TED演講者：Michael Schur / 邁克爾·舒爾

演講標題：How ethics can help you make better decisions / 倫理如何幫助你做出更好的決定

內(nèi)容概要：What would Immanuel Kant say about a fender bender? In a surprisingly funny trip through the teachings of some of history's great philosophers, TV writer and producer Michael Schur (from hit shows like "The Office" and "The Good Place") talks through how to confront life's moral dilemmas -- and shows how understanding ethical theories can help you make better, kinder decisions.

伊曼努爾·康德（Immanuel Kant）會對小型交通故事怎么說？電視編劇和制作人邁克爾·舒爾（Michael Schur）（熱門代表作品《辦公室》"The Office" 和《善地》"The Good Place"）學(xué)習(xí)了一些史上偉大的哲學(xué)家們的思想，這是一個令人驚喜地有趣旅程。邁克爾·舒爾談?wù)摿巳绾蚊鎸ι钪械牡赖吕Ь巢⑶艺故玖死斫獾赖吕碚撊绾螏腿藗冏龈酶屏嫉臎Q定。

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【1】I've been a television comedy writer for almost 25 years.

我做電視喜劇作家 已經(jīng)快 25 年了。

【2】I have written sketches and animated shows and sitcoms, but for the last decade, my real passion has been the study of ethics.

我寫過許多幽默短劇、動畫片 以及情景喜劇。 但是最近十年 我真正的熱情在倫理研究。

【3】It's a classic cautionary tale, right?

這是個典型的警世故事,對嗎？

【4】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.

你搬到了好萊塢, 為五光十色的城市生活和跑車著迷, 不知不覺地, 你就在讀 18 世紀的德國哲學(xué)了。

【5】I've always been an intense rule follower.

我一直是個嚴格遵守規(guī)則的人。

【6】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?

在幼兒園時, 老師讓大家排隊, 我馬上就去排隊。 然后我看到其他小孩 還在到處游晃。 我心想:“他們這是在做什么？

【7】Did they not hear her, she said to line up."

他們難道沒聽到老師說要排隊嗎？”

【8】I rinsed my mouth with mouthwash for at least 30 seconds every night, because on the label, it says "Use for 30 seconds."

我每晚都會用漱口液 去漱口至少 30 秒, 因為漱口液標簽上寫著: “使用 30 秒?！?/p>

【9】I know, I'm irritated by me, too.

我明白,我也覺得自己很煩。

【10】But the real reason that I became interested in ethics is because in 2005, I royally and epically screwed something up.

但我對倫理研究真正感興趣的原因, 是在 2005 年, 我莊嚴而華麗地搞砸了一件事。

【11】So, 2005, my wife JJ, driving along in slow-moving traffic bumps into the guy in front of her.

2005 年,我的妻子JJ, 在車速很慢的交通環(huán)境下 撞到了前車。

【12】Police officer looks everything over, doesn't see any damage, they exchange numbers and they go on their way.

警官檢查了一切, 但未發(fā)現(xiàn)任何損壞之處。 他們交換了電話然后各自離開。

【13】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.

幾天后, 我們收到通知, 車主索賠 836 美金。 因為根據(jù)這家伙的描述, 整個擋泥板都需要被更換。

【14】This is happening during Hurricane Katrina.

這發(fā)生在卡特里娜颶風(fēng)時期。

【15】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.

JJ和我當(dāng)時剛?cè)チ诵聤W爾良。 我們愛上了這座美麗的城市。 而這座城正被泡在水里。

【16】I was very riled up.

我大為惱火,

【17】This was hitting me really hard.

受到了很大的打擊。

【18】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.

我去看了那家伙的車, 假如我湊得非常近, 盡力睜大我的眼睛, 我才勉強看到縫隙上有道很小的線。

【19】It looked like the mark you make with a pencil on the wall when you're trying to hang a picture.

它就像當(dāng)你想把畫掛在墻上時, 用鉛筆在墻上留的一個記號。

【20】And I told the guy, essentially, that he shouldn't care about this.

我告訴那家伙 他就不該在乎這條線。

【21】I told him that things like this were why car insurance rates in LA were so expensive.

我同他說,諸如此類的情況 就是洛杉磯的汽車保險如此貴的原因。

【22】I told him that cars get little dings and dents all the time, and he was stupid to care about that.

我告訴他車總是難免 有各種小小的磕磕碰碰。 去在乎的話太蠢了。

【23】I told him that there were more important things in life than this, like Hurricane Katrina.

