哲学 - 尼采：英语精读讲义

The challenge begins with how to pronounce his name. 語法

挑战首先在于如何发音他的名字。

The first bit should sound like knee,

第一部分应该听起来像 knee，

the second like cha. KNEE-CHA.

第二部分像 cha。KNEE-CHA（尼-采）。

Then we need to get past some of his extraordinary and provocative statements. 短語動詞

接下来我们需要越过他那些非凡而又挑衅的言论。

What doesn't kill me makes me stronger. 語法

“杀不死我的，只会让我更强大。”

God is dead and we have killed him.

“上帝已死，是我们杀了他。”

And his large mustache.

还有他那大胡子。

But when we do, 語法

但当我们做到这些时，

we'll discover a thinker who's intermittently enchanting,

我们会发现这位思想家时而迷人，

wise,

充满智慧，

and very helpful.

且非常有帮助。

Friedrich Nietzsche was born in 1844 in a quiet village in the eastern part of Germany,

弗里德里希·尼采（Friedrich Nietzsche）于1844年出生在德国东部的一个宁静村庄，

where his father was the priest.

他的父亲是那里的牧师。

He did exceptionally well at school and university

他在中学和大学的表现极其出色，

and so excelled at ancient Greek that he was made a professor at the University of Basel

古希腊语尤为出众，以至于被聘为巴塞尔大学的教授，

when still only in his mid-20s. 短語搭配

当时他才20多岁出头。

But his official career didn't work out. 短語動詞

但他的正式职业生涯并不顺利。

He got fed up with his fellow academics, 習語

他受够了那些学者同行，

gave up his job,

辞去了工作，

and moved to Sils Maria in the Swiss Alps,

搬到了瑞士阿尔卑斯山的锡尔斯玛利亚，

where he lived quietly,

在那里他过着平静的生活，

working on his masterpieces,

致力于他的杰作，

among them,

其中包括，

The Birth of Tragedy,

《悲剧的诞生》，

Human All Too Human,

《人性的，太人性的》，

The Gay Science,

《快乐的科学》，

Thus Spoke Zarathustra,

《查拉图斯特拉如是说》，

Beyond Good and Evil,

《善恶的彼岸》，

on The Genealogy of Morals.

以及《道德的谱系》。

He had lots of problems.

他遇到了很多问题。

He didn't get on with his family. 短語動詞

他和家人合不来。

I don't like my mother and it's painful even for me to hear my sister's voice.

“我不喜欢我的母亲，甚至听到我妹妹的声音对我来说也是一种折磨。”

Women kept rejecting him.

女人们不断地拒绝他。

His books didn't sell,

他的书卖不出去，

and when he was only 44,

就在他仅仅44岁时，

he had a mental breakdown,

他精神崩溃了，

precipitated when he saw a horse in a Turin street being beaten by its driver,

起因是他在都灵街头看到一匹马正被马车夫毒打，

and ran over to embrace him shouting,

于是跑过去抱住它，大喊道：

"I understand you."

“我懂你。”

He never recovered and died 11 sad years later.

他再也没有康复，11个悲惨的年头后去世了。

But his philosophy was full of heroism and grandeur.

但他的哲学充满着英雄主义与宏大。

He was a prophet of what he called Selbstüberwindung, 文化背景

他是所谓“Selbstüberwindung”的先知，

or self-overcoming,

也就是“自我超越”，

the process by which a great-souled person,

指的是一个灵魂高尚的人，

what he called an Übermensch, 文化背景

即他口中的“超人”（Übermensch），

rises above their circumstances and difficulties to embrace whatever life throws at them. 講解

超越自身的处境和困难，去拥抱生活带来的一切。

He wanted his work to teach us,

他希望他的作品能教导我们，

as he put it, 短語搭配

正如他所说，

how to become who we really are. 語法

“如何成为我们真正的自己”。

His thought centers around four main recommendations.

他的思想围绕四个主要建议展开。

One, own up to envy. 短語動詞

第一，正视嫉妒。

Envy is, Nietzsche recognized,

尼采认识到，嫉妒，

a big part of life.

是生活的重要组成部分。

Yet the lingering effects of Christianity generally teach us to feel ashamed of our envious feelings.

然而基督教残存的影响通常教导我们对嫉妒感到羞耻。

They seem an indication of evil,

它们似乎是邪恶的象征，

so we hide them from ourselves and others.

