投资 · 西方古典
托斯丹·凡勃伦:有闲阶级论·摘录 157
托斯丹·凡勃伦《有闲阶级论》· The Theory of the Leisure Class · 投资
Owing to the circumstance that this knowledge has become part of the elementary requirements in our system of education, the ability to use and to understand certain of the dead languages of southern Europe is not only gratifying to the person who finds occasion to parade his accomplishments in this respect, but the evidence of such knowledge serves at the same time to recommend any savant to his audience, both lay and learned. It is currently expected that a certain number of years shall have been spent in acquiring this substantially useless information, and its absence creates a presumption of hasty and precarious learning, as well as of a vulgar practicality that is equally obnoxious to the conventional standards of sound scholarship and intellectual force.
出处:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/833
定位:Excerpt 157 · 核对日期:2026-10-19 · 核验:短摘录
白话
凡勃伦指出,学习古希腊罗马语言之所以被看重,并非因为知识本身有用,而是因为它能证明一个人有闲工夫去学没用的东西。这种知识成了教育的基本要求,谁不会就显得学问草率、庸俗实用。于是大家默认要花好几年去掌握这些“实质无用”的信息,以此获得博学之名。这背后是炫耀性浪费的逻辑:用时间和金钱的消耗来标榜身份。今天我们可以反思:自己追求的知识或证书,有多少是为了真才实学,有多少只是为了向人展示“我耗得起”?
上下文
凡勃伦《有闲阶级论》讨论高等教育中古典语言的地位,认为其价值在于证明有闲而非实用。
今日一问
你花时间学的哪些东西,其实只是为了向别人证明你“耗得起”?
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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