我告訴他生命里 有比這個更重要的事情, 比如卡特里娜颶風(fēng)。

【24】And then I made him an offer.

我向他建議,

【25】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.

我可以以他的名義, 給紅十字卡特里娜颶風(fēng)援助基金, 捐贈 836 美金, 只要他同意不索賠不修車。

【26】He said he would think it over.

他說他會想一想。

【27】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.

我回去工作, 就像非常自信的人都會做的那樣, 我告訴周圍的朋友我有多棒。

【28】And then they jumped in and started pledging more and more money if this guy would agree not to fix his car.

接著我同事們也參與進來, 開始承諾捐更多的錢, 只要車主承諾不修車。

【29】So suddenly, it was 2,000 dollars, then it was 5,000 dollars.

突然之間,數(shù)目變成了 2000 美金, 然后變成 5000 美金。

【30】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.

在差不多一天半的時間里, 我收到了全國數(shù)百人的捐款承諾, 數(shù)額超過 25000 美金, 只要車主同意不索賠不修車。

【31】And by the way, he has no idea this is happening.

順帶一提, 車主對正發(fā)生的一切一無所知。

【32】He is completely in the dark.

他完全不知情。

【33】I started a blog, where I gave people hourly updates -- yeah.

我創(chuàng)建了一個博客, 每小時為大家更新進展 沒錯。

【34】It's beginning to dawn on you what a bad idea this is, right?

你也開始意識到 這點子很糟糕了,對吧？

【35】I started a blog, gave people updates, I got media inquires from news programs, from NPR.

我創(chuàng)建博客,為大家更新。 我收到了來自新聞節(jié)目和 美國國家公共電臺的媒體查詢。

【36】I had a dream of rescuing New Orleans by myself, with nothing more than my computer and a fire hose of self-righteous anger.

我有個靠自己拯救新奧爾良的夢, 這個夢僅需要靠著我的電腦, 和一腔自認為正義的憤怒。

【37】And then I started to feel sick to my stomach.

接著我開始感到惡心,

【38】And so did JJ, at the exact same moment.

與此同時,JJ也有相同的感覺。

【39】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.

我們倆忽然被很糟糕的感覺籠罩。 我們正在做的事 應(yīng)該是有很惡劣并且錯誤的地方, 但我們又指不出是什么地方。

【40】I just remember thinking, "Alright, I don't care about cars getting little dings and dents, but this guy does.

我只記得當(dāng)時我想: “好吧,我并不在乎車上 細微的磕磕碰碰, 但這車主在乎,

【41】Is that wrong somehow?

這有錯嗎？

【42】I don't think that's wrong.

我不覺得有錯。

【43】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?

并且,我們之間小小的協(xié)商, 值得我針對他發(fā)起如此大的 憤怒、怒火、以及羞辱嗎？

【44】I don't think it is."

我覺得并不值得?！?/p>

【45】So I did what any rational person would do in this situation.

所以我做了所有理性的人 在那個情況下會做的事。

【46】I started crying, and I hid under my bed.

我開始哭泣,躲在床下。

【47】And then, I started reading philosophy.

然后,我開始閱讀哲學(xué)。

【48】And I started calling philosophy professors and asking them to talk this out with me.

我開始給哲學(xué)系的教授們打電話, 請他們和我聊聊這件事。

【49】And in the process - yeah, and they all, by the way, did it, because philosophy professors love talking about philosophy.

順道一提,在這個過程中, 是的,他們?nèi)纪饬恕?因為哲學(xué)系教授非常喜歡談?wù)軐W(xué)。

【50】The drop of a hat, they will all talk about philosophy with you.

即刻之間, 他們就在和你談?wù)軐W(xué)了。

【51】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.

所以在這個過程中, 我學(xué)習(xí)了很多棒得不可思議的理論。 這些理論是史上最聰明的人, 在過去 2500 年里研究出來的。 這些理論幫我們做更好的決策, 成為更好的人。

【52】For example, I learned about Immanuel Kant and the categorical imperative.

比如,我學(xué)到伊曼努爾.康德 （Immanuel Kant） 以及絕對命令 （康德的倫理學(xué)原則）。

【53】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.

康德說,我們打算做某件事的時候, 我們得制定一個可以普適所有人的 規(guī)則和準則。

【54】Meaning, we have to imagine, what if everyone did what we're about to do, what would happen to the world?

它的意思是,我們得去想象, 假如所有人都做了 我們打算去做的,會怎么樣, 這個世界會因此發(fā)生什么？

【55】Would it be OK or would it get all screwed up?

