issue244 第一篇

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244 "Most societies do not take their greatest thinkers seriously, even when they claim to admire them."
The greatest thinker is a colossal wealth in every society,as they had made a good foundation of science and art such as maths,physics,philosophy,etc.had inspired people’s thought and soul,and had made so huge a contribute that there have been left an abundant worthy culture to the desendants.Nowadays,in most societies youngs are taught what to value as they valued,and are told how to see the world as they saw.People claim to admire them by doing so.However,in most cases,great thinkers are often wronged or ignored in many societies.

There is no escaping the fact that Confucious is regarded as a great thinker in China.What he had thought and said has always been in premier situation since Han Dynasty and been valued and respected for thousands of years.Not only does each Chinese know about that but also many foreigners are interested in it and make several researches of it.People have to learn it by heart and even understand it when they are sill children in that it is considered to be very helpful in their future lives.If you stop a child and ask how he or she see or value some things,the child may answer you in a sentence of Confucious.But if you refer to an adult,he or she may give you a different answer.In many Chinese people’s opinion, Confucious is so far away from their daily lives and works that they have no time and energy to care for what a great thinker thinks,especially a man living in ancient time.Although many Chinese claim to consider it important,few Chinese do think so and pay much attention to what Confucious actually said,while most people are more likely to entertain themselves by watching films and TV or evaluate their skills by learning English or other subjects.

There is another case in point that could be seen in America. John Dewey was a pragmatic philosopher, psychologist, and educator commonly regarded as the founder of the progressive education movement whose writings and teachings have had profound influences on education in the United States Dewey's philosophy of education, instrumentalism (also called pragmatism), which focused on learning-by-doing rather than rote learning and dogmatic instruction,had made an great impact and was in a significant sense.But now few ordinary Americans know about him,while their educatin is formed with a tribute of John Dewey.

Besides that,in ancient Greece,the great thinker Socrates was sentenced to death. Socrates had contributed a lot to philosophy.He influenced people by debating and addressing to make people think about the truth..Many concepts that now are basic come from him.But he died for political reasons.How could people bear a great thinker’s death if they really cherished him?

Taking into account of the examples listed above,we can conclude that though the greatest thinkers are admired in most societies ,they are not taken seriously as people claim.It is soleful to find that what great thinkers made a great effort to give seems useless to nowadays people who put heads in their work.In this process,people in most societies perhaps are losing track of their own culture and their lives.