▌「探索」的前方:小竅門 vs 笨功夫?
最近開始,有意識在區分兩種寫作:⒈一種是已經知道要寫什麼,而或許可以說是專注表達的寫作;⒉另一種是還沒想好要寫什麼,但卻不一定是「探索性」的寫作——「探索」的前提,應該是目標不明,但即便同樣是「還沒想好要寫什麼」卻也還有程度區別:⑴已經有模糊感受只是不知道該如何用言語去捕捉,這類似但依舊不同於「已經知道要寫什麼」因為前者更像取景構圖又或涉及少許元素擺放,但後者是連鏡頭對焦都還沒完成;⑵而即便已經摸清感受,或有清楚的等待分類的概念單元,如何加以排列和分類統整,也是在寫之前還沒有想法——儘管,也許光是為了找到這些類別和單元或例子就已經絞盡腦汁。
最後,才是:⑶真正的「探索性」寫作,也就是像現在這篇文字所呈現的,但也是我不打算多加展開的——我只有兩點想要加以說明:①即便是「不知內容目的地」的探索性寫作,也不代表在形式上不能有所要求。畢竟未知的僅僅是內容,而非形式/以及形式從來不是要在內容確定之後才能選擇,就如詩歌格律與詞牌或我選擇以結構化的切分和列舉展開。②而在框架之上,所遵循的是「清單、光譜、條件、變量、關係」去建構和尋找反例以檢驗假設是否成立:是否口說無憑?是否以偏概全?是否指鹿為馬?是否捨本逐末?然後或切分或連結或找尋衝擊點與錯開受力點而完成以駁代論。
至於「⑵對象已經清晰」的寫作,我現在最常用的做法,反倒是在跟AI對話的過程中逐漸形成:➊把框架和素材丟進去,然後不斷反覆迭代糾正和調整,直到實在受不了再從直覺模糊的選一個起點開始堆積木——有點像是,從全局綜觀忽然投入局部,然後潛意識中隱隱還有著一個形象但也還不甚確定(⑴剛剛這算是從模糊感受加以捕捉,而不只是堆積木了)所以最後往往還是需要第三次加工:➋這時候可能就回到專注表達的寫作了。但有趣的是,實際幾次這樣操作下來,我反而會選擇再最後接一個「⑶真正的探索性的寫作」來強迫自己拉出一個更遠的距離——就像這樣,把本來沒想到的東西(我本來只想到兩種不同的寫作,還有模糊感受與分類排序,以及隱隱約約想到探索和Lakatos跟和AI對話之後的整理)或有模糊方向的路給走完。
然後,也許是時候來討論「⒈已經知道要寫什麼」的寫作,有什麼更進一步的形式和表達技巧/或至少是初步堆好的積木了。但很可惜我還沒有想好:不只是「對於內容本身」還沒有想好,就連「應該要如何想好」也還沒有——我是說到底是要:ⅰ從最笨的地方下手,然後只在兩端用力?ⅱ還是在顯性的理論與手熟的實踐之間補上可傳授也好應用的小竅門?
所以就讓我們以這不上不下的方式結尾吧!