這世界會沒問題還是被搞砸？

【56】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

所以我這里制定的準則是, 在任何時間, 兩個人制定任何協(xié)議的時候, 其中一方可以把完全不相關(guān)的 全球大災(zāi)難牽扯進協(xié)議中。 并且告訴協(xié)議另一方,

【57】that they shouldn't care about whatever they care about, because they should care about that instead.

他們不該在乎他們所在乎的, 他們應(yīng)該去在乎全球大災(zāi)難。

【58】That world would suck, right?

那這世界就變得很扯,對吧？

【59】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?"

就好比說,你姐姐向你借了 5 美金, 你讓她還錢, 她說:“你怎么敢在意這 5 美金？ 北極的冰川正在融化！”

【60】No one wants to live in this world, right?

沒人想生活在這樣的世界,對嗎？

【61】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.

順道一提,康德還說, 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,

【62】Well, that's what I was doing.

好吧,也就是我當(dāng)時正在做的事情。

【63】I also learned about Aristotle and the study of virtue ethics.

我也學(xué)到亞里士多德（Aristotle） 以及德性倫理學(xué)。

【64】So Aristotle says there's certain qualities we should all have.

亞里士多德說,有一些品格是 所有人都具有的。

【65】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.

比如慷慨、勇氣、 友善和溫和。 亞里士多德希望大家每天都去 練習(xí)這些品格。 這樣我們不僅可以擁有這些品格, 還可以擁有恰到好處的分量。

【66】We don't have a deficiency of them, and we don't have an excess of them.

不會太少, 也不會太多。

【67】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.

德性倫理學(xué)可能有些 不準確得讓人發(fā)瘋, 但至少很清晰的是, 我展現(xiàn)了過量的憤怒, 欠缺了友善。

【68】I wasn't nailing it, is the point.

重點是,我做得不夠好。

【69】Like, I definitely was not getting it exactly right.

我一定不是完全正確的。

【70】Then I learned about utilitarianism, made famous by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.

接下來我學(xué)習(xí)了功利主義, 它因杰里米.邊沁（Jeremy Bentham）和 約翰.斯圖爾特.密爾（John Stuart Mill）聞名。

【71】And this one actually gave me a shred of hope that I was doing something good, 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.

事實上功利主義給了我一線希望, 讓我覺得自己在做一些對的事。 因為功利主義只考慮行為的結(jié)果。 他們只在乎我們創(chuàng)造的幸福和愉悅 多于帶來的疼痛和苦難。

【72】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.

所以沒錯,我粗魯無禮又愛說教, 我把這些施加于那位車主, 給他帶來了一些痛苦, 但是一筆數(shù)量可觀的錢 會被送給急需用錢的人們。

【73】So the amount of happiness I'm creating outweighs the amount of pain and suffering.

所以我所創(chuàng)造的幸福 大過了我所創(chuàng)造的疼痛和苦難。

【74】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,

但功利主義也說, 當(dāng)我們計算我們所創(chuàng)造的 開心與痛苦時, 我們不能只考慮正在面對的那個人,

【75】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.

事實上,我們所要考慮的是 我們社會上的每個人 都將會知道發(fā)生的事情, 并且憂心這樣的事 有一天會發(fā)生在自己身上。

【76】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,

既然我們已經(jīng)看到了 我試圖創(chuàng)造的世界 有多么糟糕又令人生厭, 我們社會當(dāng)中的每個人 都會因我所做的事 而有一些悶悶不樂和傷懷,

【77】and so the total amount of pain and suffering I've created might actually outweigh the happiness.

所以我所創(chuàng)造的疼痛和苦難的總量 可能實際上多過我所創(chuàng)造的幸福。

【78】I never got a straightforward answer, obviously, because Aristotle never wrote about, like, fender benders involving horse-drawn carriages in ancient Athens.

顯而易見, 我從未能得到一個直接答案, 因為亞里士多德從未寫過 例如古雅典馬車 輕微碰撞事故這樣的事件。

【79】But at the very least, it sure felt like Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill would be a little disappointed in me.

但是至少, 感覺起來杰里米.邊沁和 約翰.斯圖爾特.密爾 對我一定是有點失望。

【80】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.

亞里士多德應(yīng)該一定也會有點惱火。 伊曼努爾.康德應(yīng)該是會 沖我搖手指來表示否定。

【81】And if all of the world's greatest philosophers are on one side of a debate, and you are on the other side ...

假如這世界上最偉大的哲學(xué)家們 都站在一場辯論的一邊, 而你卻站在另一邊……

【82】You fucked up, OK.