所以我们对自己和他人隐藏这种情感。

Yet there's nothing wrong with envy,

然而嫉妒本身并没有错，

maintained Nietzsche,

尼采坚信，

so long as we use it as a guide to what we really want. 語法

只要我们把它作为通向我们真正渴望之物的指南。

Every person who makes us envious

每一个让我们产生嫉妒的人

should be seen as an indication of what we could one day become. 短語搭配

都应被视为我们某天可能成为怎样的人的启示。

The envy-inducing writer, tycoon, or chef

那个让你嫉妒的作家、大亨或厨师，

is hinting at who you are capable of one day being.

正在暗示你未来有能力成为谁。

It's not that Nietzsche believed we always end up getting what we want. 語法

这并不是说尼采相信我们总能得到自己想要的。

His own life had taught him this well enough.

他自己的人生已充分教会了他这一点。

He simply insisted that we must face up to our true desires, 短語動詞

他只是坚持我们必须直面自己真实的欲望，

put up a heroic fight to honor them, 短語搭配

为尊重它们而进行英勇的奋斗，

and only then mourn failure with solemn dignity.

只有在那之后才以庄严的尊严去哀悼失败。

That is what it means to be an Übermensch.

这就是成为“超人”的意义。

Two, don't be a Christian.

第二，不要做基督徒。

Nietzsche had some extreme things to say about Christianity.

尼采对基督教有一些极端的言论。

In the entire New Testament,

在整部新约全书中，

he wrote,

他写道，

"There is only one person worth respecting, 語法

“只有一个值得尊敬的人，

Pilate, the Roman governor."

罗马总督彼拉多。”

It was knockabout stuff, 用詞

这些话虽然有些戏谑，

but his true target was more subtle and more interesting.

但他真正的目标更为微妙也更有趣。

He resented Christianity for protecting people from their envy.

他憎恨基督教保护人们免受嫉妒之苦。

Christianity had,

基督教，

in Nietzsche's account,

按照尼采的说法，

emerged in the late Roman Empire,

诞生于罗马帝国晚期，

in the minds of timid slaves

产生于胆怯的奴隶的脑海中，

who lacked the stomach to get hold of what they really wanted, 習語

他们没有勇气去夺取自己真正想要的东西，

and so had clung to a philosophy that made a virtue of their cowardice. 講解

因此依附于一种将他们的懦弱美化为美德的哲学。

He called this Sklavenmoral.

他称之为 Sklavenmoral（奴隶道德）。

Christians, whom he rather rudely termed die Herde,

基督徒，他颇为粗鲁地称之为 die Herde，

the herd,

即“羊群”，

had wished to enjoy the real ingredients of fulfillment,

本也希望能享受带来满足感的真实要素，

a position in the world,

比如社会地位、

sex, intellectual mastery, creativity,

性、智力上的掌控和创造力，

but they'd been too inept to get them.

但他们太无能，无法得到这些。

They'd therefore fashioned a hypocritical creed denouncing what they wanted but were too weak to fight for,

因此他们炮制出一种虚伪的信条，谴责他们渴望却无力争取的东西，

while praising what they didn't want but happened to have. 語法

同时赞美他们本不想要却碰巧拥有的东西。

So, in the Christian value system,

于是，在基督教的价值体系中，

sexlessness turned into purity,

无性变成了纯洁，

weakness became goodness,

软弱变成了善良，

submission to people one hates became obedience,

屈从于自己憎恨的人变成了顺从，

and, in Nietzsche's phrase,

用尼采的话来说，

not being able to take revenge turned into forgiveness. 語法

无力报复变成了宽恕。

Christianity amounted to a giant machine for bitter denial. 短語動詞

基督教等同于一台制造痛苦否认的巨大机器。

Three, never drink alcohol.

第三，绝不饮酒。

Nietzsche himself drank only water and as a special treat,

尼采本人只喝水，有时作为特别款待，

milk.

喝牛奶。

And he thought we should do likewise. 短語搭配

他认为我们也该如此。

He wasn't making a small eccentric dietary point.

他并不是在提出一种古怪的饮食小建议。

The idea went to the heart of his philosophy 習語

这一理念触及了他哲学的核心，

as contained in his declaration,

正如他在宣言中所言，

"There have been two great narcotics in European civilization, 習語

“欧洲文明中有两大麻醉剂，

Christianity and alcohol."

