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《西方哲学史》是一部在全球知识界影响巨大的学术名作。自20世纪60年代初期介绍到我国后,在知识分子中产生了普遍影响,不少人都曾焚香静读。将其视为案头的必备哲学读本。其叙述年代从希腊文明的兴起一直到现代的逻辑分析哲学。在这部哲学史中,罗素特别对他认为对西方哲学的发展有着重要影响的历史事件和人物辟专章作了较详细的论述。

作者(Bertrand Russell)简介:

罗素(1872—1970),当今时代理性主义和人道主义的代言人,是西方思想解放与言论自由的见证人。二十世纪最有影响的哲学家、数学家、逻辑学家之一,分析哲学创始人,同时也是活跃的政治活动家,并致力于哲学的大众化、普及化。作为哲学家,罗素的主要贡献在于数理逻辑方面,是逻辑原子论和新实在论的主要创始人之一。以此为基础的现代分析哲学在西方近代哲学史上具有重要的地位。罗素出身于英国一个贵族家庭,是罗素伯爵的第三代继承人,其祖父曾两次出任英国首相。1945年,罗素在美国出版了《西方哲学史》一书,该书不但为罗素带来了丰厚的收入,还是罗素获得1950年诺贝尔文学奖的重要原因之一。其代表作有《西方哲学史》、《神秘主义与逻辑》、《怀疑论》、《婚姻与道德》等。

Book One - ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY - [Part I. The Pre-Socratics]

[CHAPTER IV]Heraclitus

№.1 - Heraclitus, though an Ionian, was not in the scientific tradition of the Milesians. He was a mystic, but of a peculiar kind. He regarded fire as the fundamental substance; everything, like flame in a fire, is born by the death of something else. "Mortals are immortals, and immortals are mortals, the one living the other's death and dying the other's life." There is unity in the world, but it is a unity formed by the combination of opposites. "All things come out of the one, and the one out of all things"; but the many have less reality than the one, which is God.

【译文】赫拉克利特虽然是伊奥尼亚人,但并不属于米利都学派的科学传统。他是一个神秘主义者,然而却属于一种特殊的神秘主义。他认为火是根本的实质;万物都象火焰一样,是由别种东西的死亡而诞生的。“一切死的就是不死的,一切不死的是有死的:后者死则前者生,前者死则后者生”。世界是统一的,但它是一种由对立面的结合而形成的统一。“一切产生于一,而一产生于一切”;然而多所具有的实在性远不如一,一就是神。

【小编评注】赫拉克利特(Ἡράκλειτος,前540年-前480年),古希腊哲学家、爱非斯派的创始人。生于以弗所一个贵族家庭,相传生性犹豫,被称为“哭的哲学人”。他的文章只留下片段,爱用隐喻、悖论,致使后世的解释纷纭。

【短语笔记】regard as - 把…认作

【例】Here I advanced a criterion which I regard as the only valid one. (我在这里提出了一个标准,我认为是唯一的标准。)

№.2 - As might be expected, Heraclitus believes in war. "War," he says, "is the father of all and the king of all; and some he has made gods and some men, some bond and some free." Again: "Homer was wrong in saying: 'Would that strife might perish from among gods and men!' He did not see that he was praying for the destruction of the universe; for, if his prayer were heard, all things would pass away." And yet again: "We must know that war is common to all and strife is justice, and that all things come into being and pass away through strife."

【译文】我们可以料想得到,赫拉克利特是信仰战争的。他说:“战争是万物之父,也是万物之王。它使一些人成为神,使一些人成为人,使一些人成为奴隶,使一些人成为自由人。”又说:“荷马说‘但愿诸神和人把斗争消灭掉’,这种说法是错误的。他不知道这样就是在祈祷宇宙的毁灭了;因为若是听从了他的祈祷,那末万物便都会消灭了。”又说:“应当知道战争对一切都是共同的,斗争就是正义,一切都是通过斗争而产生和消灭的。”

【小编评注】公元前六到五世纪,古希腊唯物主义哲学家赫拉克利特则把人们区分为自由人和奴隶,并且认为这种区分的根源在于战争。

【短语笔记】believe in - 信仰;信任

【举一反三】trust in - 信任;依靠;存放

【例】

(1)Any person who is really profoundly humane can't believe in everlasting punishment. (真正非常慈悲的人决不会相信永远的惩罚。)

(2)Russia 's wheat export ban accelerates the risk of a price spike and again undermines the trust in food trade . (俄罗斯的小麦出口禁令加大了价格飙升的风险,并再次破坏了对粮食贸易的信任。)

№.3 - His ethic is a kind of proud asceticism, very similar to Nietzsche's. He regards the soul as a mixture of fire and water, the fire being noble and the water ignoble. The soul that has most fire he calls "dry." "The dry soul is the wisest and best."

