How to make hard choices | Ruth Chang

翻译人员: Coco Hu 校对人员: Carlyle Shaw

Think of a hard choice you'll face in the near future.

设想在不久的未来，你将面对一个艰难的决定。

It might be between two careers --

这也许是在两份职业中做出一个选择，

艺术家还是会计师；

artist and accountant --

or places to live -- the city or the country --

也许是选择居住的地方，城市还是乡村；

也许是在两个人中

or even between two people to marry --

选择和谁结婚，Betty 或者是Lolita；

you could marry Betty or you could marry Lolita.

Or it might be a choice about whether to have children,

抑或思考是否要孩子；

to have an ailing parent move in with you,

是否让年老体衰的父母跟你一起住；

to raise your child in a religion that your partner lives by

是否让你的孩子信奉

你配偶信仰的宗教，

即便你会因自身不信奉而被冷落；

but leaves you cold.

又或者说，是否将毕生积储捐赠给慈善机构。

Or whether to donate your life savings to charity.

Chances are, the hard choice you thought of was something big,

有可能，你所思考的这些艰难抉择

都十分庞大，十分重要

something momentous, something that matters to you.

你也十分重视。

Hard choices seem to be occasions

每当困难的选择出现，

他都会让你感到痛苦、绝望，

for agonizing, hand-wringing, the gnashing of teeth.

让你咬牙切齿。

但我认为我们误解了艰难抉择的定义，

But I think we've misunderstood hard choices

更误解了其在我们生活中扮演的角色。

and the role they play in our lives.

Understanding hard choices

倘若能理解这些艰难决定，

我们每个人便会发掘出

uncovers a hidden power each of us possesses.

一种隐藏的潜力。

What makes a choice hard is the way the alternatives relate.

一个抉择之所以难

是由于选项之间相互关联。

In any easy choice,

任何简单的抉择中，

one alternative is better than the other.

总有一种选择比另一种要好。

In a hard choice,

可在艰难抉择中，

one alternative is better in some ways,

一种选择在某些方面较好，

the other alternative is better in other ways,

另一种选择在其他方面较好，

and neither is better than the other overall.

二者各有千秋让人无法定夺。

You agonize over whether to stay in your current job in the city

你痛苦地纠结于

应该继续呆在这座城市里干这份工作，

还是改变一下你的生活方式

or uproot your life for more challenging work in the country,

到乡村去接受更具挑战性的工作，

因为留下有留下的好处，

because staying is better in some ways,

moving is better in others,

离开也有好处，

and neither is better than the other overall.

两种选择各有千秋难以定夺。

We shouldn't think that all hard choices are big.

我们不应该认为所有的艰难抉择都很庞大。

打个比方，你正决定吃什么早餐。

Let's say you're deciding what to have for breakfast.

You could have high fiber bran cereal

你可以吃高纤维全谷干麦片，

或者吃巧克力甜甜圈。

or a chocolate donut.

假设在此抉择中的决定性因素

Suppose what matters in the choice is tastiness and healthfulness.

是美味程度和健康程度。

The cereal is better for you,

麦片对你身体好，

the donut tastes way better,

甜甜圈却好吃很多，

但两者都有自身优势，

but neither is better than the other overall,

a hard choice.

这就是一个艰难抉择。

Realizing that small choices can also be hard,

如果意识到小的选择

也可能会变得困难，

may make big hard choices seem less intractable.

那面对大的艰难抉择时我们可能就不会觉得那么棘手了。

After all, we manage to figure out what to have for breakfast,

毕竟，我们总能决定早餐吃什么，

so maybe we can figure out whether to stay in the city

所以我们也许能够想明白，

究竟要留在市区，

or uproot for the new job in the country.

还是到乡下接手新的工作。

We also shouldn't think that hard choices are hard

同时，我们也不应该觉得，选择之所以难

because we are stupid.

是因为自己很愚蠢。

When I graduated from college,

在我刚大学毕业的时候，

I couldn't decide between two careers, philosophy and law.

我无法从两种职业中抉择，

哲学还是法律。

我真心喜欢哲学，

I really loved philosophy.

