思考与写作classics.mit.edu编辑精选
马可·奥勒留《沉思录》
The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
2013 — 2014，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
这个页面是 MIT Classics 网站上的马可·奥勒留《沉思录》英文译本，收录这位罗马皇帝写给自己的一系列哲学札记。内容围绕斯多葛式的自我训练：责任、节制、面对日常事务与死亡，以及如何按本性生活。
为什么经久不衰：它把最高权力者的私人自省摊开成可操作的日常哲学，两千年来仍能让读者对照自己的惰性、责任与选择。
HN 评论精选
强调《沉思录》是私人自我训诫的日记，并引卷五自省说明其真诚。
我床头放着一本，时不时翻读。有意思的是，他写这些只是个人日记，从未打算让更广的读者看到；他经常责备自己。我最喜欢的一段反思来自卷五开头（原帖译本不算最佳，但手头只有这个）：“清晨不情愿起床时，让这个念头在场——我起来是要做人的工作……难道你生来是为了享乐，而不是行动和劳作？……”他质问自己为何不赶快去做合乎本性的事，并说自然也为休息设了界限。
molsongolden查看英文原文
I have a copy on my nightstand that I read semi-frequently. It's interesting to keep in mind that he wrote them as a personal journal and never intended for his writings to be read by a broader audience. He frequently chastises himself and one of my favorite reflections comes from the beginning of Book V. The translation from the OP isn't the best but it's all I have on hand: "In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present- I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world? Or have I been made for this, to lie in the bed-clothes and keep myself warm?- But this is more pleasant.- Dost thou exist then to take thy pleasure, and not at all for action or exertion? Dost thou not see the little plants, the little birds, the ants, the spiders, the bees working together to put in order their several parts of the universe? And art thou unwilling to do the work of a human being, and dost thou not make haste to do that which is according to thy nature?- But it is necessary to take rest also.- It is necessary: however nature has fixed bounds to this too: she has fixed bounds both to eating and drinking, and yet thou goest beyond these bounds, beyond what is sufficient; yet in thy acts it is not so, but thou stoppest short of what thou canst do. So thou lovest not thyself, for if thou didst, thou wouldst love thy nature and her will."
用吉本记载的私生活和教子失败质疑《沉思录》的智慧。
我去年重读了吉本的《罗马帝国衰亡史》，最喜欢的一章（写法很有趣）详细讲他妻子与所有可能的人有染，罗马人人都知道，只有马可·奥勒留本人不知道；他活在一个泡泡里，看不见眼前的现实。他也没能教好儿子康茂德，后来康茂德成了罗马史上最残忍邪恶的皇帝之一。这让我质疑《沉思录》的“智慧”（我小时候很喜欢读，也喜欢采纳其中的建议）：知道他是这样生活、统治和养孩子的，后果如此……我们还确定这是好建议吗？我不再确定了。
morganf查看英文原文
Um. Last year, I re-read Gibbon's Decline and Fall, and my favorite chapter (written in such a funny way!) is his detailing how his wife was having sex with everyone under the sun, and everyone in Rome knew it. Except for Marcus Aurelius himself; he lived in such a bubble, he couldn't see the reality in front of his nose. He was so unable to teach his son, Commodus, that when his son became emperor... well, Commodus turned out to be one of the most cruel and evil emperors in the history of Rome. This made me question the "wisdom" of his Meditations (which, as a kid, I loved reading and whose advice I used to love): knowing this is how he lived and ruled and raised children, and those were the consequences... are we sure it's good advice? I'm not anymore. Text here: http://sacred-texts.com/cla/gibbon/01/daf01013.htm
从《沉思录》引出在家教育引文，并比较东西方教育观。
《沉思录》常被推荐给我，作为西方文学中最早的亲在家教育引文出处：“从祖父那里，我学到不必上公立学校，而享受家里的好老师，并认识到在这类事情上应乐于花钱。”这也揭示了东西方文化差异：最早谈到子女家庭教育的中文引文（更早的孟子）主张由自己家庭教孩子是坏主意，因为把师生关系注入家庭会破坏家庭关系。我尊重地不同意孟子……有趣的是，马可·奥勒留已在担心“公立学校”，而当时的“公立学校”只指“家门外的学校”，不是税收资助、国家雇员运营的学校。
tokenadult查看英文原文
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius has often been recommended to me as the source of the earliest pro-homeschooling quotation found in Western literature: "From my grandfather's father, [I learned] to dispense with attendance at public schools, and to enjoy good teachers at home, and to recognize that on such things money should be eagerly spent." http://learninfreedom.org/notable_quotes.html That does reveal a cultural difference between East and West, as the oldest Chinese quotation to speak to the issue of family education of children (a much older quotation from Mencius) specifically claims that education of children by their own families is a bad idea, because injecting the teacher relationship into the family wrecks family relationships. I respectfully disagree with Mencius, having homeschooled my half-Eastern, half-Western children while living both in Taiwan and in the United States. It's interesting that Marcus Aurelius was already concerned about "public schools" at a time when "public schools" just meant "schools outside one's home" rather than "schools funded by taxes and operated by state employees."
推荐用 Irvine 的斯多葛入门书作为阅读原典的引路。
我强烈推荐先读 William Irvine 的《A Guide to the Good Life》，然后再读马可·奥勒留、塞涅卡等人。题外话：我在听完 Sherry Turkle 的《Alone Together》之后马上听了 Irvine 的有声书，感觉像先读一种疾病、再读治疗方法。推荐，会再来一次。
niels_olson查看英文原文
I highly recommend William Irvine's A Guide to the Good Life, then reading Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, et al. As an aside: I listened to Irvine on audiobook immediately after listening to Sherry Turkle's Alone Together. It was like reading about a disease and then the treatment. Recommend, would do again.
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