"I think therefore I am" is what the French philosopher Descartes said: I think therefore I am in the highest metaphysics. At the turning point of time, your shadow is everywhere. Because of an idea, your light shines all the way in the garden of human spirit. You are an evergreen leaf. "I want to have me" comes from philosophical nonsense. Whose voice seems to shuttle at every intersection. The wise man said that rene descartes was in French history. Heidegger, a great German existentialist, once said: "Since Leibniz, the great development (change) of Descartes' basic theory has not surpassed this basic theory at all, but only expanded its metaphysical breadth, thus creating a premise for19th century." However, in the eyes of people who believe in empiricism and materialism, Descartes has a fatal handle, that is, his famous saying that has echoed for centuries: "I think, therefore I am." This famous saying, regarded by Descartes as the starting point of his own philosophical system, was regarded as the general representative of extreme subjective idealism in eastern European academic circles in China in the past and now, and was severely criticized. Many people even regard Descartes as "putting the cart before the horse" and "ridiculous" on the grounds that "existence must precede consciousness" and "there can be no thought without body". In our reading forum, a netizen specially wrote the pseudonym "I am thinking" for himself to show his firm belief in materialism. It is an extremely difficult course to absolutely doubt Descartes' philosophical course. The starting point of his philosophical pursuit is the most fundamental and thorough doubt about human cognitive ability. Descartes once described the beginning of his thinking process like this: "I think that everything closest to' truth' comes from feeling and the transmission of feeling. However, I find that these things often deceive us. So, the only wise thing is: never believe it completely again? B style='color: black; Background color: # ff66ff'> What's the significance? What's the point? B style='color: black; Background color: # ff66ff'> Something is wrong. " The help of the outside world to our cognition is so unreliable. So, what are our active perceptual activities (called "practice" by dialectical materialism) and thinking? These activities often appear in dreams, making it impossible for us to distinguish between "dreams" and "waking up". Therefore, I have to wonder whether the whole world is just a dream (we remember the story of Zhuangzi and Butterfly). Starting from these simple and preliminary "doubts", Descartes pushed his doubts to the extreme: "I would like to assume that the source of all truth is not a kind God, but an equally cunning and magical devil, who tried his best to lead me astray. I am willing to assume that the sky, air, land, shape, color, sound and all external things are just the presentation of that deceptive dream, and the devil will exchange them for my credulity. I want to observe myself like this: it seems that I have neither hands nor eyes, nor body, nor blood, nor all organs, but I just believe in these. " ("Discours de la Methode") It can be seen that Descartes' doubts are not doubts about certain specific things and specific principles, but absolute doubts about human beings, the world and God. From this absolute doubt, Descartes should lead to unquestionable philosophical principles. Descartes went on to say, "Just when I tried to believe that all this was false, I found that something (which was doubtful for me) was essential, and that was the thinking me! Because the fact that' I think therefore I am' transcends the doubts of all skeptics, I will regard it as the first principle of the philosophy I pursue. " "Discours de la Methode", through Descartes' exquisite description of his own philosophical course, we can clearly know that the meaning of this famous saying is not: Because I think, I exist. But: I realized (my) existence through thinking, and I knew "existence" from "thinking". The Chinese expression of "I think, therefore I am" is very vague and inaccurate, which is basically the cause of our compatriots' misunderstanding of Descartes. However, in this case, we in China are not the only lost sheep in philosophy. For hundreds of years, European philosophers have treated him in the same way. The root of this misunderstanding is the Latin translation of Descartes' French masterpiece Discours de la Methode. In the Latin translation of this book, you can see: cogito ergo sum! ("I think, therefore I am!" If the meaning of "I" is removed from the translation of this sentence, it is probably more in line with the original intention to translate it directly into cogitans sum. Because most of the philosophical works at that time used Latin, and French was only a local language, this Latin spread like wildfire and became synonymous with Descartes' philosophy, while the original French texts Jepense and DoncJesuis could not be overwhelmed. Descartes' original intention was to establish an unquestionable academic method system, but the starting point of his philosophical principles was widely misunderstood from the beginning, and history was so unfair. From the difficulty of translation, we can learn a lesson from this historical misunderstanding: translation is very unreliable! The more accurate and brilliant the original text is, the greater the gap between its translation and the original text, especially in literary works and philosophical works. There are two insurmountable obstacles in translation: the first is the language barrier, and the second is the cultural barrier. Since the 20th century, language barriers have often been ignored by China scholars. They believe that any foreign language works, especially non-literary works, can be translated. They regard language as a tool system to convey logical information, and think that all languages in the world are only composed of vocabulary and grammar. If you master these words and grammar, you will master the language. This scientific and mechanical understanding of language is very characteristic of the spirit of our times, and it is also true in foreign language teaching. Compared with cultural barriers, language barriers are really just a piece of cake. Due to different cultural backgrounds, the quoted classics, daily life related to them, and even customs and habits, especially the thinking mode that has been precipitated for thousands of years, all have a high degree of "personality", which makes it almost impossible for a work to be completely translated into another language and cultural environment. Any translation first conveys not the author's thoughts, but the translator's understanding and ability. If the translator is a fairy wandering between several cultures (such people either don't exist or are few), his translation will have a better chance to approach the original, provided that he can resist vanity and be loyal to the original wholeheartedly, instead of deliberately leading readers astray like a first-class villain like Yan Fu. For readers, reading translated works is always indirect, one-sided and unreliable! All serious scholars should try to read the original text! Therefore, I fundamentally doubt the possibility that China people will accept European ideas and even regard them as the dominant culture in the future. Possibility of Using the West in Middle Schools For decades, we borrowed a large number of philosophical words from European languages through Japanese and learned a set of "philosophical methods". Since then, these words and methods have become the basic tools for us to study and discuss all topics related to ideas. Without them, we can neither think nor speak, and our minds are empty and speechless. "Using western learning in China" has become a theory to prove western learning with China's cultural fragments. Western learning means that we not only use it, but also become our backbone. In fact, there is no academic necessity, let alone ideological and cultural necessity. By thinking about Descartes' philosophical principles, I realized the fine tradition of sinology in China: starting from the original text, starting from the text, paying attention to textual research, and annotating the works of the ancients in order to get the true meaning from them, which is also applicable to the study and research of European classical philosophy. At the same time, many methods and research results of sinology, such as revealing the changes of ancient and modern phonetics, can also be very helpful to western academic circles. "Learning from the West" is not a strange idea by accident at all. However, academic exchanges have nothing to do with the nationalism of "promoting and developing Chinese culture". We must resolutely avoid changing from a foreign slave to a chauvinist overnight! PS: The main content of this essay comes from my philosophical reading essay Momente des Lebens, originally in German. Please forgive my mistakes in memorizing quotations over time.