for the last decade, my real passion has been the study of ethics. It's a classic cautionary tale, right? You move to Hollywood. You get seduced by the bright lights and the fast cars. And before you know it, you're reading 18-century German philosophy. I've always been an intense rule follower.

　　我做电视喜剧作家已经快25年了。我写过许多幽默短剧、动画片以及情景喜剧。但是最近十年，我真正的热情都放在了伦理研究上。这是个典型的警世故事，对吗？你搬到了好莱坞，为五光十色的城市生活和跑车着迷。不知不觉地，你就在读18世纪的德国哲学了。我一直是个严格遵守规则的人。

　　When I was in kindergarten, our teacher would tell everyone to line up. And I would immediately line up. And then I would look at all the other kids who were still goofing off. And I would think: What are they doing? Did they not hear her, she said to line up. I rinsed my mouth with mouthwash for at least 30 seconds every night. Because on the label, it says: Use for 30 seconds. I know, I'm irritated by me, too. But the real reason that I became interested in ethics is because in 2005, I royally and epically screwed something up.

　　在幼儿园时，老师让大家排队。我马上就去排队。然后我看到其他小孩还在到处游晃。我心想：他们这是在做什么？他们难道没听到老师说要排队吗？我每晚都会用漱口液去漱口至少30秒。因为漱口液标签上写着：使用30秒。我明白，我也觉得自己很烦。但我对伦理研究真正感兴趣的原因，是在2005年，我庄严而华丽地搞砸了一件事。

　　So, 2005, my wife JJ, driving along in slow-moving traffic bumps into the guy in front of her. Police officer looks everything over, doesn't see any damage. They exchange numbers. And they go on their way. A couple days later, we get a notice that the guy wants 836 dollars. Because, according to him, the entire fender needs to be replaced. This is happening during Hurricane Katrina. JJ and I had just been to New Orleans on a trip, we had really fallen in love with this beautiful city, which was now literally under water.

　　2005年，我的妻子JJ，在车速很慢的情况下撞到了前车。警官检查了一切，但未发现任何损坏之处。他们交换了电话，然后各自离开了。几天后，我们收到通知，车主索赔836美金。因为根据这家伙的描述，整个挡泥板都需要被更换。这发生在卡特里娜飓风时期。JJ和我当时刚去了新奥尔良，我们爱上了这座美丽的城市。而这座城正被泡在水里。

　　I was very riled up. This was hitting me really hard. So I went and I looked at the guy's car. And if I got very close, and I strained my eyes, I could just barely see this little line on the crease. It looked like the mark you make with a pencil on the wall when you're trying to hang a picture. And I told the guy, essentially, that he shouldn't care about this. I told him that things like this were why car insurance rates in LA were so expensive. I told him that cars get little dings and dents all the time. And he was stupid to care about that.

　　我大为恼火。这对我打击真的很大。我去看了那家伙的车。假如我凑得非常近，尽力睁大我的眼睛，我才勉强看到缝隙上有道很小的线。它就像当你想把画挂在墙上时，用铅笔在墙上留的一个记号。我告诉那家伙他就不该在乎这条线。我同他说，诸如此类的情况就是洛杉矶的汽车保险如此贵的原因。我告诉他车总是难免有各种小小的磕磕碰碰。每个都去在乎的话那也太蠢了。

　　I told him that there were more important things in life than this, like Hurricane Katrina. And then I made him an offer. I said that I would donate 836 dollars to the Red Cross Katrina relief fund in his name, if he agreed not to file this claim and fix his car. He said he would think it over. So I went back to work. And as very confident people want to do, I started telling all my friends about how awesome I was being. And then they jumped in and started pledging more and more money if this guy would agree not to fix his car. So suddenly, it was 2,000 dollars. Then it was 5,000 dollars.

　　我告诉他生命里有比这个更重要的事情，比如卡特里娜飓风。我向他建议，我可以以他的名义，给红十字卡特里娜飓风援助基金，捐赠836美金，只要他同意不索赔不修车。他说他会想一想。我回去工作，就像非常自信的人都会做的那样，我告诉周围的朋友我有多棒。接着我同事们也参与进来，开始承诺捐更多的钱，只要车主承诺不修车。突然之间，数目变成了2000美金，然后变成5000美金。

　　In like, a day and a half, I had pledges from hundreds of people, all across the country, of more than 25,000 dollars if this guy would agree not to file an insurance claim and fix his car. And by the way, he has no idea this is happening. He is completely in the dark. I started a blog, where I gave people hourly updates, yeah. It's beginning to dawn on you what a bad idea this is, right? I started a blog, gave people updates, I got media inquires from news programs, from NPR. I had a dream of rescuing New Orleans by myself, with nothing more than my computer and a fire hose of self-righteous anger.

