Socrates-7
If, for example, good meant intelligent, and virtue meant wisdom; if men could be taught to see clearly their real interests, to see afar the distant results of their deeds, to criticize and coördinate their desires out of a self-cancelling chaos into a purposive and creative harmony—this, perhaps, would provide for the educated and sophisticated man the morality which in the unlettered relies on reiterated precepts and external control.
Perhaps all sin is error, partial vision, foolishness?
The intelligent man may have the same violent and unsocial impulses as the ignorant man, but surely he will control them better, and slip less often into imitation of the beast.
And in an intelligently administered society—one that returned to the individual, in widened powers, more than it took from him in restricted liberty—the advantage of every man would lie in social and loyal conduct, and only clear sight would be needed to ensure peace and order and good will.
But if the government itself is a chaos and an absurdity, if it rules without helping, and commands without leading,—how can we persuade the individual, in such a state, to obey the laws and confine his self-seeking within the circle of the total good?
No wonder an Alcibiades turns against a state that distrusts ability, and reverences number more than knowledge.
No wonder there is chaos where there is no thought, and the crowd decides in haste and ignorance, to repent at leisure and in desolation.
[ 01’23” ] interests (利益)
[ 01’45” ] reason (理性)
[ 01’57” ] see afar the distant results (看到很远的结果)
[ 03’12” ] unlettered (文盲的，未受过教育的)
[ 03’35” ] reiterated (反复的，重复的)
[ 04’43” ] unsocial (反社会的，对社会不利的)
[ 05’22” ] ignorant man
[ 06’11” ] He can not control himself, and slip into the imitation of the beast.
[ 09’29” ] confine...within... (将……限制在……中)
[ 09’43” ] total good (最大范围内的幸福)
[ 09’54” ] Jeremy Bentham (边沁，1748—1832，是英国的法理学家、经济学家和社会改革者，创立了功利主义哲学。他是一个政治上的激进分子，也是英国法律改革运动的先驱和领袖。)
[ 10’24” ] Alcibiades (亚西比德，雅典政治家及将军。)
[ 11’24” ] Where there is a will, there is a way.
[ 11’47” ] mob (暴民)
[ 12’01” ] repent (后悔，自责)
