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托马斯·马尔萨斯:人口论·摘录 180

托马斯·马尔萨斯《人口论》· An Essay on the Principle of Population · 投资

The finest minds seem to be formed rather by efforts at original thinking, by endeavours to form new combinations, and to discover new truths, than by passively receiving the impressions of other men's ideas. Could we suppose the period arrived, when there was not further hope of future discoveries, and the only employment of mind was to acquire pre-existing knowledge, without any efforts to form new and original combinations, though the mass of human knowledge were a thousand times greater than it is at present, yet it is evident that one of the noblest stimulants to mental exertion would have ceased; the finest feature of intellect would be lost; everything allied to genius would be at an end; and it appears to be impossible, that, under such circumstances, any individuals could possess the same intellectual energies as were possessed by a Locke, a Newton, or a Shakespeare, or even by a Socrates, a Plato, an Aristotle or a Homer.

出处: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4239
定位:Excerpt 180 · 核对日期:2026-10-19 · 核验:短摘录

白话

最杰出的头脑不是靠被动接受别人的想法形成的,而是靠主动进行原创思考、尝试新的组合、发现新的真理锻炼出来的。假设有一天再也没有新发现的希望,人们只能学习已有的知识,不再努力创造新的组合,那么即使人类知识总量比现在大一千倍,激发心智努力的最高贵动力之一也会消失,智力最美好的特征会丧失,一切与天才相关的东西都会终结。在这种情形下,恐怕没有人能拥有洛克、牛顿、莎士比亚,甚至苏格拉底、柏拉图、亚里士多德或荷马那样的心智能量。所以,要让自己或孩子变聪明,关键不是多囤知识,而是多问“还能怎么组合”“有没有新解释”,把学习变成探索。

上下文

马尔萨斯《人口论》1798年初版,此处讨论心智如何形成,强调原创思考比被动接受更重要。

今日一问

今天你学到的哪样东西,可以试着重新组合或提出一个新问题?

公版作品;原文逐字取自 Project Gutenberg,仅摘录段落并附全书链接。

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