　　在差不多一天半的时间里，我收到了全国数百人的捐款承诺，数额超过25000美金，只要车主同意不索赔不修车。顺带一提，车主对正发生的一切一无所知。他完全不知情。我创建了一个博客，每小时为大家更新进展——没错。你也开始意识到这点子很糟糕了，对吧？我创建博客，为大家更新。我收到了来自新闻节目和美国国家公共电台的媒体邀约。我有个靠自己拯救新奥尔良的梦，这个梦仅需要靠着我的电脑，和一腔自认为正义的愤怒。

　　And then I started to feel sick to my stomach. And so did JJ, at the exact same moment. We both were suddenly overcome with this awful feeling that there was something very bad and wrong about what we were doing. But we could not pinpoint what it was. I just remember thinking: Alright, I don't care about cars getting little dings and dents. But this guy does. Is that wrong somehow? I don't think that's wrong. And also, is this little, tiny negotiation that we're in really worth all of this fury and rage and shame that I'm whipping up and sending in his direction?

　　接着我开始感到恶心，与此同时，JJ也有相同的感觉。我们俩忽然被很糟糕的感觉笼罩，我们正在做的事应该是有很恶劣并且错误的地方。但我们又指不出是什么地方。我只记得当时我想：好吧，我并不在乎车上细微的磕磕碰碰。但这车主在乎。这有错吗？我不觉得有错。并且，我们之间小小的协商，值得我针对他发起如此大的愤怒、怒火、以及羞辱吗？

　　I don't think it is. So I did what any rational person would do in this situation. I started crying. And I hid under my bed. And then, I started reading philosophy. And I started calling philosophy professors and asking them to talk this out with me. And in the process, yeah, and they all, by the way, did it. Because philosophy professors love talking about philosophy. The drop of a hat, they will all talk about philosophy with you.

　　我觉得并不值得。所以我做了所有理性的人在那个情况下会做的事。我开始哭泣。我躲在床底下。然后，我开始阅读哲学。我开始给哲学系的教授们打电话，请他们和我聊聊这件事。顺道一提，在这个过程中，是的，他们全都同意了。因为哲学系教授非常喜欢谈哲学。即刻之间，他们就在和你谈哲学了。

　　So in the process, I learn all of these incredibly wonderful theories that the smartest people who have ever lived have developed over the last 2,500 years, that help us make better decisions and become better people. For example, I learned about Immanuel Kant and the categorical imperative. So Kant says, when we're about to do something we have to design a rule or a maxim that we could will to be universal. Meaning, we have to imagine, what if everyone did what we're about to do, what would happen to the world? Would it be OK or would it get all screwed up?

　　所以在这个过程中，我学习了很多棒得不可思议的理论，这些理论是史上最聪明的人，在过去2500年里研究出来的。这些理论帮我们做更好的决策，成为更好的人。比如，我学到伊曼努尔·康德以及绝对命令（康德的伦理学原则）。康德说，我们打算做某件事的时候，我们得制定一个可以普适所有人的规则和准则。它的意思是，我们得去想象，假如所有人都做了我们打算去做的，会怎么样，这个世界会因此发生什么？这世界会变得一切顺利还是千疮百孔？

　　So the maxim I'm designing here is something like, anytime two people are in any kind of negotiation, one of them can drag into the negotiation an entirely unrelated global calamity, and tell the other person that they shouldn't care about whatever they care about. Because they should care about that instead. That world would suck, right? Like, your sister borrows five dollars from you. You ask for it back. She says: How dare you care about five dollars when the polar ice caps are melting?

