第12句見：Day12
《哲學(xué)的故事》的第13句：序言中的第1段第13句。

Truth will not make us rich, but it will make us free.
浙江大學(xué)版本：真理無法幫助我們富有，卻能使我們自由。

解析

這是序言第1段的最后一句，算比較簡練。“真理無法使我們富裕，但能使我們自由?！?br> 現(xiàn)在有錢，經(jīng)常意味著錢占有了你，而不是人占有錢。物化的社會往往讓人找不到北，錢讓人著迷，也讓人迷失?！熬硬黄鳌本透嬲]人們不要執(zhí)迷于某一項東西，會讓拘囿于此，不能放開自己。
自由+無用是人生的一大追求。自由可以選擇做與不做，從自己角度出發(fā)，不用被生活所迫。

序言的第一段落在這里結(jié)束，重新回顧一下。

There is a pleasure in philosophy, and a lure even in the mirages of metaphysics, which every student feels until the coarse necessities of physical existence drag him from the heights of thought into the mart of economic strife and gain. Most of us have known some golden days in the June of life when philosophy was in fact what Plato calls it, “that dear delight”; when the love of a modestly elusive Truth seemed more glorious, incomparably, than the lust for the ways of the flesh and the dross of the world. And there is always some wistful remnant in us of that early wooing of wisdom."Life has meaning,”we feel with Browning—“to find its meaning is my meat and drink.” So much of our lives is meaningless, a self-cancelling vacillation and futility; we strive with the chaos about us and within; but we would believe all the while that there is something vital and significant in us, could we but decipher our own souls. We want too understand; “l(fā)ife means for us constantly to transform into light and flame all that are or meet with”; we are like Mitya in The Brothers Karamazov —“one of those who don’t want millions, but an answer to their questions”; we want to seize the value and perspective of passing things, and so to pull ourselves up out of the maelstrom of daily circumstance. We want to know that the little things are little, and the big things big, before it is too late.We want to see things now as they will seem forever—"in the light of eternity." We want to learn to laugh in the face of the inevitable, to smile even at the looming of death. We want to be whole, to co?rdinate our energies by criticizing and harmonizing our desires; for co?rdinated energy is the last word in ethics and politics, and perhaps in logic and metaphysics too."To be a philosopher," said Thoreau, "is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live, according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust." We may be sure that if we can but find wisdom, all things else will be added unto us. "Seek ye first the good things of the mind," Bacon admonishes us, "and the rest will either be supplied or its loss will not be felt." Truth will not make us rich, but it will make us free.
哲學(xué)有種愉悅，即便在形而上學(xué)里幻象有種魅力。每一學(xué)生都能感覺到，直到物理存在的粗俗必需品將他從思想的極點拖入經(jīng)濟沖突與利益的集市里。我們大多數(shù)人都知曉古希臘羅馬時期的哲學(xué)黃金年代。在那個時候，哲學(xué)確實稱得上柏拉圖口中的“那珍貴的喜悅”；在那個時候，對于真理謙卑地淺吟低唱、難以名狀的熱愛，是如此的榮光，以至于對肉體上的欲望和世間的糟粕的追尋都無法掩蓋其光芒。早期智慧的追尋總是或多或少給我們留下些傷感的殘跡?！叭松衅湟饬x”，正如勃朗寧所說，“找到它的意義就是我的日?！薄Ｎ覀兩暮艽蟛糠侄际菬o意義的，是自相矛盾的，是徒勞的；我們與周圍以及自身作斗爭；但是我們相信，如果我們能破譯我們自己的靈魂，我們內(nèi)心總是有那么些東西是至關(guān)重要的。我們想知道，“生活對于我們意味一直將我們自身及秘遇到的一切轉(zhuǎn)化成智慧與熱情”；我們就像《卡拉馬佐夫兄弟》中的米特亞，“那些不要百萬財富只求能回答他們問題的那一個答案的人群中的一員”；我們想抓住轉(zhuǎn)瞬即逝事物的價值及視角，從而將我們自己從日常生活的旋渦中抽離出來。趁為時不晚，我們想知道小事是小的，大事是大的；我們想現(xiàn)在看事情就如它們永恒所看起來的那樣——“永恒的光”。我們打算學(xué)會笑對不可避免的事情，甚至是死亡的驟至也能微笑。我們想要成一體，通過批判與使各種欲望一致來協(xié)調(diào)我們的精力；因為在倫理學(xué)、政治學(xué)，乃至邏輯學(xué)和形而上學(xué)，再沒有比協(xié)調(diào)過的精力好的了。梭羅說：“要成為一名哲學(xué)家，不僅要有細致入微的思考甚至于要成立新的學(xué)派，而且要這般愛智慧并遵從智慧，過一種簡單、獨立、寬容而信任的生活?！蔽覀円苍S能確信：只要找到了智慧，其他東西都會加給我們。“首先尋求你思維中的善，”培根告誡我們，“其余要么會自動會來，要么是失去時也不可惜。”真理不能讓我們富裕，但能讓我們自由。