（十二月十一日）

You ask me. "If there is not in the life of Jesus something more note worthy than in the death of Socrates, how are we to account for the fact that the death of Jesus occupies a place so much larger in the thought of the world than the death of Socrates?" "In the thought of the world?" It may be true that in the religious thought of the world, the death of Jesus may occupy an important place. But in the philosophical thought of the world, the death of Socrates surely occupies an equally important—perhaps more important—place as the death of Jesus．The death of Jesus founded a religion; the death of Socrates founded a philosophy. This philosophy has had a tremendous influence upon the Greek and Roman world, and in the modern time upon our own world．The ideal of the modern world is no longer the Christian ideal of self-abnegation, but the Greek ideal of self-development; no longer the Christian ideal of Faith, but the Socratic ideal of Truth-Truth for which Socrates died!…

I admit that to the Christians the death of Jesus does mean a great deal more than the death of Socrates．But why? Because, it seems to me, centuries of powerful tradition have made it so… The difference is due to the traditional training of the believer. It is something purely subjective, and has no objective validity.

You say (in chap. on "he Heroism of Jesus" in "Great pictures as Moral Teachers"—by H. E. Jackson), "With Socrates it was merely the auestion of his own death. With Jesus it was the problem of sin and its forgiveness." That is not true. Socrates, Problem was not merely his own death.

Socrates died for Truth; he sought Truth and found death. He offended the respectable people by calling their conduct and morality into question, by believing that "a life unexamined is not worth living." He was persecuted in the same manner and for the same offence as Jesus was persecuted. Before his death, his friends offered to help him to escape. This he refused. By his death he gave an example to his teaching that "not life, but a good life, is to be valued;" not death, but unrighteousness and lawlessness, is to be avoided.…

Had the Greek people been as religious as the Jews, had Crito, Phaedo, and Plato been as simpleminded as the fishermen of Galilee, han the Socratic teachings emphasized a little more on the supernatural than they did,

—Socraticism would have been a religion, and Socrates would have been a God.…

I do not denv the heroism of Jesus, but I can not belittle the heroism of Socrates.

你问我“设若耶稣之死不比苏格拉底之死更引人注意，那么对于耶稣之死比苏格拉底之死在世人心中占据更重要的位置，你如何解释？”“在世人的心中？”还不如说在宗教徒的心中，耶稣之死占据了一个更重要的位置来得更确切一些。但在有哲学头脑的世人心中，苏格拉底之死与耶稣之死占有同样重要的位置——或许前者比后者更重要。耶稣之死建立了一种宗教，而苏格拉底之死建立了一种哲学。苏格拉底哲学对于希腊和罗马世界造成了巨大的影响，这种影响一直延续至今。现今世界的理想不再是耶教的克己，而是希腊人的扬我；不再是耶教的信仰，而是苏格拉底的真理，苏格拉底为之奉献生命的真理！……

我承认所有耶教徒都看重耶稣之死而不看重苏格拉底之死。为什么呢？以余观之，这是几个世纪积累起来的强大传统使之然……是信徒们的传统教育使之然。这纯粹是主观的原因，决没有半点客观的真实性。

你又说（见H．E．节克生君《伦理教师的大图像》中《耶稣的英雄主义》一章）“苏格拉底之死只是他个人的事，而耶稣之死却关系到罪与恕的问题。”这是不确实的。苏格拉底之死并不仅仅是他个人的事。苏格拉底是为真理而死。他寻找真理，却找到了死亡。他触怒了权贵，因为他说他们的行为和道德值得怀疑，因为他相信“非经反省的生活是不值过的”。他与耶稣一样因触怒权贵而死，连死法都一样。在他死前，他的友人提出要帮他逃走，却遭到拒绝。他曾说过：“赖活不足取，只有不苟活才有价值。死也不足惧，只有死于不义才可怕。”他身体力行了他的这句话……

设若希腊人像犹太人一样信教，设若克里图，菲多和柏拉图如同加利利的渔人一样头脑简单，设若苏格拉底的教义不是注重现世，而是稍稍看重一点来世的话，苏格拉底主义早就会成为一种宗教，苏格拉底也就会是上帝了……

我并不拒绝耶稣的英雄主义，但是我也无法诋毁苏格拉底的英雄主义。