首页
登录
职称英语
Yet the difference in tone and language must strike us, as soon as it is phil
Yet the difference in tone and language must strike us, as soon as it is phil
游客
2023-12-17
21
管理
问题
Yet the difference in tone and language must strike us, as soon as it is philosophy that speaks: that change should remind us that even if the function of religion and that of reason coincide, this function is performed in the two eases by very different organs. Religions are many, reason one. Religion consists of conscious ideas, hopes, enthusiasms, and objects of worship; it operates by grace and flourishes by prayer. Reason, on the other hand, is a mere principle or potential order, on which indeed we may come to reflect but which exists in us ideally only, without variation or stress of any kind. We conform or do not conform to it; it does not urge or chide us, not call for any emotions on our part other than those naturally aroused by the various objects which it unfolds in their true nature and proportion. Religion brings some order into life by weighting it with new materials. Reason adds to the natural materials only the perfect order which it introduces into them. Rationality is nothing but a form, an ideal constitution which experience may more or less embody. Religion is a part of experience itself, a mass of sentiments and ideas. The one is an inviolate principle, the other a changing and struggling force. And yet this struggling and changing force of religion seems to direct man toward something eternal. It seems to make for an ultimate harmony within the soul and for an ultimate harmony between the soul and all that the soul depends upon. Religion, in its intent, is a more conscious and direct pursuit of the Life of Reason than is society, science, or art, for these approach and fill out the ideal life tentatively and piecemeal, hardly regarding the foal or caring for the ultimate justification of the instinctive aims. Religion also has an instinctive and blind side and bubbles up in all manner of chance practices and intuitions; soon, however, it feels its way toward the heart of things, and from whatever quarter it may come, veers in the direction of the ultimate.
Nevertheless, we must confess that this religious pursuit of the Life of Reason has been singularly abortive. Those within the pale of each religion may prevail upon themselves, to express satisfaction with its results, thanks to a fond partiality in reading the past and generous draughts of hope for the future; but any one regarding the various religions at once and comparing their achievements with what reason requires, must feel how terrible is the disappointment which they have one and all prepared for mankind. Their chief anxiety has been to offer imaginary remedies for mortal ills, some of which are incurable essentially, while others might have been really cured by well-directed effort. The Greed oracles, for instance, pretended to heal our natural ignorance, which has its appropriate though difficult cure, while the Christian vision of heaven pretended to be an antidote to our natural death—the inevitable correlate of birth and of a changing and conditioned existence. By methods of this sort little can be done for the real betterment of life. To confuse intelligence and dislocate sentiment by gratuitous fictions is a short-sighted way of pursuing happiness. Nature is soon avenged. An unhealthy exaltation and a one-sided morality have to be followed by regrettable reactions. When these come, the real rewards of life may seem vain to a relaxed vitality, and the very name of virtue may irritate young spirits untrained in and natural excellence. Thus religion too often debauches the morality it comes to sanction and impedes the science it ought to fulfill.
What is the secret of this ineptitude? Why does religion, so near to rationality in its purpose, fall so short of it in its results? The answer is easy; religion pursues rationality through the imagination. When it explains events or assigns causes, it is an imaginative substitute for science. When it gives precepts, insinuates ideals, or remolds aspiration, it is an imaginative substitute for wisdom—I mean for the deliberate and impartial pursuit of all food. The condition and the aims of life are both represented in religion poetically, but this poetry tends to arrogate to itself literal truth and moral authority, neither of which it possesses. Hence the depth and importance of religion becomes intelligible no less than its contradictions and practical disasters. Its object is the same as that of reason, but its method is to proceed by intuition and by unchecked poetical conceits. [br] As used in the passage, the author would define "wisdom" as ______.
选项
A、the pursuit of rationality through imagination
B、an unemotional search for the truth
C、a purposeful and unbiased quest for what is best
D、a short-sighted way of pursuing happiness
答案
C
解析
一种有目的而又不带偏见的对最佳事物的探索。答案在最后一段,这种愚蠢的秘密是什么?为什么宗教在目的上那么接近真理,在其结构和结果上,却没有理性的一切?答案很简单:宗教是通过想像来追逐理性,当它解释事件或阐明原因时,以虚构的想像来取代科学,当它训诫,暗示理想或者重塑抱负时,以想像代替智慧——智慧的意思是指有意识而又公正地追求一切好东西。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3282328.html
相关试题推荐
Whatisnottheelementindefininglanguage?A、systemicB、arbitraryC、symbolD、v
The3rdgenerationofprogramminglanguagesharesallthefollowingcharacterist
Whatisthedifferencebetween"saladbowls"and"meltingpot"?[br]TheEnlight
Whatisthedifferencebetween"saladbowls"and"meltingpot"?[br]TheEnlight
【B1】[br]【B10】as∧→a本题考查冠词的用法。在as后加a。language一词当“语言”讲,既可以是可数名词,也可以是不可数名词,在这里特指夏威
【B1】[br]【B5】删除in本题考查固定搭配。将spoke后的in去掉。讲某种语言是speakalanguage,不是speakinalang
Mandarin,orPutonghua,isthestandardservicesectorlanguageinourcount
Thestudyofthementalprocessesoflanguagecomprehensionandproductionis___
1 Itakeitthatthepurposeofanylanguagecourseistodevelopinlearnerst
1 Itakeitthatthepurposeofanylanguagecourseistodevelopinlearnerst
随机试题
"WelcometotheUSA!Majorcreditcardsareaccepted!"Bythemillionsthey
Povertyisastoryaboutus,notthemA)Toooftenstill
证券交易所的组织形式有()。A.会员制 B.公司制 C.契约制 D.特许制
急性肺炎患者入院16小时发生急性扁桃体炎A.交叉感染B.自身感染C.医源性感染D
“佛指甲”的含义是A.金钱白花蛇尾部末端呈细长三角形 B.乌梢蛇尾部末端有
A.Ph'染色体,[t(9;22)(q24;q11)] B.t(8:14)(q
()是雇员与雇主在实现现实的劳动过程中所发生的权利义务关系。A.劳动关系 B
慢性阻塞性涎腺炎腮腺造影x线表现为A.导管中断,或圆形、卵圆形充盈缺损,其远心端
税务机关可以按照批准的权限采取税收保全措施或强制执行措施,这里的批准权限是指市级
下列有关稳定型心绞痛的发病机制中描述错误的是A、稳定型心绞痛的发病机制主要是冠状
最新回复
(
0
)