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【轉折的類型與對切分的加工和成立】
⒈「轉折」有四種:⑴預期落空,往前推翻前提,這是「歸謬反證」。王安石(偷塞)真正得士宜可南面制秦結果不只沒有還反倒要仰賴雞鳴狗盜之徒,反證得出孟嘗君並非真能得士——甚至,倒轉因果指出恰恰是雞鳴狗盜出其門,此士之所以不至也;⑵預期落空,往後補原因,這是反證法的一種變體。蘇洵的事有必至理有固然,但為何風雨之事人盡皆之,人事之推移賢者有不知?原來是因為好惡亂其中而利害奪其外;⑶有意外事件,且阻礙成功導致結果落空,並說明為何如此,這是ABT。韓愈說「有千里馬沒伯樂,千里馬也只能辱於奴隸人之手」屬之;⑷有意外事件但阻礙失敗,並且這個「意外事件」是對手提出的論述,就構成「預設反駁」。歐陽修的「即便是君子也難能」屬之——並再強調,更何況死刑犯是小人之尤,而再達成舉輕明重。
⒉「切分」有三種:⑴以MECE切分面向,歐陽修的君子與小人、黃執中死亡時間的變與不變、Paul Graham 的三種讀者、Chris Hayes 的三種注意力,都是這樣的例子——並且,因為MECE的切分一定成立,所以往往不用說明成立原因,而會直接往後「①以命名比喻和場景」加工,例如雞尾酒會和變與不變的情景,例如山姆大叔和吃角子老虎機以及蝴蝶風扇和提線木偶/或者,作為「②否證選言」的基礎,以進行雙刀法和殘餘法,例如 Paul Graham 論證「文章應該為了年輕人而寫」;⑵對「條件」進行切分,有時是「①直接抓出關鍵條件」像王安石和韓愈都是,只是王安石以該條件偷渡為條件句後項,並以此歸謬反證;韓愈則是以意外事件的充分(沒有伯樂有千里馬也白聊)證明「僅有天資」的不充分,而證明了「還有際遇」這個條件;有時是,以「②兩兩概念」對比,例如天地陰陽和人情理勢,看似是MECE切分,但更關鍵在於找出兩者背後不同條件:天地之事的生成與判斷都不會受到利害好惡影響。另一個例子是,黃執中談表達,提出「為什麼有人私下溝通很有趣但公開表達就熄火?」然後剖析各種差異,並得出因為公開表達有明確目的——在這裡,溝通和表達就並不是MECE的區分,而只是眾多相關概念中兩個最像的,並且這個轉折就像君子和小人的區分,是為了預設反駁對手的論述而非證成切分,黃執中也沒有用「但公開表達就熄火?」證成切分合理而是從後續的關鍵條件找出(但後面的關鍵條件則是以窮舉否定所殘餘,是用上了MECE和否定選言);還有時是以「③2×2矩陣」釐清並定位所有條件,然後類似MECE呈現切分,或以三要素兩轉折的方式呈現並證成切分。例如,將矩陣中兩兩對比,然後說A和B很像但不是B,A也和C很像但不是C,可見真正的條件應該是哪兩個變量,而定位出了A、B、C;⑶不切面向也不切條件,也沒有進行概念對比或矩陣定位,而是直接指出某個具體的子概念,或指涉的外延,不符合我們討論的範圍。常見做法是搭配預設反駁承認對方論述,但主張對方論述落空——這也是對切分的加工,而不以轉折證成切分。
所以,實際的搭配應該是:⑴以「2×2矩陣」或MECE列舉並加工,或「命名、比喻、場景」的具體(三種注意力)或「否定選言」的論證(Paul Graham、表達熄火);⑵「概念對比」並以預期落空展現差異再往後補原因也就是核心的條件變量的反證法變體(蘇洵、溝通vs表達);⑶以對方主張或直接反轉開頭,然後把條件偷渡而預期落空推翻前提的「歸謬反證」(王安石),或提出明確阻礙成功導致結果落空之條件的ABT(韓愈),或單純指出對方論證落差或鋪陳概念對比之後再以差異展現有意外事件但阻礙失敗的「預設反駁」(歐陽修、注意力vs資訊)。
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【藉由糾正AI而專注表達的寫作】
不管是王安石還是韓愈,其實也都在切「真正的士vs雞鳴狗盜」和「千里馬vs常馬」——韓愈沒有明說,但他用整個「A有千里之能/B食不飽力不足/T才美不外見」所要證明的,恰恰是千里馬與普通馬的差異,不只在天資,還在際遇。只是反過來就變成了想要(從普通馬)變成為千里馬,光有天資還不夠,還要有際遇;王安石則是儘管說了如果孟嘗君得到的是「真正的士」那麼擅齊之強宜可南面制秦,而毋須借助雞鳴狗盜之力,但他卻既沒有明說為什麼雞鳴狗盜不算真正的士,也沒有說為什麼真正的士不會投靠孟嘗君,而是在最後用「對立成因」的修辭,從實際上說雞鳴狗盜在功能上是趕跑真正的士而又無法達成真正的士所能達成的南面而制秦的目標,儘管沒有從概念上說回答問題,但也給出了某種程度的解答。
反過來說,蘇洵和歐陽修的「說明」本身就是利用切分:蘇洵先切了「天地陰陽vs人情理勢」再問它們:應該沒差為何有差?然後給出解釋;歐陽修說了「君子vs小人」的不同以回應就算真的如期而歸也是君子之尤難,並進一步舉輕明種強調況且死囚還是小人之尤甚者。換句話說,兩者都是對切分的加工,但王安石漢韓愈一個是側面證明「用以區別隱含切分的條件」確實都至關重要,一個是根本沒證明而就直接拿去歸謬了。
因此,如果把整個「切分」和「轉折」的套路對應起來,應該是這樣的:⑴MECE搭配①具象填充,或②否定選言;⑵2×2矩陣搭配①三要素兩轉折,或②在XY座標軸上呈現變化或衝突;⑶概念對比搭配①懸念解答直接以「沒結果說明緣由」說明差異,或②預設反駁先承認對方論述再以「有意外但沒影響」搭配舉輕明重,以及③經典敘事以「有意外且有影響」同樣直說主張但隱藏比較對象而以意外之有影響證明條件的必要;最後④還是從對手論述出發但以「沒結果推翻前提」偷渡條件為後件並歸謬反證——換句話說,是以立論或反駁為起手及直接呈現或隱藏切分為兩個變量。
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• Case, N. How To Explain Things Real Good. 2022.
