| 释义 |
▪ I. indifference1|ɪnˈdɪfərəns|
Also 6 -aunce.
[f. as indifferency; see -ence. Cf. F. indifférence (1629 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
The quality of being indifferent.
†1. The making of no difference between conflicting parties; impartiality; = indifferency 1.
1533More Debell. Salem Wks. 1008/1 He is..farre fro such indifference & equitie, as ought and must be in the iudges. 1537in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 140 Trustyng in yor wysdomes and indifferaunces, and upon the fidelyte ye bere unto us. 1642Declar. Lords & Com. 7 Nov. 3 Reasonable satisfaction shall be made unto them,..according to Justice and indifference. 1699Burnet 39 Art. ix. (1700) 116 Thus I have set down the different Opinions in this point, with that true Indifference that I intend to observe on such other occasions. a1754Fielding Conversation Wks. 1784 IX. 371 The gentlemen..are to be seated with as much seeming indifference as possible, unless there be any present whose degrees claim an undoubted precedence.
2. Absence of feeling for or against; hence esp. Absence of care for or about a person or thing; want of zeal, interest, concern, or attention; unconcern, apathy. Const. to, towards.
1659Stanley Hist. Philos. xii. (1701) 471/2 Eratosthenes relates, That he..often carried to Market Birds, or..Pigs to sell, and managed his Houshold-Affairs with the like in⁓difference, insomuch as he is reported to have washed a Sow. 1711Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Wortley Montagu 26 Feb., Your indifference to me does not hinder me from thinking you capable of tenderness. 1749Fielding Tom Jones i. xi, She behaved to him before company with the highest degree of indifference. 1756Burke Subl. & B. i. ii, The human mind is often..in a state neither of pain nor pleasure, which I call a state of indifference. 1828Scott F.M. Perth vi, ‘Perhaps never, if such be my father's pleasure’, continued Conachar, with assumed indifference. 1833H. Martineau Charmed Sea i. 8 Her indifference was towards her parents, and most who crossed her daily path. 1847Grote Greece ii. xlv. (1862) IV. 56 The feeling towards Athens was rather indifference than hatred. 1848C. Brontë J. Eyre xiv, A look of complete indifference to his own external appearance.
3. a. Indetermination of the will (cf. indifferency 3), or of a body to rest or motion; neutrality.
1728Pemberton Newton's Philos. 29 All bodies have such an indifference to rest, or motion, that if once at rest they remain so [etc.]. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 66 It will tear up the main foundation whereon they build their doctrine of indifference [of the will], namely, that without it there could be no demerit, and consequently no room for punishment. 1831Lardner Hydrost. vii. 124 A solid immersed in a liquid may have several distinct positions of equilibrium, instability, and indifference. 1886W. Cuningham St. Austin iv. 128 The indifference of the human will, its perfect ability to choose this or that.
b. Psychol. indifference point [tr. G. indifferenzpunkt], a position or value between two continua of experience, such as a temperature that is experienced as neither warm nor cold, or a feeling-value that is neither pleasant nor unpleasant.
1887A. Seth Hegelianism ii. 57 Schelling proceeds to define the Absolute as the indifference-point of subject and object. 1890W. James Princ. Psychol. I. xv. 616 An ‘Indifference-point’; that is to say..a time which we tend to estimate as neither longer or shorter than it really is, and away from which, in both directions, errors increase their size. 1901Baldwin Dict. Philos. & Psychol. I. 533 Indifference point,..the theoretical point at which neither of two contrasted sense or other qualities, which are supposed to depend on the same sort of stimulation, is experienced. 1938R. S. Woodworth Exper. Psychol. xviii. 445 The ‘indifference point’, a phenomenon observed for many years in judgments of magnitude.
†4.
a. The quality of being indifferent, or neither decidedly good nor evil (cf. indifferency 6). Obs.
1690–1Tillotson Serm. (1728) I. 355 Conscience is no⁓thing else but the Judgment of a Man's own Mind concerning the Morality of his actions; that is, the Good or Evil, or Indifference of them.
b. ‘Passableness; mediocrity; as, indifference of quality’ (Webster, 1864).
