都江堰市电视台招聘:双语对照 - 伊壁鸠鲁 341－270BC 以及他的哲学概述

      Born to a poor Athenian colonist in Samos, Epicurus was neither wealthy nor aristocratic and apparently suffered from ill health for much of his life. His philosophy represents a creative blend of the metaphysical interests of the Presocratics with the ethical concerns of Socrates. In line with Democritus, Epicurus espoused an atomistic metaphysics but combined and justified it with a brand of therapeutic hedonism, in which the anxieties of contemporary life were salved by the pursuit of pleasure without fear of divine punishment.

    伊壁鸠鲁出生于Samos的一个贫穷雅典殖民者家庭，他既不富有，也不是贵族，而且似乎体弱多病。他的哲学代表了一种苏格拉底以前的形上学兴趣与苏格拉底的道德关怀两者的创造性融合。伊壁鸠鲁在德谟克利特的脉络中，支持一种结合了治疗的享乐主义的原子论形上学，在这个理论中，当代生活的焦虑会被去除神罚恐惧的享乐追求所拯救。

      In essence, Epicurus follows Democritus’atomism but with one important modification. According to Epicurus, atoms in the void originally moved in undisturbed parallel lines. However, some atoms swerved from their course by a spontaneous act of free will. The resulting collisions giving rise to the myriad forms of things and the phenomenal world as we now know it. This important modification of atomism allowed Epicurus to proclaim mechanism but reject determinism as an explanation of human behaviour, one of the primary reasons for dissatisfaction with Democritus’ philosophy. Although he kept to the idea that the soul was itself nothing but the movement of atoms in the material body, some atoms could freely ‘swerve in the void’. This mysterious and wholly unaccounted for property allowed Epicurus to maintain a concept of human free will against the critics of earlier atomic theories.

    从本质上来说，伊壁鸠鲁遵循著德谟克利特的原子论，但有一处重要的修改。根据伊壁鸠鲁的理论，原子本来在空间中不受干扰的平行移动，但是有些原子因为其自由意志的自发动作，从它原本的轨道突然转向。由此产生的碰撞发展出无数事物的形式和我们现今所知道的现象世界。这个重要的原子论修改??使伊壁鸠鲁可以表明一种结构，而能拒绝人类行为决定论解释，这也是伊壁鸠鲁对德谟克利特哲学主要的不满之一。尽管伊壁鸠鲁保持了灵魂只是在肉体中运动的原子，有些原子可以在空间中突然转向这个观念。这个神秘而完全不可解释的性质使伊壁鸠鲁主张人类的自由意志以对抗早期原子论的批评家们。

     It is clear, however, that Epicurus’ real interest was not in speculative metaphysics but with a practical philosophy of life which required atomism only for its theoretical underpinnings. His ethical teaching consisted in the pursuit of happiness, which he conceived of as the elimination of pain, both mental and physical. Of the two, Epicurus taught, mental pain is the worse, for severe physical pain either soon abates and can be brought under control of the mind, or results in death. Death was not to be feared, since there is no afterlife and no avenging gods, the soul being, in accordance with the doctrine of atomism, merely the concatenation of atoms which will be dispersed upon bodily death. Mental anguish, on the other hand, in the form of anxiety and fears, could continue unabated and result in distraction, depression and other psychological ills.

    很明显，伊壁鸠鲁真正感兴趣的并不是纯思辨的形上学，而是人生的实践哲学，他只是需要原子论作为理论基础。他的伦理学教导人要在精神上和身体上都追求幸福，设法消除痛苦。伊壁鸠鲁教导人们，身体上的苦痛会快速的消退，而且可以被精神控制住，而精神上的痛苦就糟糕的多，两者控制的不好或许会导致死亡。死亡并不可怕，因为没有来世，没有复仇的神，灵魂的存在，按照原子论学说，仅仅是身体死亡后，原子链结的离散。精神上的痛苦，从另一方面来说，在焦虑和恐惧的形式中，会有增无减的导致精神错乱，抑郁和其他的心理疾病。