基督教和酒精。”

He hated alcohol for the very same reasons that he scorned Christianity,

他憎恨酒精的原因与他蔑视基督教的原因如出一辙，

because both numb pain.

因为两者都能麻痹痛苦。

Both reassure us that things are just fine as they are,

两者都安慰我们现状一切安好，

sapping us of the will to change our lives for the better.

耗尽我们为改善生活而改变的意志。

A few drinks usher in a transient feeling of satisfaction 短語動詞

几杯酒会带来短暂的满足感，

that can get fatally in the way of taking the steps necessary to improve our lives. 習語

这会致命地阻碍我们采取改善生活所必需的行动。

Nietzsche was obsessed with the awkward truth

尼采执迷于一个令人不安的真相，

that getting really valuable things done hurts. 短語搭配

那就是完成真正有价值的事情是痛苦的。

"How little you know of human happiness,

“关于人类的幸福，你们知道得多么少啊，

you comfortable people," he wrote.

你们这些贪图安逸的人，”他写道。

The secret of a fulfilled life is

充满意义的生活的秘诀是

"Live dangerously.

“生活在危险之中。

Build your cities on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius." 習語

把你们的城市建在维苏威火山的山坡上。”

Four, God is dead.

第四，上帝已死。

Nietzsche's dramatic assertion that God is dead is not,

尼采关于上帝已死的戏剧性论断并不是，

as it's often taken to be, 語法

像人们通常认为的那样，

some kind of a celebratory statement.

是某种庆祝性的声明。

Despite his reservations about Christianity,

尽管他对基督教持保留态度，

Nietzsche didn't think that the end of belief was anything to cheer about.

尼采并不认为信仰的终结有什么值得欢呼的。

Religious beliefs were false,

宗教信仰是虚假的，

he knew,

他心里清楚，

but he observed that they were very,

但他也观察到它们非常、

very beneficial in the sense of helping us cope with the problems of life. 表達脈絡

非常有益，能帮助我们应对生活中的问题。

Nietzsche felt that the gap left by religion 習語

尼采认为，宗教留下的空白

should ideally be filled by culture.

理想情况下应该由文化来填补。

He meant philosophy,

他指的是哲学、

art, music, literature.

艺术、音乐和文学。

Culture should replace scripture.

文化应该取代经文。

However,

然而，

Nietzsche was deeply suspicious of the way his own era was handling culture.

尼采对他自己所处时代对待文化的方式深感怀疑。

He believed the universities were killing the humanities,

他认为大学正在扼杀人文学科，

turning them into dry academic exercises

将它们变成枯燥的学术练习，

rather than using them for what they were always meant to be, 語法

而不是将其用于它们本来应有作用——

guides to life.

即生活的指南。

He admired the way the Greeks had used tragic drama

他赞赏古希腊人运用悲剧的方式，

in a practical,

以一种实用的、

therapeutic way,

具治疗效果的方式，

as an occasion for catharsis and moral education, 文化背景

作为宣泄情绪和道德教育的契机，

and wished his own age to be comparably ambitious.

并希望他自己的时代也能具有类似的雄心。

He called for a reformation

他呼吁进行一场改革，

in which people,

在此过程中，

newly conscious of the crisis brought on by the end of faith, 短語動詞

新近意识到由信仰终结引发危机的人们，

would fill the gaps created by the disappearance of religion 習語

会用哲学和艺术，

with philosophy and art.

去填补因宗教消失而产生的空白。

Every era faces particular psychological challenges,

每个时代都面临着特定的心理挑战，

thought Nietzsche,

尼采认为，

and it's the task of the philosopher 語法

哲学家的任务

to identify and help solve these.

就是找出并帮助解决这些挑战。

For Nietzsche,

对尼采来说，

the 19th century was reeling under the impact of two developments, 習語

19世纪正处于两大发展趋势的冲击之下，

mass democracy and atheism.

大众民主和无神论。

The first threatened to unleash torrents of undigested envy, 習語

前者有释放出大量未消化的嫉妒情绪的危险，

the second to leave humans without guidance or morality. 語法

后者则让人们失去了指引或道德准则。

In relation to both challenges,

在应对这两大挑战时，

Nietzsche remains our endearing,

尼采仍然是我们那个讨人喜欢、

fascinating,

充满魅力、

often lovable,

常常惹人怜爱，

and mustachioed guide.

且留着标志性大胡子的向导。