《我的知識之路》第三章教育的最后階段自學(xué)的初級階段

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2020年08月11日

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CHAPTER III Last Stage Of Education, And First Of Self-Education

第三章教育的最后階段自學(xué)的初級階段

For the first year or two after my visit to France, I continued my old studies, with the addition of some new ones. When I returned, my father was just finishing for the press his Elements of Political Economy, and he made me perform an exercise on the manuscript, which Mr. Bentham practised on all his own writings, making what he called "marginal contents;" a short abstract of every paragraph, to enable the writer more easily to judge of, and improve, the order of the ideas, and the general character of the exposition. Soon after, my father put into my hands Condillac's Traité des Sensations, and the logical and metaphysical volumes of his Cours d'Etudes; the first (notwithstanding the superficial resemblance between Condillac's psychological system and my father's) quite as much for a warning as for an example. I am not sure whether it was in this winter or the next that I first read a history of the French Revolution. I learnt with astonishment, that the principles of democracy, then apparently in so insignificant and hopeless a minority everywhere in Europe, had borne all before them in France thirty years earlier, and had been the creed of the nation. As may be supposed from this, I had previously a very vague idea of that great commotion. I knew only that the French had thrown off the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV and XV, had put the King and Queen to death, guillotined many persons, one of whom was Lavoisier1, and had ultimately fallen under the despotism of Bonaparte2. From this time, as was natural, the subject took an immense hold of my feelings. It allied itself with all my juvenile aspirations to the character of a democratic champion. What had happened so lately, seemed as if it might easily happen again: and the most transcendent glory I was capable of conceiving, was that of figuring, successful or unsuccessful, as a Girondist3 in an English Convention.

從法國回來后的頭一兩年，我繼續(xù)以前的學(xué)習(xí)，另外加了一些新東西。我回來的時(shí)候，父親剛好為出版社寫完了《政治經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)要義》，他讓我在手稿上做一種練習(xí)，邊沁先生在他自己的所有作品上都這么做，即寫他所謂的“旁注”。就是給每段寫很短的摘要，讓作者能夠更容易評判，并改善觀點(diǎn)的條理性和闡述的總體特征。之后不久，父親就讓我讀孔狄亞克的《感覺論》，還有他的《過程研究》的邏輯學(xué)卷和哲學(xué)卷；第一本書（盡管孔狄亞克和父親的心理學(xué)體系表面上看起來類似）是個(gè)榜樣，同樣也是種告誡。我不記得到底是這一年還是第二年的冬天，我第一次讀了法國大革命這段歷史。我很吃驚地意識到，當(dāng)時(shí)在全歐洲顯然只有不足為道且毫無希望的少數(shù)人接受的民主原則，早在三十年前的法國就已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)，而且成為這個(gè)國家的綱領(lǐng)。由此可以推斷出，對那次偉大的起義，我先前只有很模糊的概念。我只知道，法國人推翻了路易十四和路易十五的獨(dú)裁專政，殺死了國王和王后，把很多人處斬，其中還有拉瓦錫，但最終陷入波拿巴的專制統(tǒng)治。從這時(shí)起，這個(gè)主題很自然地大大占據(jù)了我的感情，并且與我年少時(shí)期有志于成為一名民主斗士的抱負(fù)緊緊聯(lián)系在了一起。大革命的年代并不遙遠(yuǎn)，似乎很容易再次發(fā)生。我能夠設(shè)想的至高無上的榮譽(yù)，就是在英國國民大會上扮演吉倫特黨員的角色，不管成功與否。

During the winter of 1821—2, Mr. John Austin, with whom at the time of my visit to France my father had but lately become acquainted, kindly allowed me to read Roman law with him. My father, notwithstanding his abhorrence of the chaos of barbarism called English Law, had turned his thoughts towards the bar as on the whole less ineligible for me than any other profession: and these readings with Mr. Austin, who had made Bentham's best ideas his own, and added much to them from other sources and from his own mind, were not only a valuable introduction to legal studies, but an important portion of general education. With Mr. Austin I read Heineccius on the Institutes, his Roman Antiquities, and part of his exposition of the Pandects; to which was added a considerable portion of Blackstone. It was at the commencement of these studies that my father, as a needful accompaniment to them, put into my hands Bentham's principal speculations, as interpreted to the Continent, and indeed to all the world, by Dumont, in the Traité de Législation. The reading of this book was an epoch in my life; one of the turning points in my mental history.

1821年的冬天，在我去法國的時(shí)候，父親剛剛結(jié)識的約翰.奧斯丁先生親切地邀我和他一起讀羅馬法律。父親盡管憎恨英國法律的混亂、愚昧，但也開始考慮讓我向律師界發(fā)展，總體上來說，比起其他專業(yè)，我更有能力從事法律工作。奧斯丁先生汲取了邊沁最精華的思想，并添加上很多別人和自己的見解。和他一起讀書，不僅在法律學(xué)習(xí)的入門上很有價(jià)值，而且是我整個(gè)教育中非常重要的一部分。和奧斯丁先生一起，我讀了海內(nèi)克丘斯的《法學(xué)概要》和《羅馬古代制度》以及他對《羅馬法典》闡述的一部分，還要加上布萊克斯通的很大一部分著述。就在這些學(xué)習(xí)剛開始的時(shí)候，父親讓我讀《立法論》，學(xué)習(xí)邊沁主要思想，作為對它們的必要補(bǔ)充。杜蒙在這本書中向歐洲大陸，乃至整個(gè)世界闡釋了邊沁的思想。讀這本書開創(chuàng)了我人生的一個(gè)新紀(jì)元，是我思想發(fā)展歷程的轉(zhuǎn)折點(diǎn)之一。

