"philosophy." Britannica Student Library “哲学” 大英百科学生文章

philosophy 哲学

Britannica Student Article 大英百科学生文章

"philosophy." Britannica Student Library from Encyclopædia Britannica 2007 Ultimate Reference Suite . (2006).

Introduction 介绍

There was a time when many of the subjects now taught in school were all part of a very broad area called philosophy. Physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, sociology, government, psychology, mathematics, logic, ethics, music, and more were all considered proper subjects for attention by philosophers. As recently as the early 19th century, natural philosopher was a term for a student of any of the sciences. Specialists in ethics were called moral philosophers. As late as the 1850s it was common to hear Bunsen burners and other laboratory tools called philosophical instruments.

曾有一个时期，学校中教授的许多学科都是一个非常宽泛领域的一部 分，这一领域就被称之为哲学。物理学，化学，生物学，天文学，社会学，政治学，心理学，数学，逻辑学，伦理学，音乐以及更多的其它学科，都被当作是哲学家 们应当给予关心的。正如十九世纪早期，“自然哲学家”是指那些研究各种科学的学者。伦理学方面的专家则被称为“道德哲学家”。就像我们在十九世纪五十年代 晚期听闻的那样，本生灯（即煤气灯）和其它实验室工具也常被称为“哲学的工具”。

The word philosophy itself is from Greek words meaning “love of wisdom.” But it really means serious thought about the most basic questions that human beings can ponder—questions such as: What is the true nature of the universe? What is human nature really like, and what are a human being's moral responsibilities? Of what is matter composed? What are the qualities of truth, goodness, and beauty?

哲学一词本身是源于希腊文，意为“爱好智慧”。但是其真正意味着的是关于人类思考的那些最根本问题的严肃思想，例如：宇宙的本质是什么？人类的本性究竟是怎样，以及什么才是人类道德的责任？事物由什么组成？什么才是正直，善良，和美的本质？

Divisions of Philosophy 哲学的分类

It is true that many subjects that once belonged to philosophy—such as physics, chemistry, and psychology—have broken off to become independent disciplines. This has not, however, left philosophy with no material with which to work. There are certain basic issues that have belonged to philosophy from the beginning and that are still its major concerns. These include the nature of the universe, the possibility of knowledge, the correct use of reason, the standards of justice, and the qualities of beauty. These problems are the subject matter of the five branches of philosophy—metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics, and aesthetics.

的确很多曾被纳入哲学的科目，例如，物理学，化学和心理学，已经脱离出来成为独立的学科。但是毕竟，这并非没有给 哲学留下可供研究的对象。那些从最初就被归为哲学范畴的基本问题，仍然是它所主要关心的。其中包括，宇宙的本质，知识的潜力，理性的正确运用，判断的标准 以及美的本质等等。这些问题是五个哲学分支的主要课题，它们是行而上学（玄学），认知论，逻辑学，伦理学和美学。

Metaphysics 行而上学（玄学）

The name of the branch of philosophy known as metaphysics was coined almost accidentally. Metaphysics, a Greek word meaning “what comes after physics,” was the title given to a book written by Aristotle after he had completed his book Physics. Whereas Physics deals with the observable world and its laws, Metaphysics is concerned with the principles, structures, and meanings that underlie all observable reality. It is the investigation, by means of pure speculation, of the nature of being—of the cause, substance, and purpose of everything. Metaphysics asks: What are space and time? What is a thing and how does it differ from an idea? Are humans free to decide their fate? Is there a first cause, or God, that has made everything and put it in motion?