【译文】他的伦理乃是一种高傲的苦行主义,非常类似于尼采的伦理。他认为灵魂是火和水的混合物,火是高贵的而水是卑贱的。灵魂中具有的火最多,他称灵魂是“干燥的”。“干燥的灵魂是最智慧的最优秀的。”

【小编评注】继毕达哥拉斯之后,赫拉克利特对灵魂概念也作了解释。从仅存的著作残篇看,赫拉克利特涉及到灵魂问题的论述并不多,但也不难看出,他在批判地吸取泰勒斯和毕达哥拉斯灵魂观点的基础上,循着从物质及其运动出发然后引出认识论意义的途径,对灵魂概念作了新的规定。

【短语笔记】be similar to - 与…相似

【举一反三】have … in common - 与…有共同之处

【例】

(1)Most banks' tests were based on historical crises , but this assumes that the future be similar to the past.( 大多数银行测验都是依据历史上出现过的危机,但是这种假设是将来的情况会与过去的相同。)

(2)What these companies also have in common are unglamorous surroundings.(这些面包店的共同点是周边环境很单调。)

№.4 - The doctrine of the perpetual flux, as taught by Heraclitus, is painful, and science, as we have seen, can do nothing to refute it. One of the main ambitions of philosophers has been to revive hopes that science seemed to have killed. Philosophers, accordingly, have sought, with great persistence, for something not subject to the empire of Time. This search begins with Parmenides.

【译文】象赫拉克利特所教导的那种永恒流变的学说是会令人痛苦的,而正如我们所已经看到的,科学对于否定这种学说却无能为力。哲学家们的主要雄心之一,就是想把那些似乎已被科学扼杀了的希望重新复活起来。因而哲学家便以极大的毅力不断在追求着某种不属于时间领域的东西。这种追求是从巴门尼德开始的。

【小编评注】承认理性灵魂不死并非毕达哥拉斯个人的杜撰,赫拉克利特也同样承认。这是因为赫拉克利特也同样没有清楚地意识到物质和精神的区别,也同样把精神的东西想象为物质性的东西,于是在解决物质和精神的关系问题时,亦即从认识论方面探讨灵魂问题时,也同样得出了理性灵魂不死的论断。只是我们必须注意到,赫拉克利特是在强调了感性认识,肯定了人具有认识客观自然界的能力,并在考察了人的整个认识过程的基础上谈论理性灵魂不死的,这比起毕达哥拉斯来,已经大大地前进了。

【短语笔记】accordingly - 因此,于是;相应地;照著

【举一反三】同义词组:therefore - 因此;所以

consequently - 因此;结果;所以

hence - 因此;今后

thus - 因此;从而;这样;如此

【例】

(1)Accordingly , it was no surprise that sterling and the gilt market recently wobbled , especially in the wake of opinion polls pointing to the possibility of a hung parliament.(因此,英镑与英国国债市场最近的波动一点也不令人吃惊,尤其是在民调表明可能出现无多数党的议会之后。)

(2)Both sexes , therefore , have reason to show off.(因此,两性都有理由炫耀自己的魅力。)

(3)Consequently , organizations will be able to derive value by enabling human minds to cooperate in the coordination or operation of elements of production.(因此,机构或组织通过开启人类的思维,在生产的基础上协调或操作上进行合作,将会能够得到价值的体现。)

(4)Electric forces can move the ion strings without disturbing their internal states , hence preserving the data they carry. (电力可以移动离子链,而不会扰动其内部的状态,因此可以保全携带的资料。)

(5)Thus , we challenge the world to create the future with our customers.(因而,我们向世界提出挑战,要与顾客携手同创未来。)

本文由沪友 落落 独家提供,原文译文摘自《西方哲学史》[商务印书馆,1977-6],转载请注明出处。