There are amazing things you can learn as a philosopher,

若能成为哲学家，

便能学到很多惊奇的东西，

and all from the comfort of an armchair.

而且舒舒服服地坐在椅子上就好。

可我出生自一个朴实简素的移民家庭，

But I came from a modest immigrant family

where my idea of luxury

我对奢侈的概念，

was having a pork tongue and jelly sandwich

就是能在上学的午餐盒里

in my school lunchbox,

找到一块猪舌和一份果冻三明治。

so the thought of spending my whole life

所以这种一辈子

sitting around in armchairs just thinking ...

仅坐在椅子上思考的想法，

其实，对我来说只是一种奢侈和轻浮的假象罢了。

Well, that struck me as the height of extravagance and frivolity.

所以我拿出自己黄色笔记本，

So I got out my yellow pad,

I drew a line down the middle,

在中间划了一条线，

and I tried my best to think of the reasons

然后竭尽所能地写出

for and against each alternative.

每种选择的利与弊。

当时我就想：

I remember thinking to myself,

if only I knew what my life in each career would be like.

如果能知道选择某种职业后

我的人生会变成怎样就好了。

If only God or Netflix would send me a DVD of my two possible future careers,

如果上帝或者网飞公司能送我一张DVD

来向我描述这两种充满可能性的职业生涯，那我就能做出选择了。

I'd be set.

I'd compare them side by side,

我就能一一对比，

I'd see that one was better,

看看哪种更好，

and the choice would be easy.

这样一来抉择就简单多了。

But I got no DVD,

但我没有收到这种DVD，

and because I couldn't figure out which was better,

而且由于我实在想不出哪一种更优，

I did what many of us do in hard choices:

我就和大多数人一样：

I took the safest option.

选择了最安全的一项。

Fear of being an unemployed philosopher led me to become a lawyer,

成为失业哲学家的恐惧，

驱使我成了一名律师。

可后来我发现，

and as I discovered, lawyering didn't quite fit.

当律师不大适合我，

It wasn't who I was.

这不是真正的我。

So now I'm a philosopher,

所以我现在是名哲学家，

and I study hard choices,

我钻研艰难抉择，

and I can tell you, that fear of the unknown,

我可以告诉大家，对未知产生恐惧

while a common motivational default in dealing with hard choices,

是在进行困难抉择时的自然反应，

而这种恐惧

rests on a misconception of them.

来源于对艰难抉择的误解。

It's a mistake to think that in hard choices,

我们不应该认为，在艰难抉择中

one alternative really is better than the other,

某种选择总会会比另一种好，

but we're too stupid to know which,

可我们自身太愚蠢，所以无法辨别，

and since we don't know which,

那既然我们无法定夺，

we might as well take the least risky option.

倒不如选风险最小的那项。

Even taking two alternatives side by side

就算你完全了解了两种选项

with full information, a choice can still be hard.

并将其一一对照，你仍然很难决定。

选择之所以难，

Hard choices are hard not because of us or our ignorance;

不是因为我们无知；

they're hard because there is no best option.

难的原因在于没有最优选项。

那么，如果没有最佳项，

Now, if there's no best option,

如果衡量的天秤不会倾向于

if the scales don't tip in favor of one alternative over another,

任何一方，

那么任何选项都一定是好的。

then surely the alternatives must be equally good.

So maybe the right thing to say in hard choices

所以面对艰难抉择，可能正确的思维方式，

就是认为选项双方一样好。

is that they're between equally good options.

But that can't be right.

这种想法肯定不对。

If alternatives are equally good, you should just flip a coin between them,

如果选项都一样好，

那还不如直接抛硬币算了，

and it seems a mistake to think,

这样就会产生思想误区，

让你认为自己选择事业、

here's how you should decide between careers,

places to live, people to marry:

住处、婚嫁时都抛硬币选择就好了。

Flip a coin.

还有另外一个原因，

There's another reason for thinking

that hard choices aren't choices between equally good options.

使艰难选择

并非是在同等好的选项中抉择。

假设你要在两份工作中挑选：

Suppose you have a choice between two jobs:

you could be an investment banker

你可以做投资银行家，

or a graphic artist.