Explaining stuff is a skill. When training skills, people usually think about Theory versus Practice. Theory is easy to share, but hard to apply to day-to-day work. Practice is easy to apply, but hard to share –– for example, I can't talk you into being able to ride a bike. But I think there's something in the middle: Tricks! (or Heuristics, Rules-of-Thumb, whatever you call it.) Tricks are easy to share, but also easy to apply!
• 韩东,最笨的和最玄的,2022。
我最看重的是习诗者的两种能力。一种是最笨的,笨到什么程度?比如说他喜欢一首诗,非常着迷,他就抄写,就去背诵。这是一种很笨的学习方法,有点像古人读私塾,你不理解《论语》,还没有理解文字背后的意思,就已经先背下来了。渐渐地你懂了,理解其义了,那个背诵的底子就出来了。不管理不理解都已经深入了他的骨髓,就像基本功一样,或者像描红练习,就是这样的一种概念。还有一种能力是指向最玄的东西,比如思考为什么要写作,人为什么要活在世上,写作和真理是一种什么关系,这两种能力或者倾向,最笨的和最玄的,我觉得对写诗而言都非常重要,大家大可在这两个极端上用力。至于在最玄的和最实的之间有一个很大的区域,比如讨论诗是什么,现代性或者后现代,人文精神抑或口语还是意象、修辞这些,我觉得没有多大的意义,或者意义和上面提到的两点相比是等而下之的。
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+切分+性質對比=A和B有什麼不同?
| |
| +操作條件┌MECE、2×2矩陣、XY座標
| └否定選言、三要素兩轉折
|
+意外+反常識+定義:反面定義or例外證明
| |因果:對立成因
| +標準:辯證思考
|
+故事+⑴懸念解答=沒結果說明緣由
|⑵經典敘事=有意外且有影響
|⑶歸謬反證=沒結果推翻前提
+⑷預設反駁=有意外但沒影響
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[概念對比+懸念解答]
• Graham, P. Keep Your Identity Small. 2009.
#對比和說明
As a rule, any mention of religion on an online forum degenerates into a religious argument. Why? Why does this happen with religion and not with Javascript or baking or other topics people talk about on forums? What's different about religion is that people don't feel they need to have any particular expertise to have opinions about it. All they need is strongly held beliefs, and anyone can have those. No thread about Javascript will grow as fast as one about religion, because people feel they have to be over some threshold of expertise to post comments about that. But on religion everyone's an expert.
#連結和猜想
Then it struck me: this is the problem with politics too. Politics, like religion, is a topic where there's no threshold of expertise for expressing an opinion. All you need is strong convictions. Do religion and politics have something in common that explains this similarity? One possible explanation is that they deal with questions that have no definite answers, so there's no back pressure on people's opinions. Since no one can be proven wrong, every opinion is equally valid, and sensing this, everyone lets fly with theirs.
#落空和解答
But this isn't true. There are certainly some political questions that have definite answers, like how much a new government policy will cost. But the more precise political questions suffer the same fate as the vaguer ones. I think what religion and politics have in common is that they become part of people's identity, and people can never have a fruitful argument about something that's part of their identity. By definition they're partisan.