被称为“行而上学”的这一哲学分支，其名称的得来几乎是偶然的。“行而上学”，希腊语中代表“跟在物理后面的东西”，这是亚里士多德在他完成了《物理》一书 之后撰写的另一本书的标题。鉴于物理涉及的是可以被观察的世界及其规律，行而上学关心的则是所有这些可观察实体之下的原理，结构和意义。它是通过纯粹思考 对存在本质的研究，探寻万物的原因，实质和目的的所在。行而上学究诘：什么是空间和时间？什么是实体以及它如何有别于思想？人类是否可以自由的决定其命 运？是否存在一个最初的原因，或是上帝，创造了万物并将它推动？

Because the answers to such questions cannot be arrived at by observation, experience, or experiment, they must be products of the reasoning mind. Such matters are very close, in fact, to the province of religion and in Asia the answers to these questions are normally put in a strictly religious framework. In much 20th-century Western philosophy, metaphysics has been dismissed as pointless speculation that can never achieve positive results. Nevertheless, metaphysics has many defenders who still explore notions put forward by Plato and Aristotle.

因为这些问题的答案不能通过观察、经验或是试 验而得到，所以它们必须通过理性来思考。这样的问题，事实上，对于宗教领域以及在亚洲，这些问题的答案通常被归入严格的宗教体系中。在许多二十世纪的西方 哲学中，行而上学被当作是不能产生积极结果的无用思考而被抛弃。但是，仍然有众多行而上学的拥护者，他们探索着那些由柏拉图和亚里士多德提出的观点。

Epistemology 认知论

Theories concerning the nature, origin, and extent of human knowledge make up the area of philosophy called epistemology. The word epistemology is derived from the Greek episteme, meaning “knowledge,” and logos, which has several meanings, including “theory.” Whereas metaphysics is concerned with the underlying nature of reality, epistemology deals with the possibilities and limits of human knowledge. Basically it tries to arrive at a knowledge of knowledge itself. It is also a speculative branch of philosophy and tries to answer such questions as: Is the world as people perceive it the basic reality, or do people perceive only appearances (or phenomena) that conceal basic reality? What are the boundaries between reason and knowledge, on the one hand, and what some thinkers call the illusions deriving from metaphysics? What is the basis for knowledge? Is it observation, experience, intuition, or inspiration? Or is there some other basis?

关于自然，起源和 人类知识的理论组成了被称之为认知论的哲学领域。“认知论”一词源自希腊文中的 "episteme"（意为“知识”）和一些教学语言，有数种含义，其中含“理论”之意。鉴于形而上学是关于实体底层本质的学科，认知论涉及的是人类知识 的能力与其局限。基本上，它力图得到的是有关“知识本身”的知识。它也是哲学的一个思想分支，并试图回答如此这般的问题：人类认识到的是世界的本质，还是 人类可以认知的仅仅是其隐藏着本质的表象（或是现象）？哪里是理性与知识的界限，另一方面，为什么有些思想家声称幻象是源于行而上学之中？什么才是知识的 基石？是观察力？经验？直觉？是神的感召？抑或是什么别的东西？

Knowledge may be regarded as having two parts. There is, first of all, what one sees, hears, touches, tastes, and smells. Next there is the way these perceptions are organized by the mind to form ideas or concepts. The problem of epistemology is based on how philosophers have understood the relationship of the mind to the rest of reality.

知识被认为有两部分。首先，是那些我们看到的，听到的，触摸到的，尝到的和嗅到的东西。然后，这些知觉被意识组织成正式的观点或概念。认知论的问题基于的是哲学家们所理解的意识同其余实体之间的那种关系。

For the average person, common sense says that there is a real world of perceivable objects. These objects can be analyzed and understood with a high degree of accuracy. Philosophers have not been able to let the matter rest there.

对于一般人，普遍认为这是一个可以感知客体的真实世界。这些客体可以被极其精确的分析和理解。但哲学家却不能让问题就此为止。

Plato taught that the real world consisted of universal ideas. The world that people actually see is given form by these ideas and is thus less real because it is always changing, but the ideas are eternal and unchangeable. (See also Plato.)

柏拉图曾教导道，真实世界由普遍的观念组成。人们实际上看到的这个世界就是来源于这些观念，因为总在变化，所以这个世界显得不那么真实，但是这些概念是永恒的并且不会改变的。（参见柏拉图）

Opponents of Plato have claimed that the ideas were nothing more than names people have attached to the objects they perceive. Names of individual objects and of classes of objects are merely ways of organizing perceptions into knowledge. Thus people see one animal they decide to call “cat.” All similar animals are called “cats,” and a whole category of animals is thereby named without any reference to eternal ideas or forms.