或做平面设计师。

在这个选择当中有颇多决定性因素，

There are a variety of things that matter in such a choice,

譬如工作带来的兴奋程度、

like the excitement of the work,

achieving financial security,

能获得的经济保障、

having time to raise a family, and so on.

顾家时间等等。

Maybe the artist's career puts you on the cutting edge

也许艺术家这个职业

能让你接触最前沿的

of new forms of pictorial expression.

图像表达技术。

或许当银行家

Maybe the banking career puts you on the cutting edge

你就能接触最前端的

of new forms of financial manipulation.

金融操纵手段。

(Laughter)

Imagine the two jobs however you like,

你可以想象任何两种你喜欢的职业，

so that neither is better than the other.

但两者都不会比另一方好的。

Now suppose we improve one of them, a bit.

现在，假设我们能稍微改进其中的一方。

Suppose the bank, wooing you,

假设一间银行尝试讨好你，

在你的月薪里增加500美元。

adds 500 dollars a month to your salary.

Does the extra money

这一笔额外的金钱会不会让这份银行家的工作

now make the banking job better than the artist one?

优于当艺术家呢？

Not necessarily.

说不准。

更高的薪酬让银行家的工作

A higher salary makes the banking job better than it was before,

优于以前，

但额外薪水不一定足够让

but it might not be enough

to make being a banker better than being an artist.

成为银行家变得比成为艺术家好。

But if an improvement in one of the jobs doesn't make it better than the other,

可如果对其中一种职业进行改进后

结果并没有让一方优于另一方，

then the two original jobs could not have been equally good.

那么两种选择本身

就不可能是一样好。

If you start with two things that are equally good,

如果两件事一开始都同等的好 ，

当你改进了其中一件，

and you improve one of them,

it now must be better than the other.

那它就一定会优于另一个。

That's not the case with options in hard choices.

在艰难抉择中并非如此。

那么现在我们就有一个疑惑了。

So now we've got a puzzle.

We've got two jobs.

这两份工作，

Neither is better than the other, nor are they equally good.

没有一方能完胜另一方，

但又不是同等的好。

So how are we supposed to choose?

究竟该怎么选择呢？

Something seems to have gone wrong here.

貌似有些事情出错了。

Maybe the choice itself is problematic, and comparison is impossible.

可能选项的本身就存在问题，

导致我们无法比较。

但这也不对啊。

But that can't be right.

It's not like we're trying to choose between two things that can't be compared.

我们并不是要在

两种不能被对比的事物间选择。

我们说到底是在衡量两份工作的利弊，

We're weighing the merits of two jobs, after all,

不是对比数字9和

not the merits of the number nine and a plate of fried eggs.

一盘煎鸡蛋的好处。

对比两份工作的总体优势

A comparison of the overall merits of two jobs

is something we can make,

是我们能做到的，

and one we often do make.

也是我们经常做的事。

I think the puzzle arises

我认为疑惑产生的原因

because of an unreflective assumption we make about value.

源于一种我们对价值的

草率设想。

We unwittingly assume that values like justice, beauty, kindness,

我们不知不觉地认为，

诸如正义、美丽、善良的价值观

都与一些科学度量类似，都能被量度，

are akin to scientific quantities, like length, mass and weight.

譬如长度、质量、重量。

Take any comparative question not involving value,

试想一个与价值观毫不相关的比较，

例如两个行李箱中哪个更重。

such as which of two suitcases is heavier.

There are only three possibilities.

仅有三种可能性。

The weight of one is greater, lesser or equal to the weight of the other.

其中一个的重量大于、小于

或等于另一个。

Properties like weight can be represented by real numbers --

像重量这样的性质能够

用真实的数字来表达——1,2,3……

one, two, three and so on --

and there are only three possible comparisons

而且在两个数字间的比较中

between any two real numbers.

只有三种可能。

One number is greater, lesser, or equal to the other.

一个数字大于、小于

或等于另一个数字。

Not so with values.