5. Want of difference or distinction between things; = indifferency 7.
doctrine of indifference: the doctrine (of certain 12th c. philosophers) that universals are individuals considered in those respects in which they do not differ from other individuals of the same kind.
1656Stanley Hist. Philos. iv. (1701) 142/1 He asserted Indifference, that there is no difference of things. 1662Gunning Lent Fast 194 Each one therefore..is willing through these daies, to keep himself from indifference of meats. 1850Maurice Moral & Met. Philos. I. 558 We cannot work ourselves into his [Abelard's] passionate feelings against this doctrine of Indifference.
6. The fact of not mattering or making no difference; unimportance; esp. in phrase a matter of indifference; also, an instance of this; a thing or matter of no essential importance.
1644Milton Areop. (Arb.) 76 Those neighboring differences, or rather indifferences, are what I speak of, whether in some point of doctrine or of discipline. 1683E. Hooker Pref. Pordage's Mystic Div. 71 What are, as cunningly as commonly, called..innocent indifferences and orderli decences. 1708Stanhope Paraphr. (1709) IV. 79 The Necessity or Indifference of observing the Mosaic Rites. 1816Scott Bl. Dwarf ii, This would have been a circumstance of great indifference to the experienced sportsman. 1885Yorksh. Post 17 July 4/2 If the possession of the Zulfikar Pass is a matter of such utter indifference to the Ameer [etc.].
7. Magnetism. indifference point, point of indifference: ‘the middle zone of a magnet where the attractive powers of the two ends neutralise each other’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1886).
8. indifference curve (occas. line of indifference) Econ., a graph, the co-ordinates of which are the quantities of alternative goods and services that would leave the consumer indifferent in choosing between them because he judges them of equal value. Also indifference map (see quot. 1972).
1881F. Y. Edgeworth Math. Psychics i. 21 It is evident that X will step only on one side of a certain line, the line of indifference, as it might be called. 1894― in Economic Jrnl. IV. 426 A curve of constant advantage, or ‘indifference-curve’..representing states for which the advantage to England is no greater than if there had been no trade. 1934J. R. Hicks in Economica I. 53 If there are only two sorts of goods, this scale of preferences can be represented by a diagram of indifference curves... We can take as an ‘index’ of utility any variable which has the same value all along an indifference curve, and which increases as we proceed from one indifference curve to a higher one. Ibid. 61 Take any point P on a given indifference-map, and draw the tangent at P to the indifference-curve that passes through P. 1949Mind LVIII. 197 On a graph, the line which connects these collections is the contour line, or indifference-curve, on which all collections are iso-satisfactory. 1965Economist 7 Aug. 533/1 The analysis deals with indifference curves, contract curves, equi-product curves, and so on. 1969R. Blackburn in Cockburn & Blackburn Student Power 169 The economic assumption of profit maximization is validated by the theory that business decisions only reflect the needs (‘utility curve’ or ‘indifference curve’) of the sovereign consumer. 1971A. S. Schwier tr. Pareto's Man. Pol. Econ. iii. 119 Professor F. Y. Edgeworth..assumed the existence of utility..and deduced the indifference curves from it... I consider the indifference curves as given, and deduce from them all that is necessary for the theory of equilibrium. 1972C. Giles et al. Understanding Econ. viii. 97 An alternative analysis of consumer behaviour is known as indifference curve analysis. Ibid. 99 An indifference map represents a series of indifference curves.
▪ II. † inˈdifference2 Obs. rare.
[app. f. in-2 + difference, but perh. erroneous; see indifferent a.2]
Difference.
1502Arnolde Chron. (1811) 103 The indifferences of theis obligacions. Ibid. 105 Theis ben the indiffrence of y⊇ aquitauncis, the furst is one party of payment. The ij is of ful payment. 1589Nashe Pref. Greene's Menaphon (Arb.) 7 The hunger of our insatiate humorists..readie to swallowe all draffe without indifference. |