柏拉图的反对者声称，观念仅仅是人们赋予他们所观察到的事物的名称而已。事物各自的名称和有关事物的分类不过是将感知组织成 知识的方法。因此，人们看见一只动物，他们决定称它为“猫”。所有相似的动物就都被称为“猫”，包括整个这一类的动物也被冠以此名，并没有参照什么永恒的 观念或本质。

Some 18th-century British philosophers, the empiricists, made a sharp division between the mind and everything else. The most radical of these teachers, David Hume, carried this division to its logical conclusion and declared that it was impossible to prove the existence of a real world. Everything known, he said, depends on perception, but perception can never get any evidence outside itself to verify anything. Real knowledge, in his eyes, became completely impossible to achieve. (See also Hume, David.)

十八世纪英国的一些哲学家，经验主义 者，在精神同其他事物关系的问题上，产生了巨大的分歧。David Hume（戴维·休姆），这些导师中最激进的一分子，将这种分歧延伸为一种合理的结论并声称，证明现实世界的存在是件不可能的事。他说，任何知识都是基于 感知，但是感知不可能从自身之外得到证据来证明任何事情。在他的眼中，真正的知识变成了完全不可能得到的东西。（参见戴维·休姆）

Immanuel Kant met the challenge posed by Hume by saying there was a real world. Its underlying nature cannot be known—only the appearances of everything (which he called phenomena) can be perceived. Humans, however, impose a form of reality on the world by the way they organize their thoughts about it. They thus impose an order on their world through categories created by the mind. (See also Kant, Immanuel.)

伊曼纽尔·康德在由休姆提出的“真实世界”这一观点上遇到了挑战。自然的本质，除了那些能够被感知的外表（他称之为现象）之外是不能被认识的。休姆毕竟利用 一个他们组织他们在的这方面的观点……[？]他们通过类别概念这一精神产物将他们的世界赋予秩序。（参见伊曼纽尔·康德）

From Plato to Kant and beyond, these are some of the ways that the complex issue of epistemology has been addressed. When the conclusions of nuclear physicists are taken into account—especially their studies on atomic particles—the problem of the reality of the material world and how much can be known about it is confronted with new challenges.

从柏拉图到康德，以及之后，提出了认知论的一些复杂问题[？]当核子物理的结论被重视的时候，尤其是在原子粒子方面的研究，物质世界的真实性以及究竟多少能够被认知的问题面临了新的挑战。

Ethics 伦理学

The branch of philosophy known as ethics is concerned with human behavior, morality, and responsibilities of people to each other and to society. Because ethics plays such a large part in the way people live, it has always been a subject of great interest. Some thinkers have asserted that there are definite, knowable standards for human behavior. Others deny this and say that decisions should be based mostly on the situation in which one finds oneself. They are relativists—they say ethical decisions are related to specific circumstances. (See also ethics and morality.)

哲学的伦理学这一分支是和人类行为，道德，个人对他人及社会的责任密切相关的。正因为伦理学在人们的生活方式中扮演了如此重要的一个角色，所以它总是格外引人关注的课题。有些思想家认为，对于人类的行为存在明确的，可知的标准。另一些则并不赞同，他们认为对这一标准的判断应当基于⋯⋯（？）⋯⋯

This branch of philosophy is very close to religion. A large part of the Bible, for instance, is made up of wisdom literature, which is chiefly practical philosophy with a religious foundation. On the basis of ethics, Aristotle developed his Politics. He moved from explaining how individuals could have a good life to how a good society should be built.

这一哲学分支非常近似宗教。例如，圣经中很多由箴言组成的篇章都主要是以宗教为基础的实践哲学。在伦理学的基础之上，亚里士多德发展了他的政治学。他由说明个人如何拥有美好生活转而阐述应该建立怎样一个理想社会。

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上文皆本人译自《大英百科》，才疏学浅，愧遗错陋，望指正，不胜感激。
accason@gmail.com December, 2006