价值观却不是如此。

作为后启蒙时期的生物，

As post-Enlightenment creatures,

we tend to assume

我们总是设想

that scientific thinking holds the key to everything of importance in our world,

科学思维可以解决

世界上一切重要的问题，

但价值观的世界

but the world of value is different from the world of science.

不同于科学的世界。

The stuff of the one world can be quantified by real numbers.

科学界中，

一切事物可被数字度量。

可价值观的世界中却不能。

The stuff of the other world can't.

We shouldn't assume that the world of is, of lengths and weights,

我们不能认为

充斥着“是否”、“长度”和“重量”的数字世界

与“该不该”和“该做什么”的价值世界

has the same structure as the world of ought,

of what we should do.

有着同样的架构。

So if what matters to us --

所以，如果我们觉得重要的东西，

如：孩子的幸福、对另一半的爱，

a child's delight, the love you have for your partner —

can't be represented by real numbers,

不能用数字来表示，

那么我们就没有理由相信，

then there's no reason to believe

that in choice, there are only three possibilities --

在抉择过程中只有三种可能性：

其中一选项总会优于、劣于或等于

that one alternative is better, worse or equal to the other.

另一项。

We need to introduce a new, fourth relation

我们需要一种全新的思考维度，第四种关系

beyond being better, worse or equal,

除了优于、劣于和等于之外，

第四种关系能描述艰难抉择的运行模式。

that describes what's going on in hard choices.

I like to say that the alternatives are "on a par."

我偏好把各选项看做

“等价”。

When alternatives are on a par,

当所有选项等价时，

你的选择就变得极为重要，

it may matter very much which you choose,

但选项本身却没有哪个比其他的好。

but one alternative isn't better than the other.

Rather, the alternatives are in the same neighborhood of value,

反之，所有的选择项

都有类似的价值，

in the same league of value,

都处于同一种价值范畴当中，

while at the same time being very different in kind of value.

但同时他们又具有

不同的价值。

这正是让选择变得困难的原因。

That's why the choice is hard.

Understanding hard choices in this way

如此理解艰难抉择，

我们就会在自己身上发现一些意料之外的东西。

uncovers something about ourselves we didn't know.

我们每个人都有能力

Each of us has the power to create reasons.

去创造理由。

想象一下若在某个世界中

Imagine a world in which every choice you face

你只需面对简单抉择，

is an easy choice,

that is, there's always a best alternative.

那么，永远都有最佳项。

If there's a best alternative, then that's the one you should choose,

若有最佳项，

你就应该选它，

because part of being rational

因为保持理智

is doing the better thing rather than the worse thing,

就意味着选好的不选坏的，

选最合理的。

choosing what you have most reason to choose.

In such a world,

在这样的世界里，

we'd have most reason

我们有充足的理由

to wear black socks instead of pink socks,

去穿黑袜子而不穿粉色袜子，

去吃干麦片不吃甜甜圈，

to eat cereal instead of donuts,

去留在城市里不转向乡区，

to live in the city rather than the country,

去娶Betty而不娶Lolita。

to marry Betty instead of Lolita.

充满简单抉择的世界，

A world full of only easy choices would enslave us to reasons.

会让我们成为“原由”的奴隶。

When you think about it,

当你这样想，

(Laughter)

it's nuts to believe that the reasons given to you

你会发现自己一定是疯了才会相信

摆在你面前的选择

会决定你追寻各种事物的理由，

dictated that you had most reason to pursue

会决定你的爱好，

the exact hobbies you do,

to live in the exact house you do,

让你住现在的房子，

让你选现在的工作。

to work at the exact job you do.

Instead, you faced alternatives that were on a par --

事实上，当你面对的是多个选择，

多个等价的选择，困难的选择，

hard choices --

and you made reasons for yourself

你会为自己制造理由

来选择这项爱好、这所房子和这份工作。

to choose that hobby, that house and that job.

当各选项等价时，

When alternatives are on a par,

the reasons given to us,

我们面前的各种理性原由，

the ones that determine whether we're making a mistake,

这些让我们分清对错的原由，

are silent as to what to do.

