At Yale,Thinking Like a Fox在耶鲁，像个狐狸一样思考

绘◎马豆子

扫我，朗读给你听

耶鲁大学校长、社会心理学家彼得·沙洛维（Peter Salovey）在8月26日的耶鲁大学新生入学演讲上，提到了两种类型的学习者和思想者：刺猬和狐狸。他鼓励同学们成为狐狸型学习者。

A few years ago, I helped a friend teach a Yale College seminar①seminar 英 ['semɪnɑː] 美 ['sɛmɪnɑr] n. 讨论会，研讨班called "Great Big Ideas". Each week, students in the seminar considered a "big idea" from a different fi eld of study.For homework, they watched video lecturesdelivered②deliver 英 [dɪ'lɪvə] 美 [dɪ'lɪvɚ]vt. 交付；发表；递送；释放；给予（打击）；给……接生vi. 实现；传送；履行；投递 n. 投球by various experts and read primary sources. Then they came to class ready to debate each week's "big idea". By the end of the course, they had become conversant in major debates and questions in art history, political philosophy,evolutionary biology, and other fi elds.

Great Big Ideas reminded me of the story of the fox and the hedgehog③hedgehog 英 [' hedʒhɒg] 美 [' hedʒhɔ:g; ' hɛdʒˌhɑɡ]n. 刺猬. Now, this is a distinction attributed to④attribute to 把……归因于Archilochus, the seventh century B.C. Greek poet and warrior,who said, "a fox knows many things, but a hedgehog one important thing."

The philosopher Isaiah Berlin described the hedgehog as a thinker who sees the world through a single, grand idea—a focused lens. Someone like Karl Marx or Ayn Rand might be considered a hedgehog. The fox, on the other hand, draws on a multitude of ideas and experiences depending on the situation or issue at hand. Perhaps Confucius and Aristotle are best described as foxes.

This dichotomy is an over-simplification. Yet the story of the fox and the hedgehog may help you today, right now, as you consider how to approach your time at Yale.

几年前，我帮一个朋友上了一门名叫“伟大的思想”的课（实际上是研讨会）。每周，研讨会上的学生都会学习不同领域的知识，从不同领域理解何为“伟大的思想”。学生的作业就是观看不同专家的视频讲座，并读取主源资料。然后，他们又聚集在一起，就“伟大的思想”进行新一轮的探讨。到课程结束时，他们已经能非常熟悉艺术史、政治哲学、进化生物学等领域的主要内容与问题了。

“伟大的思想”让我想起了狐狸与刺猬的故事。公元前7世纪，希腊诗人阿尔奇洛克斯提出，“狐狸知道很多的事，刺猬则只知道一件大事。”

身兼哲学家及知识史学家的赛亚·柏林爵士则将刺猬描述为一个思想家：以某个观点为中心来“感受”现实世界。卡尔·马克思和安·兰德都是刺猬。而狐狸会根据当前状况汲取大量他人的想法和经验。孔子与亚里士多德就是最好的代表。

这种二分法过于简单化了。但不管怎样，希望狐狸与刺猬的故事，能够让每一个在耶鲁学习的人有所思考：要以何种方式度过在耶鲁的时间。