好吧,你就是搞砸了。

【83】So I called the guy.

所以我給那位車主打了電話。

【84】I apologized profusely, I told him the entire story.

我誠懇地道歉。 將整個故事告訴了他。

【85】He was very kind and forgiving, which was an enormous relief to me.

他非常善良寬容, 這著實讓我松了一口氣。

【86】I told him I had already cut him a check, which was in the mail.

我告訴他,我已經(jīng)寫了支票 寄給了他。

【87】I went back to the blog, I told everybody the outcome.

我回到博客,告知了大家結(jié)果。

【88】Most people, not all, but most of them, thought it was a pretty happy outcome.

大多數(shù)人,并不是所有,但是大多數(shù)人, 覺得這是一個開心的結(jié)果。

【89】I encouraged them to give money to the Red Cross anyway, because giving money to hurricane victims is a nice thing to do, and in the end, more than 25,000 dollars was indeed donated to the Red Cross Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

我鼓勵他們還是把錢捐給紅十字, 因為捐款給颶風(fēng)受害者是在做好事。 最后, 有超過 25000 美金確實被捐贈給了 紅十字特里娜颶風(fēng)援助工作。

【90】Don't applaud that, because that's the happy result of a bad event.

別為此鼓掌, 因為這只是因禍得福。

【91】So why did this embarrassing, miserable mistake that I made make me want to continue to study moral philosophy?

所以為什么我犯的這個令人尷尬 悲傷的錯誤 使我想繼續(xù)學(xué)習(xí)道德哲學(xué)呢？

【92】If I told you that you were going to be on Jeopardy, how would you prepare?

如果我告訴你,你將會參加智力問答競賽節(jié)目 《危險邊緣》（Jeopardy）, 你會怎么做準備呢？

【93】You would read some trivia books and flip through a world atlas.

你會閱讀一些冷知識書籍, 翻看一下世界地圖集。

【94】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?

如果我告訴你,假如你在NBA比賽 球場的半場位置投籃成功, 你就可以贏得五萬美金, 你會怎么準備？

【95】You would get a basketball, you would go to the YMCA and you would practice hucking up half-court shots.

你會先拿到一顆籃球, 你會去基督教青年會 在半場位置練習(xí)投籃。

【96】Well, you're probably never going to be on Jeopardy.

好吧,你可能 永遠不會參加《危險邊緣》,

【97】You are probably never going to take a half-court shot at an NBA game for a chance to win 50,000 dollars.

你可能永遠不會在一場NBA比賽的 半場為五萬美金的機會 去投籃。

【98】But you will, I guarantee it, at some point, become embroiled in a complicated, confusing, ugly, gut-wrenching moral dilemma.

但我保證,在某個時間節(jié)點, 你會被 卷進一個復(fù)雜的、令人困惑的、 丑陋的、讓人憤怒憂慮的 道德兩難境地。

【99】That is just a fact of life on Earth.

在地球上生活就是這樣子。

【100】There will be a dilemma in which there is no clear rule to follow.

得去面對沒有清楚規(guī)則可循的兩難處境。

【101】There is only a kind of, vague investigation and everything you do seems like it might be wrong.

你只能模糊地摸索, 而你所做的所有事都似乎是錯的。

【102】So how do you prepare for that?

你該怎樣為它做準備？

【103】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.

通過閱讀倫理理論, 理解它們所講述的、 它們的意義、 它們?nèi)绾温暦Q可以幫我們 更好地做決定、 成為更好的人。

【104】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.

順道一提, 僅僅去讀這些理論并不能保證 在你身處 復(fù)雜和糾結(jié)的道德困境時, 你可以做出正確的選擇。

【105】You can take all the practice half-court shots you want at the YMCA, 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?

你可以在基督教青年會練習(xí)半場投籃, 想練多少次,就練習(xí)多少次。 但當(dāng)你踏上NBA球場, 面對 15000 名尖叫的觀眾時, 你可能還是會扔出一顆三不沾,對嗎？

【106】But if you've prepared, you will increase your odds of success.

但假如你練習(xí)了, 你成功的概率會變大。

【107】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.

你會增加命中概率, 或者至少讓投出的球離球框近一點, 這樣你就不會很尷尬或者 被制作成表情包。

【108】Understanding ethical theories is how we increase our chances of success at simply being human beings who have to negotiate with other human beings.

了解倫理理論增加了我們 扮演一個必須 和其他人類做協(xié)商的人類 成功的機會。

【109】And to me, there is nothing more important than that.

對我來說,沒什么比這更重要了。

【110】Thank you.

謝謝。