都无法给予我们一个答案。

It's here, in the space of hard choices,

唯有在这个有艰难抉择的世界里，

that we get to exercise our normative power --

我们才能锻炼自己的

规范性力量，

the power to create reasons for yourself,

以创造自我的原由，

to make yourself into the kind of person

让自己变成

心中想成为的人，

for whom country living is preferable to the urban life.

一种更喜爱乡村生活

而不是城市生活的人。

当我们需要

When we choose between options that are on a par,

在等价选项间抉择时，

we can do something really rather remarkable.

我们能做出一些十分了不起的事。

We can put our very selves behind an option.

我们能把自身放在一个选项之后。

（说道）这就是我的选择，

Here's where I stand.

Here's who I am, I am for banking.

这就是我。我选银行业。

I am for chocolate donuts.

我选巧克力甜甜圈。

(Laughter)

在艰难抉择中，这种反应

This response in hard choices is a rational response,

是一种理性反应，

but it's not dictated by reasons given to us.

但却不是由我们面前的各种原由所决定的。

Rather, it's supported by reasons created by us.

反而，这是由我们自己创造的理由所支撑起来的。

When we create reasons for ourselves

当我们为自我创造原由

to become this kind of person rather than that,

去成为这种人而非那种人时，

we wholeheartedly become the people that we are.

我们就打心底里完完全全地成就了真正的自己。

You might say that we become the authors of our own lives.

你可以说，

我们成了谱写自我人生篇章的作者。

所以当面对艰难抉择，

So when we face hard choices, we shouldn't beat our head against a wall

不应该拿脑袋撞墙

trying to figure out which alternative is better.

绞尽脑汁地去想哪个选项更优。

最佳项并不存在。

There is no best alternative.

Instead of looking for reasons out there,

与其在外界苦命寻找理由，

我们该往心里找：

we should be looking for reasons in here:

Who am I to be?

我想成为什么样的人？

You might decide to be a pink sock-wearing,

你可能会决定成为一个穿粉色袜子、

cereal-loving, country-living banker,

爱好干麦片，还住在乡村的银行家。

而我可能会决定成为一个穿黑袜子，

and I might decide to be a black sock-wearing,

urban, donut-loving artist.

住在城市里，喜欢吃甜甜圈的艺术家。

What we do in hard choices is very much up to each of us.

面临艰难抉择时的反应很大程度上

取决于我们自己每个人。

Now, people who don't exercise their normative powers in hard choices

那些不锻炼自己规范性力量的人

are drifters.

会成为“漂流者”。

We all know people like that.

我们都认识那样的人。

I drifted into being a lawyer.

我（被理性原由限定）“漂流”成了律师。

I didn't put my agency behind lawyering.

我并没有全身心投入到律师业务当中。

I wasn't for lawyering.

我不适合当律师。

Drifters allow the world to write the story of their lives.

漂流者允许这个世界

谱写他们的生命篇章（被拖着走）。

They let mechanisms of reward and punishment --

他们让奖罚机制——

pats on the head, fear, the easiness of an option --

鼓励、畏惧、选择的简单性——

来决定自己的道路。

to determine what they do.

So the lesson of hard choices:

所以艰难抉择教会我们

reflect on what you can put your agency behind,

要审视自己能把身心与精力放到何处，

on what you can be for,

自己究竟追求什么，

并通过困难抉择

and through hard choices,

become that person.

来成为那种人。

艰难抉择不是痛苦和恐惧的来源，

Far from being sources of agony and dread,

而是难得的机遇

hard choices are precious opportunities

for us to celebrate what is special about the human condition,

让我们庆幸人类有如此

特殊的选择权利，

that the reasons that govern our choices as correct or incorrect

庆幸有时候区分选择

正误的理性原由

sometimes run out,

会用尽，

and it is here, in the space of hard choices,

而且，庆幸有在这个具有艰难抉择的世界里，

that we have the power to create reasons for ourselves

我们有能力

去为自己创造理由，

to become the distinctive people that we are.

去成为与众不同的自己。

And that's why hard choices are not a curse

这就是为什么，艰难抉择不是一种诅咒，

而是天赐之物。

but a godsend.

Thank you.

谢谢

(Applause)

（掌声）