Many people have contended that there is a paradox of why should we tolerate intolerant ideas.

我们应该忍受无法忍受的观点 很多人都认为这种说法自相矛盾

And the answer is that we have to engage in exploration and analysis of all ideas

之所以要这样 是因为我们必须去探索和分析各种观点

if we are going to honestly and sincerely reach our own conclusion

才能真诚由衷地得出结论

as to which ideas we believe to be correct and which ideas we believe other people should adopt.

知道我们相信哪些观点是正确的 哪些观点应该被人们采纳

I go back to John Stewart Mills classic essay called On Liberty

我想说一下约翰·斯图尔特·米尔的经典文章“论自由”

in which he says here are the reasons why we should listen to even ideas that we believe to be completely wrong.

在这篇文章里 他给出了我们应该听听那些错的离谱的观点的理由

And as somebody who is advocating tolerance for freedom even for the ideas that we hate,

就像有人提倡我们要允许我们讨厌的观点自由存在一样

I would say an idea that I would hate would be an intolerant idea.

我会把我讨厌的那些观点称为无法忍受的观点

So here's the reason why I think I should listen to that idea, paraphrasing John Stewart Mills.

这就是我觉得我为什么应该听听那些想法的原因 转述约翰·斯图尔特·米尔的话

Number one, I may revise my views after I listen to that idea.

第一 听完那些想法后 我可能会修正自己的观念

And I can give you a concrete example where that actually happened

我可以给大家说一个属于这种情况的实例

thanks to the silver lining of all of the protests on campus about free speech.

多亏了校园里对言论自由抗议的那一线希望

Many students and faculty members even have asserted that

很多学生和教职工甚至认为

freedom of speech should not be such a special important value in our society;

言论自由不应该是我们社会中如此重要的一种观念

we should not tolerate freedom for ideas that they consider to be dangerous ideas.

我们不应该让他们认为很危险的想法自由存在

And quite frankly to me it had always seemed so indisputably correct

坦白说 我一直觉得我们应该保护所有观点自由存在

that we had to protect freedom for all ideas that I never really had grappled thoroughly with that contention.

这一点无可置疑 以至于我从来没有深入思考过这到底是为什么

I recently wrote a book on the subject and in the process I had to articulate to myself

最近 我就这个主题写了本书 在写书的过程中 我让自己弄明白了

why I reached that conclusion and I did so in a way that I persuaded myself,

我为什么会有那种想法 我想办法说服了自己

I hope that means I was persuasive to my audience,

希望也能说服我的读者们

and I wouldn't have had to do that,

如果我没有被迫与一种完全相反的观念争论的话

I wouldn't have enriched my own understanding of my long standing position

我就无法丰富对自己长期以来的立场的理解

had I not been forced to grapple with the exact opposite contention.

也不会被迫去做那件事（说服自己）

So, one possibility is that

所以 （听取无法忍受的想法之后）有一种可能就是

we will realize that our original ideas were wrong or at least could be improved, refined.

我们会发现自己原本的想法是错误的 或者说还可以改进 改良

And another possibility is that we will be reaffirmed in our adherence to our pre-existing ideas,

另一种可能就是 我们会更加确定和坚信我们原来的想法

but we when do so, we will understand them and appreciate them and articulate them

与此同时 我们对这些想法的理解、领悟和阐述

with much more depth and vibrancy when they are the result,

会更有深度和力量

not just of unthinking reflexive orthodoxy:

而不再只是不假思索的反射性执念：

"Oh that's what I've always believed and that's what everybody else believes"

“哦 我一直都是这么认为的呀 大家也都是这么想的”

but when we are forced to really examine them.

而是被逼着去认真审视它们

And that forced examination comes through contact and conflict with challenges and questions and opposite ideas.

这种被迫的审视就意味着会接触到挑战、质疑和相反的观点