　　所以我这里制定的准则是，在任何时间，两个人制定任何协议的时候，其中一方可以把完全不相关的全球大灾难牵扯进协议中。并且告诉协议另一方，他们不该在乎他们所在乎的，他们应该去在乎全球大灾难。那这世界就变得很扯，对吧？就好比说，你姐姐向你借了5美金。你让她还钱。她说：你怎么敢在意这5美金？北极的冰川正在融化！

　　No one wants to live in this world, right? Kant also says, by the way, that you should treat people as ends in themselves, and not a means to an end, meaning, you shouldn't use people to get what you want. Well, that's what I was doing. I also learned about Aristotle and the study of virtue ethics. So Aristotle says there's certain qualities we should all have. Things like generosity and courage and friendliness and mildness. And he wants us to practice them every day so that we not only have them, we have them in the exact right amount.

　　没人想生活在这样的世界里，对吗？顺道一提，康德还说，人是目的，而不是手段。它的意思是，你不能利用人得到你想要的。好吧，也就是我当时正在做的事情。我也学到亚里士多德以及德性伦理学。亚里士多德说，有一些品格是所有人都具有的。比如慷慨、勇气、友善和温和。亚里士多德希望大家每天都去练习这些品格。这样我们不仅可以拥有这些品格，还可以拥有恰到好处的分量。

　　We don't have a deficiency of them. And we don't have an excess of them. Now virtue ethics can be kind of, maddeningly imprecise. But at the very least, it was pretty clear that I was exhibiting an excess of anger and maybe a deficiency of friendliness. I wasn't nailing it, is the point. Like, I definitely was not getting it exactly right. Then I learned about utilitarianism, made famous by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. And this one actually gave me a shred of hope that I was doing something good.

　　不会太少，也不会太多。德性伦理学可能有些不准确得让人发疯。但至少很清晰的是，我满腔的愤怒，没有给友善一席之地。重点是，我做得不够好。我一定不是完全正确的。接下来我学习了功利主义，它因杰里米·边沁和约翰·斯图尔特·密尔闻名。事实上功利主义给了我一线希望，让我觉得自己在做一些对的事。

　　Because utilitarians only care about the results of our actions. They only care that we are creating more happiness and pleasure than we are pain and suffering. So yes, I'm being obnoxious and moralistic. And I hand it to this guy, causing him some amount of pain. But an enormous amount of money is going to be given to people in great need. So the amount of happiness I'm creating outweighs the amount of pain and suffering.

　　因为功利主义只考虑行为的结果。他们只在乎我们创造的幸福和愉悦多于带来的疼痛和苦难。所以没错，我粗鲁无礼又爱说教。我把这些施加于那位车主，给他带来了一些痛苦。但是一笔数量可观的钱会被送给急需用钱的人们。所以我所创造的幸福大过了我所创造的疼痛和苦难。

　　But the utilitarians also said that when we're calculating the amount of happiness or pain we've created, we can't just think about the one person we're dealing with, we have to think about the fact that everybody in our society will now both know this happened and will fear that it could someday happen to them. And since we've already seen what a terrible, stinky world I was trying to create, everyone in our society would become a little bit bummed out and sad by what I did. And so the total amount of pain and suffering I've created might actually outweigh the happiness.

　　但功利主义也说，当我们计算我们所创造的开心与痛苦时，我们不能只考虑正在面对的那个人，事实上，我们所要考虑的是我们社会上的每个人都知道将会发生的事情，并且忧心这样的事有一天会发生在自己身上。既然我们已经看到了我试图创造的世界有多么糟糕又令人生厌，我们社会当中的每个人都会因我所做的事而有一些闷闷不乐和伤怀。所以我所创造的疼痛和苦难的总量可能实际上多过我所创造的幸福。

　　I never got a straightforward answer, obviously.Because Aristotle never wrote about, like, fender benders involving horse-drawn carriages in ancient Athens. But at the very least, it sure felt like Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill would be a little disappointed in me. And it sure felt like Aristotle would be a little annoyed. And it sure felt like Immanuel Kant would wave a disapproving finger at me. And if all of the world's greatest philosophers are on one side of a debate, and you are on the other side...

　　显而易见，我从未能得到一个直接答案。因为亚里士多德从未写过例如古雅典马车轻微碰撞事故这样的事件。但是至少，感觉起来杰里米·边沁和约翰·斯图尔特·密尔对我一定是有点失望。亚里士多德应该一定也会有点恼火。伊曼努尔·康德应该是会冲我摇手指来表示否定。假如这世界上最伟大的哲学家们都站在一场辩论的一边，而你却站在另一边……

　　You fucked up, OK. So I called the guy. I apologized profusely. I told him the entire story. He was very kind and forgiving, which was an enormous relief to me. I told him I had already cut him a check, which was in the mail. I went back to the blog. I told everybody the outcome. Most people, not all, but most of them, thought it was a pretty happy outcome. I encouraged them to give money to the Red Cross anyway. Because giving money to hurricane victims is a nice thing to do.

