20101113

惡補科學

香港中學文理分科,我當年選了文科,所以科學只讀到中三程度,而且成績不好(主要是因為老師教得非常差),物理學、化學、生物學的些微知識到中五畢業時已幾乎全數奉還給老師了。後來逐漸愛上文學,日覽《詩經》、《楚辭》,夜讀鄭愁予、白先勇,成為文藝青年,把賽先生拋諸腦後,不但沒有興趣,就是想起也覺得大煞風景。

我就這樣做了多年科學盲,直到轉讀哲學後,才意識到科學知識的重要,開始找些科學普及的書來看。可是,由讀碩士開始,到寫博士論文期間,不得不專注於研究,騰出來看科學書籍的時間甚少,只斷斷續續看了些進化論、相對論、和量子力學的書;進化論易懂,那還可以,但相對論和量子力學總是不得其門而入,連皮毛也學不到。

做了教授後,更覺得要充實自己的科學知識,因為有些學生的問題和科學有關,尤其是在形上學一科,講到時間空間和宇宙生成等題目時,少不免會扯到相對論和大爆炸理論,講決定論時又可能有學生問及量子力學,我總不能次次都說自己不懂就把學生打發掉。

於是,我立志惡補。進化論的書還繼續有看,而且旁及遺傳學;至於相對論、量子力學,和大爆炸理論,亦終於找到一些好書,了解加深了不少。除了看書,我還買了一批 The Teaching Company 出的錄影課程,都是由一流大學的教授講解,相對論和量子力學那兩套都非常好,似乎比看書更容易吸收(粒子物理學那套還未看,應該也不錯)。

過去六、七年我就是這樣惡補,現在所知仍然不多,但已不算是科學盲了。講形上學而觸及科學理論時,我已不必完全迴避,評論幾句也綽綽有餘,這算是教學相長吧。

20 則留言:

  1. 搞生物的,就算很專精,也不一定很懂物理數學

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  2. 匿名,

    //搞生物的,就算很專精,也不一定很懂物理數學//

    - 當然,但懂一點點卻不難。

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  3. 學然後知不足,教然後知困。知不足,然後能自反也;知困,然後能自強也。故曰:教學相長也。《禮記 學記》

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  4. 教學,教學,邊教邊學……
    哲學所涉及的範疇大,難怪博士學位都叫“Doctor of Philosophy"

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  5. 香港的中學分科太早,像我以前中四時選了文科,數理化的最終學歷只有中三程度。大學教育又強調所謂「通識」,其實到頭來好容易乜都唔識。想到自己早幾年大學畢業時,高數也不會幾門,實在很慚愧,現在也追悔莫及。與現在身邊很多受過良好文理訓練的同學相比,我每周不得不分出頗多時間惡補一些理科知識,真係幾陰功下……

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  6. miss,

    我的確是邊教邊學,這亦是教學的樂趣。

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  7. CYC,

    //我每周不得不分出頗多時間惡補一些理科知識,真係幾陰功下……//

    - 學了新的東西,何陰功之有?

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  8. //香港的中學分科太早//

    I picked sciences when I was in Form 3, thinking that it was what smart students did. I had a sudden revelation that i should do arts instead when I was about to turn in the paperwork, but all the years of social conditioning made me reluctant to change my mind on a whim. So the end result was that I spent a lot of time sleeping in class from Form 4 to Form 6 until I escaped to the U.S. I spent a lot of time sleeping when I was supposed to be studying for the HKCEE too. All that time I wasted!

    Now what I want to really want to do is 惡補文史哲. I wish I could have Wong's discipline and work hard on it for the next 5 to 10 years.

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  9. lin,

    It's never too late, and you can do it slowly.

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  10. 可介紹那幾本易入門的科學書嗎??

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  11. >學了新的東西,何陰功之有?

    每個人時間有限,另外其中一些是早就應該學的

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  12. 在下也引一段:

    Up to now, most scientists have been too occupied with the development of new theories that describe what the universe is to ask the question why. On the other hand, the people whose business it is to ask why, the philosophers, have not been able to keep up with the advance of scientific theories. In the eighteenth century, philosophers considered the whole of human knowledge, including science, to be their field and discussed questions such as: did the universe have a beginning? However, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, science became too technical and mathematical for the philosophers, or anyone else except a few specialists. Philosophers reduced the scope of their inquiries so much that Wittgenstein, the most famous philosopher of
    this century, said, “The sole remaining task for philosophy is the analysis of language.” What a comedown from the great tradition of philosophy from Aristotle to Kant!

    A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking

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  13. CYC,

    //每個人時間有限,另外其中一些是早就應該學的//

    - 也言之成理。

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  14. Sirius,

    除了Hawking,Richard Feynman也相當看不起哲學。

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  15. 匿名,

    //可介紹那幾本易入門的科學書嗎??//

    以下幾本都是我喜歡的:

    Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene

    Jerry A. Coyne, Why Evolution is True

    Richard Wolfson, Simply Einstein: Relativity Demystified

    Brian Cox & Jeff Forshaw, Why Does E=MC2?

    Heinz R. Pagels, The Cosmic Code: Quantum physics as the Language of Nature

    David Lindley, Uncertainty: Enistein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science

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  16. 雖然我是讀理科出身的,但很多生物和化學知識都已淡忘了。

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  17. readandeat,

    總還有些底吧。

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