[文vs氣:不知道有什麼差。]
『轍生好為文,思之至深,以為文者,氣之所形,然文不可以學而能,氣可以養而致。孟子曰:「我善養吾浩然之氣。」今觀其文章,寬厚宏博,充乎天地之間,稱其氣之小大。太史公行天下,周覽四海名山大川,與燕、趙間豪俊交遊,故其文踈蕩,頗有奇氣。此二子者,豈嘗執筆學為如此之文哉?其氣充乎其中而溢乎其貌,動乎其言而見乎其文,而不自知也。』
[事vs理:應該沒差卻有差?]
『事有必至,理有固然。惟天下之靜者,乃能見微而知著。月暈而風,礎潤而雨,人人知之。人事之推移,理勢之相因,其疏闊而難知,變化而不可測者,孰與天地陰陽之事,而賢者有不知,其故何也?好惡亂其中,而利害奪其外也!』
[理學vs詩:應該有差卻沒差?]
『上谷一郡多理學,猶有靜修先生遺風焉,而馬子旻徠以詩著。夫理學與詩判而不一也久矣,儒者斥詩爲末技,比於雕虫之屬,而太白嘲誚魯儒,備極醜詆,途殊者議異,理固然歟。旻徠制行醇謹,無夸毗之習,所著養正諸書,皆理學篤論,而詩格大雅,卓然成家,則又何故?予謂世俗所謂理學與詩皆非也。』
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[反面定義+懸念解答]
『古之所謂豪傑之士者,必有過人之節。人情有所不能忍者,匹夫見辱,拔劍而起,挺身而鬥,此不足為勇也。天下有大勇者,卒然臨之而不驚,無故加之而不怒,此其所挾持者甚大,而其志甚遠也。』
[對立成因+經典敘事]
→只有「有千里之能」不夠。
『世有伯樂,然後有千里馬。千里馬常有,而伯樂不常有。故雖有名馬,衹辱於奴隸人之手,駢死於槽櫪之間,不以千里稱也。馬之千里者,一食或盡粟一石,食馬者,不知其能千里而食也。是馬也,雖有千里之能,食不飽,力不足,才美不外見,且欲與常馬等不可得,安求其能千里也?』
[歸謬反證+對立成因]
→沒有「南面而制秦」不行。
『世皆稱孟嘗君能得士,士以故歸之,而卒賴其力,以脫於虎豹之秦。嗟乎!孟嘗君特雞鳴狗盜之雄耳,豈足以言得士?不然,擅齊之強,得一士焉,宜可以南面而制秦,尚何取雞鳴狗盜之力哉?夫雞鳴狗盜之出其門,此士之所以不至也。』
[預設反駁+舉輕明重]
『信義行於君子,而刑戮施於小人。刑入於死者,乃罪大惡極,此又小人之尤甚者也。寧以義死,不苟幸生,而視死如歸,此又君子之尤難者也。方唐太宗之六年,錄大辟囚三百餘人,縱使還家,約其自歸以就死,是君子之難能,期小人之尤者以必能也。其囚及期,而卒自歸無後者,是君子之所難,而小人之所易也,此豈近於人情哉?』
--
[MECE=修身、施事、見言]
『草木鳥獸之為物,眾人之為人,其為生雖異,而為死則同,一歸於腐壞澌盡泯滅而已。而眾人之中,有聖賢者,固亦生且死於其間,而獨異於草木、鳥獸、眾人者,雖死而不朽,逾遠而彌存也。其所以為聖賢者,修之於身,施之於事,見之於言,是三者所以能不朽而存也。修於身者,無所不獲;施於事者,有得有不得焉;其見於言者,則又有能有不能也。施於事矣,不見於言可也。自詩、書、史記所傳,其人豈必皆能言之士哉?修於身矣,而不施於事,不見於言,亦可也。孔子弟子,有能政事者矣,有能言語者矣。若顏回者,在陋巷曲肱饑臥而已,其群居則默然終日如愚人。然自當時群弟子皆推尊之,以為不敢望而及。而後世更百千歲,亦未有能及之者。其不朽而存者,固不待施於事,況於言乎?』
• Graham, P. The Shape of the Essay Field. 2025.