　　好吧，你就是搞砸了。所以我给那位车主打了电话。我诚恳地道歉。将整个故事告诉了他。他非常善良宽容，这着实让我松了一口气。我告诉他，我已经写了支票寄给了他。我回到博客上。我把结果告诉了大家。大多数人，并不是所有，但是大多数人，觉得这是一个开心的结果。我鼓励他们还是把钱捐给红十字。因为捐款给飓风受害者是在做好事。

　　And in the end, more than 25,000 dollars was indeed donated to the Red Cross Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Don't applaud that. Because that's the happy result of a bad event. So why did this embarrassing, miserable mistake that I made make me want to continue to study moral philosophy? If I told you that you were going to be on Jeopardy, how would you prepare? You would read some trivia books and flip through a world atlas. If I told you that you were going to take a half-court shot at an NBA game for the chance to win 50,000 dollars, how would you prepare?

　　最后，有超过25000美金确实被捐赠给了红十字特里娜飓风援助工作。别为此鼓掌。因为这只是因祸得福。所以为什么我犯的这个令人尴尬悲伤的错误，使我想继续学习道德哲学呢？如果我告诉你，你将会参加智力问答竞赛节目《危险边缘》，你会怎么做准备呢？你会阅读一些冷知识书籍，翻看一下世界地图集。如果我告诉你，假如你在NBA比赛球场的半场位置投篮成功，你就可以赢得五万美金，你会怎么准备？

　　You would get a basketball. You would go to the YMCA. And you would practice hucking up half-court shots. Well, you're probably never going to be on Jeopardy. You are probably never going to take a half-court shot at an NBA game for a chance to win 50,000 dollars. But you will, I guarantee it, at some point, become embroiled in a complicated, confusing, ugly, gut-wrenching moral dilemma. That is just a fact of life on Earth. There will be a dilemma in which there is no clear rule to follow.

　　你会先拿到一颗篮球。你会去基督教青年会，在半场位置练习投篮。好吧，你可能永远不会参加《危险边缘》。你可能永远不会在一场NBA比赛的半场为五万美金的机会去投篮。但我保证，在某个时间节点，你会被卷进一个复杂的、令人困惑的、丑陋的、让人愤怒忧虑的道德两难境地。在地球上生活就是这样子。得去面对没有清楚规则可循的两难处境。

　　There is only a kind of, vague investigation and everything you do seems like it might be wrong. So how do you prepare for that? By reading theories of ethics and understanding what they say, what they mean, how they purport to help us make better decisions and become better people. And by the way, just reading these theories is no guarantee that you will actually make the right choice when you're inside one of these complicated and tangled ethical dilemmas. You can take all the practice half-court shots you want at the YMCA.

　　你只能模糊地摸索，而你所做的所有事都似乎是错的。你该怎样为它做准备？通过阅读伦理理论，理解它们所讲述的、它们的意义、它们如何声称可以帮我们更好地做决定、成为更好的人。顺道一提，仅仅去读这些理论并不能保证在你身处复杂和纠结的道德困境时，你可以做出正确的选择。你可以在基督教青年会练习半场投篮，想练多少次，就练习多少次。

　　But when you set foot on the floor of the NBA arena, and there are 15,000 screaming fans, you're probably still going to throw up an air ball, right? But if you've prepared, you will increase your odds of success. You will increase the chances that you sink the shot or that you at least get the ball close enough to the rim, that you don't embarrass yourself and become a meme.

　　但当你踏上NBA球场，面对15000名尖叫的观众时，你可能还是会扔出一颗三不沾，对吗？但假如你练习了，你成功的概率会变大。你会增加命中概率，或者至少让投出的球离球框近一点，这样你就不会很尴尬或者被制作成表情包。

　　Understanding ethical theories is how we increase our chances of success at simply being human beings, who have to negotiate with other human beings. And to me, there is nothing more important than that. Thank you.

　　了解伦理理论可以增加我们扮演一个必须和其他人类做协商的人类成功的机会。对我来说，没什么比这更重要了。谢谢。

　　视频、演讲稿均来源于TED官网