| 释义 |
tough-ˈminded, a.
In the philosophy of William James: marked by a purely empirical, sceptical, non-metaphysical approach to questions; opp. tender-minded a. Hence more widely: free from excessive sensitivity, realistic, unsqueamish, etc. Also absol.
1907W. James Pragmatism i. 12 You will..recognize the two types of mental make-up that I mean if I head the columns..The Tender-Minded. Rationalistic (going by ‘principles’), Intellectualistic, Idealistic, Optimistic, Religious, Free-willist, Monistic, Dogmatical. The Tough-Minded. Empiricist (going by ‘facts’), Sensationalistic, Materialistic, Pessimistic, Irreligious, Fatalistic, Pluralistic, Sceptical. 1927J. S. Huxley Relig. without Revelation iv. 116 Youth wakes to the fact of social inequality, and, if not one of the tough-minded, to remorseful distress of its own privileged position. 1945Auden Coll. Poetry 123 Tough-minded men get mushy in their sleep. 1952C. P. Blacker Eugenics 240 The scientist, or at least the scientist's camp-followers, may become tough-minded and contemptuous: the word ‘mysticism’ expresses what they most passionately abjure. 1960Guardian 17 Dec. 6/2 The tough-minded and unromantic pragmatism of the new President. 1974Sci. Amer. Jan. 113/2 Tough-minded skeptics. 1980F. K. Prochaska Women & Philanthropy in Nineteenth Cent. Eng. vi. 191 Reclaiming prostitutes was a daunting prospect for charitable women however tough-minded.
Hence tough-ˈmindedness.
1907W. James Pragmatism vii. 267 One misunderstanding of pragmatism is to identify it with positivistic tough-mindedness. 1936Mind XLV. 218 The sort of tough-mindedness which, on principle, excludes ethical, aesthetic and religious considerations from metaphysical thinking, is wilfully blind. 1961Guardian 3 Apr. 12/7 The first fruits of tough-mindedness [in U.S. policy in Laos] are..encouraging. 1975Nature 10 Apr. 470/2 In addition to being careful in this way, we have also to be sensitive and observant, and not to react with a preconceived pattern of tough-mindedness. |