An essay has to tell people something they don't already know. But there are three different reasons people might not know something, and they yield three very different kinds of essays. One reason people won't know something is if it's not important to know. That doesn't mean it will make a bad essay. For example, you might write a good essay about a particular model of car. Readers would learn something from it. It would add to their picture of the world. For a handful of readers it might even spur some kind of epiphany. But unless this is a very unusual car it's not critical for everyone to know about it. If something isn't important to know, there's no answer to the question of why people don't know it. Not knowing random facts is the default. But if you're going to write about things that are important to know, you have to ask why your readers don't already know them. Is it because they're inexperienced, or because they're obtuse? So the three reasons readers might not already know what you tell them are (a) that it's not important, (b) that they're obtuse, or (c) that they're inexperienced. The reason I did this breakdown was to get at the following fact, which might have seemed controversial if I'd led with it, but should be obvious now. If you're writing for smart people about important things, you're writing for the young.
[2×2矩陣]
• Graham, P. The Four Quadrants of Conformism. 2020.
One of the most revealing ways to classify people is by the degree and aggressiveness of their conformism. Imagine a Cartesian coordinate system whose horizontal axis runs from conventional-minded on the left to independent-minded on the right, and whose vertical axis runs from passive at the bottom to aggressive at the top. The resulting four quadrants define four types of people. Starting in the upper left and going counter-clockwise: aggressively conventional-minded, passively conventional-minded, passively independent-minded, and aggressively independent-minded.
• 黃燦然,語言的分寸感,1999。
『這裏就有了一個微妙的差別。布羅茨基和希尼的評論採用了隱喻式寫作,與艾略特拉開了距離,其結果是:艾略特深刻而平鋪直敘,他們則深刻而刁鑽;但是,就評論作為具有獨立欣賞價值的獨立裁體而言,他們與艾略特同屬一類。另一方面,弗洛斯特和沃爾科特也是採用隱喻式寫作,也是刁鑽得無以復加,很接近布羅茨基和希尼的言說方式,但是實際上他們不屬一類。這就是嚴格意義上的詩人批評家與寫評論或寫散文的詩人之間的微妙差別。』
• 伍德,伍爾芙的神秘靈交,1999。
『在她的批評中,比喻的語言成為一種以自己的口音與小說對話的方式,唯有這種方式可以尊重小說終極的不可描述性。批評家便是用比喻來避免以成人的簡明來欺凌小說。因為這種語言是一種強大的猶豫。其強大在於伍爾夫比喻的活力和獨創,其猶豫在於它承認,在批評中純粹總結的語言是不存在的。批評永遠不能提供一個成功的總結,因為它共用批評對象的語言。你總是透過書思考,而不是做關於書的思考。』
• Graham, P. Charisma / Power. 2017.
People who are powerful but uncharismatic will tend to be disliked. Their power makes them a target for criticism that they don't have the charisma to disarm. That was Hillary Clinton's problem. It also tends to be a problem for any CEO who is more of a builder than a schmoozer. And yet the builder-type CEO is (like Hillary) probably the best person for the job.
[XY座標]
• Graham, P. General and Surprising. 2017.
The most valuable insights are both general and surprising. F = ma for example. But general and surprising is a hard combination to achieve. That territory tends to be picked clean, precisely because those insights are so valuable. Ordinarily, the best that people can do is one without the other: either surprising without being general (e.g. gossip), or general without being surprising (e.g. platitudes). Where things get interesting is the moderately valuable insights. You get those from small additions of whichever quality was missing. The more common case is a small addition of generality: a piece of gossip that's more than just gossip, because it teaches something interesting about the world. But another less common approach is to focus on the most general ideas and see if you can find something new to say about them. Because these start out so general, you only need a small delta of novelty to produce a useful insight.
--
[Williams, J. M. Lessons in Clarity and Grace.]
+清晰+-+行動
| | |角色
| | |銜接和連貫
| | +強調
| |
| +形式的清晰┌動機
| └整體連貫
|
+優雅+簡潔
|條理
+典雅
--
[汤质,高手的黑箱,bilibili课堂]
+論證:圖爾敏模型
|動機:SCQA
|連貫:何帆三招
+銜接:自我設問
--
[Bloom, A. Finding Your Comic Genius.]
+三連擊+意外:(腦) Cerebral
| |情感:(心) Emotional
| +具體:(眼) Visual
|
+細節+強調+The Seesaw Theory
| |Balloon Pops
| +Word Smuggling
|
+典雅:Nice-sounding Word
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