哲學 - 尼采：英語精讀講義

The challenge begins with how to pronounce his name. 文法

挑戰首先在於如何發音他的名字。

The first bit should sound like knee,

第一部分聽起來應該像 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. 片語動詞

接著我們需要跨越他那些非凡而又具挑釁性的言論。

What doesn't kill me makes me stronger. 文法

「殺不死我的，只會讓我更強大。」

God is dead and we have killed him.

「上帝已死，是我們殺了祂。」

And his large mustache.

還有他那大鬍子。

But when we do, 文法

但當我們做到這些時，

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

我們會發現這位思想家時而迷人，

wise,

充滿智慧，

and very helpful.

且非常有幫助。

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）於1844年出生在德國東部的一個寧靜村莊，

where his father was the priest.

他的父親是當地的牧師。

He did exceptionally well at school and university

他在學校和大學的表現極其出色，

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

在古希臘語上尤為出眾，以至於被聘為巴塞爾大學的教授，

when still only in his mid-20s. 片語搭配

當時他才二十多歲出頭。

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

但他的正式職業生涯並不順利。

He got fed up with his fellow academics, 慣用語

他受夠了那些學者同儕，

gave up his job,

辭去了工作，

and moved to Sils Maria in the Swiss Alps,

搬到了瑞士阿爾卑斯山的錫爾斯瑪利亞，

where he lived quietly,

在那裡過著平靜的生活，

working on his masterpieces,

致力於他的傑作，

among them,

其中包括，

The Birth of Tragedy,

《悲劇的誕生》，

Human All Too Human,

《人性的，太人性的》，

The Gay Science,

《快樂的科學》，

Thus Spoke Zarathustra,

《查拉圖斯特拉如是說》，

Beyond Good and Evil,

《善惡的彼岸》，

on The Genealogy of Morals.

以及《道德的系譜》。

He had lots of problems.

他遭遇了許多問題。

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

他和家人處不來。

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

「我不喜歡我的母親，甚至聽到我妹妹的聲音對我來說也是一種折磨。」

Women kept rejecting him.

女人們不斷地拒絕他。

His books didn't sell,

他的書賣不出去，

and when he was only 44,

就在他僅僅44歲時，

he had a mental breakdown,

他精神崩潰了，

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

導火線是他在杜林街頭看到一匹馬正被馬車夫毒打，

and ran over to embrace him shouting,

於是跑過去抱住牠，大喊道：

"I understand you."

「我懂你。」

He never recovered and died 11 sad years later.

他再也沒有康復，11個悲慘的年頭後去世了。

But his philosophy was full of heroism and grandeur.

但他的哲學充滿了英雄主義與宏大氣魄。

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

他是所謂「Selbstüberwindung」的先知，

or self-overcoming,

也就是「自我超越」，

the process by which a great-souled person,

指的是一個靈魂高尚的人，

what he called an Übermensch, 文化背景

也就是他口中的「超人」（Übermensch），

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

超越自身的處境和困難，去擁抱生活帶來的一切。

He wanted his work to teach us,

他希望他的作品能教導我們，

as he put it, 片語搭配

正如他所言，

how to become who we really are. 文法

「如何成為真正的自己」。

His thought centers around four main recommendations.

他的思想圍繞四個主要建議展開。

One, own up to envy. 片語動詞

第一，正視嫉妒。

Envy is, Nietzsche recognized,

尼采體認到，嫉妒，

a big part of life.

是生活中很重要的一部分。

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

然而基督教殘存的影響通常教導我們對嫉妒感到羞恥。

They seem an indication of evil,

這些情緒似乎是邪惡的象徵，

so we hide them from ourselves and others.

所以我們對自己和他人隱藏它們。

Yet there's nothing wrong with envy,

然而嫉妒本身並沒有錯，

maintained Nietzsche,

尼采堅信，

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

只要我們把它當作通向我們真正渴望之物的指南。

Every person who makes us envious

每一個讓我們產生嫉妒的人

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

都應被視為我們某天可能成為怎樣的人的啟示。

The envy-inducing writer, tycoon, or chef

那個讓你嫉妒的作家、大亨或主廚，

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

正暗示著你未來有能力成為誰。

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

這並不是說尼采相信我們總能得到自己想要的。

His own life had taught him this well enough.

他自己的人生已充分教會了他這一點。

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

他只是堅持我們必須直面自己真實的慾望，

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

為了尊重它們而進行英勇的奮鬥，

and only then mourn failure with solemn dignity.

只有在那之後，才以莊嚴的尊嚴去哀悼失敗。

That is what it means to be an Übermensch.

這就是成為「超人」的意義。

Two, don't be a Christian.

第二，不要做基督徒。

Nietzsche had some extreme things to say about Christianity.

尼采對基督教有一些極端的言論。

In the entire New Testament,

在整部新約全書中，

he wrote,

他寫道，

"There is only one person worth respecting, 文法

「只有一個人值得尊敬，

Pilate, the Roman governor."

羅馬總督彼拉多。」

It was knockabout stuff, 用詞

這些話雖然有些戲謔，

but his true target was more subtle and more interesting.

但他真正的目標更為微妙也更有趣。

He resented Christianity for protecting people from their envy.

他憎恨基督教保護人們免受嫉妒之苦。

Christianity had,

基督教，

in Nietzsche's account,

按照尼采的說法，

emerged in the late Roman Empire,

誕生於羅馬帝國晚期，

in the minds of timid slaves

產生於膽怯的奴隸的腦海中，

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

他們沒有勇氣去奪取自己真正想要的東西，

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

因此依附於一種將他們的懦弱美化為美德的哲學。

He called this Sklavenmoral.

