Chapter 3 What Is Truth?
真理到底是主觀的、精神上的還是物理的、客觀存在的？本章闡述了人們對真理的認知的起源，人的感知的不可靠，人的記憶的不可靠，聰明人也會犯錯誤，真理不是創造的而是需要探索的，以及因果關系理論。
一、Where Does It All Begin?
We are told about the world before we see it. We imagine most things before we experience them. And those preconceptions, unless education has made us acutely aware, govern deeply the whole process of perception.
我們在觀察世界之前，都是被告知世界是怎樣的。我們在體驗大多數事情之前，總是先想象它們。除非教育使我們敏銳地意識到這一點，否則，這些先入之見深深地控制著整個感知過程。
二、Imperfect Perception
Is there a football fan anywhere who doesn’t occasionally scream, “Bad call!” only to be proved wrong a moment later? We can be sure enough to bet a week’s wages that the pass receiver’s feet came down inbounds or that the running back’s knee hit the ground before the ball came loose. And then the replay shows us how erroneous our initial perception was.
有沒有球迷在叫嚷著“黑哨”片刻后就被證明是錯誤的？我們可以肯定打賭一周的工資說，在求出手之前接球員的腳已經在界內或跑鋒膝蓋已經觸地。然而瞬間回放向我展示最初的感知是錯誤的。
If someone we dislike speaks in a loud voice and is animated, we may regard that person as showing off to get attention. But if a friend behaves in the same way, we may regard him or her as vivacious and extroverted.
如果我們不喜歡的人神氣活現大聲說話，我們可能會認為這個人是故意炫耀以引起注意。 但是，如果一個朋友以同樣的方式行事，那我們可能認為他或她是活潑的和外向的。
三、Imperfect Memory
Loftus asked the parents of college students to describe some events from their sons’ and daughters’ childhoods. Then she talked with each student about those events but added a fake event or two. With only slight coaxing, the students “remembered” the fake events, were able to elaborate on the details, and in some cases refused to believe they were fake even when Loftus explained what she had done.
杰出的記憶研究專家 伊麗莎白·洛夫特斯(Elizaheth Loftus)要求大學生的父母描述自己兒女童 年時期的一些事情。然后她跟每個學生談論這些事，但同時添加一兩件捏 造的事件。僅稍微哄騙一下，學生就“記住了”這些捏造的事件，并能闡述細節，而且在某些情況下，即使洛夫特斯解釋自己所做的事情，他們也拒不相信它們是捏造的。
四、Deficient Information
The quality of a belief depends to a considerable extent on the quality of the information that backs it up. Because it’s a big world and reality has many faces, it’s easy for us to be misinformed. How many drivers take the wrong turn because of faulty directions? How many people get on the wrong bus or train?
信念的質量在很大程度上取決于支持它的信息的質量。因為它是一個龐大的世界，現實有很多種面孔，我們很容易被誤導。有多少人上錯巴士或火車？
五、Even the Wisest Can Err
All too often, what is taken as truth one day by the most respected minds is proved erroneous the next. You undoubtedly know of some examples. In the early seventeenth century, when Galileo suggested that the sun is the center of our solar system, he was charged with heresy, imprisoned, and pressured to renounce his error. The“truth” of that time, accepted by every scientist worthy of the name, was that the earth was the center of the solar system.
經常，最受人尊重的頭腦在某日視為真理的事，在后來被證明是錯誤的。毫無疑問，你知道一些這樣的例子。在17世紀早期，當伽利略(Galileo)認為太陽是我們太陽系的中心時，他被指控為異端，遭到監禁，并迫使其聲明放棄自己的錯誤。那時被每個稱得上偉大的科學家接受的“真理”：地球乃是太陽系的中心。
六、Truth Is Discovered, Not Created
Let’s review what our evaluation has revealed. First, our ideas and beliefs are unavoidably influenced by other people’s, particularly in childhood. Second, perception and memory are imperfect. Third, our information can be inaccurate or incomplete. Add to this the fact, noted in Chapter 2, that some people’s thinking skills are woefully meager and/or ineffectively used, and the idea that “everyone creates his or her own truth” becomes laughable. We do create something, all right, but it is not truth. It is beliefs, ideas that we accept as true but that could easily be false.
讓我們回顧一下我們的評估所揭示的內容。首先，我們的思想和信念不可避免地受到別人的影響，特別是在童年時期。第二，感知和記憶是不完美的。第三，我們的信息可能不準確或不完整。另外，在第二章中也提到，有些人的思維技能很不幸的貧乏且（或）被無效地使用，而且“每個人都創造自己的真理”的想法也讓人感到可笑。我們確實創造了一些事情，沒錯，但它并不是真理。它是信念，即我們信以為真卻可能錯誤的想法。
What, then, is the most reasonable view of truth? The truth about something is what is so about it—the facts in their exact arrangement and proportions. Our beliefs and assertions are true when they correspond to that reality and false when they do not.
那么，最合理的真理觀是什么？關于某事的真理就是，它原本是什么-事實的準確位置及比例。我們的信念和主張在符合真實情況是正確的，不符合真實情況是錯誤的。
Truth is apprehended by discovery, a process that favors the curious and the diligent. Truth does not depend on our acknowledgment of it, nor is it in any way altered by our ignorance or transformed by our wishful thinking.
真理是通過發現而被掌握的，發現是一個偏好好奇和勤奮的過程。真理并不取決于我們的承認，也不因為我們的無知而改變，也不因為我們一廂情愿而變化。
“I know I have limitations and can easily be mistaken. And surely I’ll never find all the answers I’d like to. But I can observe a little more accurately, weigh things a little more thoroughly, and make up my mind a little more carefully. If I do so, I’ll be a little closer to the truth.”
“我知道我有局限并且容易犯錯。當然，我將永遠都不會找到我想知道的所有答案。但是我可以更準確地觀察，更徹底地衡量問題，并更加仔細地做決定。如果我這樣做，我會更接近真理。”
七、Understanding Cause and Effect
Some of the most difficult challenges in discovering truth occur in determining cause-and-effect relationships. Unfortunately, mistakes are common in such matters. One mistake is to see cause-and-effect relationships where there are none. Another is to see only the simple and obvious cause-and-effect relationships and miss the complex or subtle ones. A third is to believe that causation is relevant only to material forces and is unrelated to human affairs. To avoid such confusion, four facts must be understood:
發現真相的最困難挑戰就是確定因果關系。而不幸的是，在這種事情上犯錯誤是很常見的。一種錯誤是在沒有因果關系的事情上看到因果關系。另一種錯誤是只看到簡單明了的因果關系，而忽略了復雜或微妙的關系。第三種錯誤認為，因果關系只與物質因素有關，與人類主觀意識無關。為了避免這種混亂，必須理解四個事實：
