[经典批改讨论] Issue99 [复制链接]

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电梯直达

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发表于 2007-6-20 02:25:37 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览

Issue Topic: In any realm of life-whether academic, social, business, or political-the only way to succeed is to take a practical, rather than an idealistic, point of view. Pragmatic behavior guarantees survival, whereas idealistic views tend to be superceded by simpler, more immediate options.

As Leo Tolstoy once said, "Ideal is the beacon; without ideal, there is no secure direction, and without direction there is no life", ideal plays an important role in the human race development. Nevertheless, the rapid development of today in both technology and social lives somehow calls for more pragmatic behaviors in certain realms of life. But still, in other disciplines, ideal is still of the most crucial value, while pragmatism is acknowledged by the populus as indispensable as well.

Let's start with the business field, one of the most practical realms of our lives, and gradually become the most dominant field of our society. Admittedly, some may argue that in the business realm, there is a superior ideal, that is, to earn money. However, to attain this goal, idealism is at almost all the times useless. Unless the business man take a practical attitude toward the competitive market, it is just impossible for his company to survive and thrive. The price setting, staff enrolling, jobs eliminating, cost reducing, all of these processes, which determine the profits earned, need the managers to check every elements need to be evaluated. It is no use and sometimes even harmful for the administrators of companies to take an idealistic point of view. The market is one of the most practical things in our time, how can one succeed in it with only dreams and fantasies? Ideal may help the corporation to show its supporters a prosperous future, but it won't help the company to stand long in the brutal economy.

On regarding the political field, however, we might draw the conclusion that both ideal and pragmatism are indispensible for a successful politician. The ultimate goal of politics is to organize the mass in a most efficient way and to achieve the overall success of the nation. On the road to realize this dream, politicians together with common people, should first take into consideration the immediate problems existed in the society, for without settling these problems, the society will probably collapse into chaos. For example, when Abraham Lincoln began his position as the President of United States, his most important task was to solve the disputes between the North and the South, and to prevent the most democratic nation from perishing. On the other hand, if a society fails to hold an ulterior goal, a final aim, the society will lose its directions, stand still, and be bogged down in the Dead Sea without progress and hope. Certain thrusts may be made in different areas, however, without an ideal, the society as whole is not able to usefully and properly assimilate these advances. The discoveries made become piles of useless discoveries; the potential value behind these discoveries will never come out to be known by the mass. In conclusion, ideal and pragmatism is both needed if the society wants to thrive.

Finally, we come to the scientific and technological field, the most influential field in our thought. Scientists and researchers are appreciated by their contributions to human development. They are not connected with the mean ambitions or immediate successes. Fighting for the truth and genuine, they will sacrifice all the splendors, even their lives. What is more practical than our own lives? Thanks to these martyrs in science history, we boast today's high status in the science. We cannot make even the wildest guess at what our world would be like, were it not for these most idealistic dreams hold by myriad scholars. If Albert Einstein were a bit more practical, he would have become the president of Israel and we would have missed some of the breakthroughs he brought. If Niculous Copernicus a bit more practical, he would forgo his belief in the Earth-Center-Theory and we would still believe in Aristotle's version of the universe. One can learn from all these examples that science cannot make any advancement were it not for the ideals.

In different realms of our lives, pragmatism and ideal play different roles; we cannot enjoy our nowadays lives without either of them. To sum up, we should certainly establish a balance between them. As citizens in this rapid changing society, to be practical gives us the power to make our lives better and our work efficient, and to be idealistic guarantees we will still on the jousting field and won't get lost in the this complex world.

[ 本帖最后由 iq28 于 2007-6-23 13:19 编辑 ]