他稱之為 Sklavenmoral（奴隸道德）。

Christians, whom he rather rudely termed die Herde,

基督徒，他頗為粗魯地稱之為 die Herde，

the herd,

即「羊群」，

had wished to enjoy the real ingredients of fulfillment,

本也希望能享受帶來滿足感的真實要素，

a position in the world,

比如社會地位、

sex, intellectual mastery, creativity,

性、智力上的掌控和創造力，

but they'd been too inept to get them.

但他們太無能，無法得到這些。

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

因此他們炮製出一種虛偽的信條，譴責他們渴望卻無力爭取的東西，

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

同時讚美他們本不想要卻碰巧擁有的東西。

So, in the Christian value system,

於是，在基督教的價值體系中，

sexlessness turned into purity,

無性變成了純潔，

weakness became goodness,

軟弱變成了善良，

submission to people one hates became obedience,

屈從於自己憎恨的人變成了順從，

and, in Nietzsche's phrase,

用尼采的話來說，

not being able to take revenge turned into forgiveness. 文法

無力報復變成了寬恕。

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

基督教等同於一台製造痛苦否認的巨大機器。

Three, never drink alcohol.

第三，絕不飲酒。

Nietzsche himself drank only water and as a special treat,

尼采本人只喝水，有時作為特別款待，

milk.

喝牛奶。

And he thought we should do likewise. 片語搭配

他認為我們也該如此。

He wasn't making a small eccentric dietary point.

他並不是在提出一種古怪的飲食小建議。

The idea went to the heart of his philosophy 慣用語

這一理念觸及了他哲學的核心，

as contained in his declaration,

正如他在宣言中所言，

"There have been two great narcotics in European civilization, 慣用語

「歐洲文明中有兩大麻醉劑，

Christianity and alcohol."

基督教和酒精。」

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

他憎恨酒精的原因與他蔑視基督教的原因如出一轍，

because both numb pain.

因為兩者都能麻痺痛苦。

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

兩者都安慰我們現狀一切安好，

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

耗盡我們為改善生活而改變的意志。

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

幾杯酒會帶來短暫的滿足感，

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

這會致命地阻礙我們採取改善生活所必需的行動。

Nietzsche was obsessed with the awkward truth

尼采執迷於一個令人不安的真相，

that getting really valuable things done hurts. 片語搭配

那就是完成真正有價值的事情是痛苦的。

"How little you know of human happiness,

「關於人類的幸福，你們知道得多麼少啊，

you comfortable people," he wrote.

你們這些貪圖安逸的人，」他寫道。

The secret of a fulfilled life is

充滿意義的生活的秘訣是

"Live dangerously.

「生活在危險之中。

Build your cities on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius." 慣用語

把你們的城市建在維蘇威火山的山坡上。」

Four, God is dead.

第四，上帝已死。

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

尼采關於上帝已死的戲劇性論斷並不是，

as it's often taken to be, 文法

像人們通常認為的那樣，

some kind of a celebratory statement.

是某種慶祝性的聲明。

Despite his reservations about Christianity,

儘管他對基督教持保留態度，

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

尼采並不認為信仰的終結有什麼值得歡呼的。

Religious beliefs were false,

宗教信仰是虛假的，

he knew,

他心裡清楚，

but he observed that they were very,

但他也觀察到它們非常、

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

非常有益，能幫助我們應對生活中的問題。

Nietzsche felt that the gap left by religion 慣用語

尼采認為，宗教留下的空白

should ideally be filled by culture.

理想情況下應該由文化來填補。

He meant philosophy,

他指的是哲學、

art, music, literature.

藝術、音樂和文學。

Culture should replace scripture.

文化應該取代經文。

However,

然而，

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

尼采對他自己所處時代對待文化的方式深感懷疑。

He believed the universities were killing the humanities,

他認為大學正在扼殺人文學科，

turning them into dry academic exercises

將它們變成枯燥的學術練習，

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

而不是將其用於它們本來應有的作用——

guides to life.

即生活的指南。

He admired the way the Greeks had used tragic drama

他讚賞古希臘人運用悲劇的方式，

in a practical,

以一種實用的、

therapeutic way,

具治療效果的方式，

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

作為宣洩情緒和道德教育的契機，

and wished his own age to be comparably ambitious.

並希望他自己的時代也能具有類似的雄心。

He called for a reformation

他呼籲進行一場改革，

in which people,

在此過程中，

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

新近意識到由信仰終結引發危機的人們，

would fill the gaps created by the disappearance of religion 慣用語

會用哲學和藝術，

with philosophy and art.

去填補因宗教消失而產生的空白。

Every era faces particular psychological challenges,

每個時代都面臨著特定的心理挑戰，

thought Nietzsche,

尼采認為，

and it's the task of the philosopher 文法

哲學家的任務

to identify and help solve these.

就是找出並幫助解決這些挑戰。

For Nietzsche,

對尼采來說，

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

19世紀正處於兩大發展趨勢的衝擊之下，

mass democracy and atheism.

大眾民主和無神論。

The first threatened to unleash torrents of undigested envy, 慣用語

前者有釋放出大量未消化的嫉妒情緒的危險，

the second to leave humans without guidance or morality. 文法

後者則讓人類失去了指引或道德準則。

In relation to both challenges,

在應對這兩大挑戰時，

Nietzsche remains our endearing,

尼采仍然是我們那個討人喜歡、

fascinating,

充滿魅力、

often lovable,

常常惹人憐愛，

and mustachioed guide.

且留著標誌性大鬍子的嚮導。