But to do that is,

但是一旦这么做
I recognize, not without dangers,

我认为不会没有风险
often severe dangers of its own.

而且常常是来自其本身的巨大风险
Why study just these thinkers and not others?

为什么仅仅研读这些思想家而不是其他人
Is not any so-called list of great thinkers

这种所谓的伟大思想家
or great texts likely to be simply arbitrary

或者巨作清单不会过于独断吗
and tell us more about what such a list excludes than what it includes?

告诉我们的总是未包含比自身内容多吧
Furthermore, it would seem that

更进一步来说
the study of the great books or great thinkers of the past

研究这些巨著或者以前的伟大思想家
can easily degenerate into a kind of antiquarianism,

会轻易地降格为仿古
into a sort of pedantry.

或者是卖弄学问
We find ourselves easily intimidated by a list of famous names

我们会轻易发觉自己被盛名唬住了