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近年来我作过一些思考的问题之一,是有关人们从事科学研究活动的动机。我对这一问题的某些思考结果巳收进了我的讲演文集《真理和美》:科学中的美学和动机(芝加哥大学出版社,1987年)。在这篇短文中,我试图探讨以下几个有关的问题:(1)在某种意义上讲最令人费解的自然特性;(2)人们为追求知识而奋斗的目的;(3)人们对这种追求感到满足的原因。这些问题看起来似乎都是彼此互不相关的,然而从以下的讨论中可以看出,事实上它们是有关联的,哪怕仅仅是稍有关联。一关于我提出的第一个问题,让我们来体会一下爱因斯坦讲过的这样一句话: 关于自然,最令人费解的事实就在于它的可理解性。
In recent years, I have made some thinking about one of the issues that motivates people to engage in scientific research activities. Some of my thoughts on this issue have been incorporated into my speech collection Truth and Beauty: Aesthetics and Motivation in Science (University of Chicago Press, 1987). In this essay, I try to explore several related issues: (1) the most puzzling natural characteristics in a sense; (2) the purpose for which people strive for the pursuit of knowledge; (3) The reason for this pursuit of satisfaction. These issues seem to seem unrelated to each other, but from the following discussion we can see that in fact they are related, if only slightly related. As for the first question I raised, let us come to appreciate the phrase Einstein had said: The most puzzling fact about nature lies in its comprehensibility.