     Although thought of as a hedonist because of his emphasis on the pursuit of pleasure, it would be a mistake to think of Epicurus as condoning a promiscuous or decadent lifestyle, an accusation unjustly levelled at him by the stoic philosopher, Epictetus. On the contrary, he was aware that many of the bodily pleasures brought with them pain or had painful consequences. He himself was a man of little means and of poor health, given which it is perhaps unsurprising that central to his philosophy were both prudence and temperance. Epicurus also taught that wisdom was the greatest virtue, for through it we could learn which pleasures to seek and which to avoid. Moreover, he professed that no one could be completely happy unless they lived a virtuous life, not because virtue was good in itself, but because it led to pleasurable consequences and the absence of pain and fear.

    虽然伊壁鸠鲁因为强调追求快乐，而被认为是个享乐主义者，但是就此认为伊壁鸠鲁纵容淫乱和颓废的生活方式是错误的想法，斯多葛派哲学家埃皮克提图（Epictetus）曾经如此不公正的指责他。相反的，伊壁鸠鲁察觉到很多身体上的快乐带来了疼痛或是痛苦的后果。他本人是一个略有财产而健康状况不佳的人，或许他的哲学以审慎和节制为主就不令人吃惊了。伊壁鸠鲁还告诉我们，智慧是最大的美德，通过它我们可以学到的如何追求乐趣，并避免痛苦。此外，他声称除非人们过上了合乎道德的生活，否则没有人能完全快乐，这不是因为道德本身有益于人，而是因为它能带来快乐的结果和让人免于痛苦和恐惧。

     Like Democritus and other Presocratics before him, Epicurus rejected the idea of anthropomorphic gods who were cognisant of human affairs. Indeed, he was the first to formulate an argument that later became called ‘the problem of evil’ for those who maintain that there is an all-loving, all-knowing, all-powerful deity. Noting the many ills suffered by people in the world, Epicurus complained, ‘Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then how can there be evil?’ Even so, Epicurus was not an atheist, since he believed there were gods, but that these gods had no interest in human affairs, which would only have distracted them from their own pursuit of pleasure in contemplation.

    就像在他之前的德谟克利特和苏格拉底之前的哲学家一般，伊壁鸠鲁识到人类事务的概念而拒绝了拟人化的神的观念。的确，他是第一个系统的阐述了与博爱、全知、全能的神的争议，这被后世称为“恶的问题”。伊壁鸠鲁正是注意到在世界上人民遭受到许多痛苦，他如此控诉：〝如果上帝愿意就可以阻止邪恶，但为何不能阻止？所以他不是万能的。如果他能够阻止，但为何不愿意去阻止？所以他是恶意的。如果他既有能力又愿意去阻止邪恶？那么为何世上还有邪恶〞即便如此，伊壁鸠鲁仍然不是一个无神论者，因为他相信有神，但这些神对人类事务没有兴趣，人只会使神无法集中于追求自我沉思的乐趣。

     Epicurus’ philosophy represents a curious mix of opposing ideas. He is at once a hedonist who preaches prudence and temperance, a theist who rejects divine intervention and the survival of the soul, and an atomist who upholds both mechanism and free will. His followers became known as the Epicureans, the most famous of whom was Lucretius. Epicurean philosophy enjoyed almost six hundred years of popularity, remaining faithful to the teachings of its founder throughout, before being eclipsed by the Roman interest in Stoicism.

    伊壁鸠鲁哲学代表了一种对立观念的奇特混合。他就如同一个享乐主义者鼓吹审慎和节制，一个有神论者拒绝神的干预和灵魂的生存，以及一个原子论者坚持机制和自由意志。他的追随者成为知名的伊壁鸠鲁派，最著名的是卢克莱修（Lucretius）。伊壁鸠鲁派哲学大约流行了600年，忠于其说者遍及各地，最后在罗马人感兴趣的斯多葛派之前黯然失色。