My previous education had been, in a certain sense, already a course of Benthamism4. The Benthamic standard of "the greatest happiness" was that which I had always been taught to apply; I was even familiar with an abstract discussion of it, forming an episode in an unpublished dialogue on Government, written by my father on the Platonic model. Yet in the first pages of Bentham it burst upon me with all the force of novelty. What thus impressed me was the chapter in which Bentham passed judgment on the common modes of reasoning in morals and legislation, deduced from phrases like "law of nature," "right reason," "the moral sense," "natural rectitude," and the like, and characterized them as dogmatism in disguise, imposing its sentiments upon others under cover of sounding expressions which convey no reason for the sentiment, but set up the sentiment as its own reason. It had not struck me before, that Bentham's principle put an end to all this. The feeling rushed upon me, that all previous moralists were superseded, and that here indeed was the commencement of a new era in thought. This impression was strengthened by the manner in which Bentham put into scientific form the application of the happiness principle to the morality of actions, by analysing the various classes and orders of their consequences. But what struck me at that time most of all, was the Classification of Offences; which is much more clear, compact, and imposing, in Dumont's rédaction than in the original work of Bentham from which it was taken. Logic and the dialectics of Plato, which had formed so large a part of my previous training, had given me a strong relish for accurate classification. This taste had been strengthened and enlightened by the study of botany, on the principles of what is called the Natural Method, which I had taken up with great zeal, though only as an amusement, during my stay in France; and when I found scientific classification applied to the great and complex subject of Punishable Acts, under the guidance of the ethical principle of Pleasurable and Painful Consequences, followed out in the method of detail introduced into these subjects by Bentham, I felt taken up to an eminence from which I could survey a vast mental domain, and see stretching out into the distance intellectual results beyond all computation. As I proceeded further, there seemed to be added to this intellectual clearness, the most inspiring prospects of practical improvement in human affairs. To Bentham's general views of the construction of a body of law I was not altogether a stranger, having read with attention that admirable compendium, my father's article "Jurisprudence": but I had read it with little profit, and scarcely any interest, no doubt from its extremely general and abstract character, and also because it concerned the form more than the substance of the corpus juris, the logic rather than the ethics of law. But Bentham's subject was Legislation, of which Jurisprudence is only the formal part: and at every page he seemed to open a clearer and broader conception of what human opinions and institutions ought to be, how they might be made what they ought to be, and how far removed from it they now are. When I laid down the last volume of the Traité I had become a different being. The "principle of utility" understood as Bentham understood it, and applied in the manner in which he applied it through these three volumes, fell exactly into its place as the keystone which held together the detached and fragmentary component parts of my knowledge and beliefs. It gave unity to my conceptions of things. I now had opinions; a creed, a doctrine, a philosophy; in one among the best senses of the word, a religion; the inculcation and diffusion of which could be made the principal outward purpose of a life. And I had a grand conception laid before me of changes to be effected in the condition of mankind through that doctrine. The Traité de Législation wound up with what was to me a most impressive picture of human life as it would be made by such opinions and such laws as were recommended in the treatise. The anticipations of practicable improvement were studiously moderate, deprecating and discountenancing as reveries of vague enthusiasm many things which will one day seem so natural to human beings, that injustice will probably be done to those who once thought them chimerical. But, in my state of mind, this appearance of superiority to illusion added to the effect which Bentham's doctrines produced on me, by heightening the impression of mental power. And the vista of improvement which he did open was sufficiently large and brilliant to light up my life, as well as to give a definite shape to my aspirations.

從某種意義上講，我之前的教育，學(xué)的就已經(jīng)是功利主義了。我一直被教導(dǎo)著去應(yīng)用“最大幸福”的功利主義標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。我甚至熟悉關(guān)于功利主義的一次抽象討論，是父親未發(fā)表的《論政府》對話中的一段，討論的是柏拉圖模式。然而，邊沁書中的前幾頁，充滿了新奇的力量，讓我眼前一亮。像這樣讓我印象深刻的是邊沁評價(jià)道德和立法中的一般推理方式的那一章。這種推理是從“自然法則”“正確推理”“是非感”以及“天賦公正”之類的語句中推斷出來的，邊沁認(rèn)為它們是偽裝的教條主義，以空洞的口號當(dāng)幌子，把觀點(diǎn)強(qiáng)加到別人身上，但這些口號根本沒有為這種觀點(diǎn)傳達(dá)理由，反而把觀點(diǎn)本身當(dāng)作理由。我之前從未想到過邊沁的原則會結(jié)束所有這一切。我突然感覺到，以前的所有倫理學(xué)家都被他取代了，而在這兒，思想上的一個(gè)新紀(jì)元真正開始了。邊沁把幸福原則應(yīng)用于道德行為，通過分析各種類型的后果和它們的次序，使這一應(yīng)用以科學(xué)的形式呈現(xiàn)出來，這種方式進(jìn)一步加強(qiáng)了我的那種感覺。但是，當(dāng)時(shí)最讓我驚訝的是《犯罪分類》，而杜蒙以邊沁的原作為基礎(chǔ)寫的《犯罪分類》（修訂本），要比原作要清楚、簡潔得多，讓人印象深刻。柏拉圖的邏輯學(xué)和辯證法，在我之前的訓(xùn)練中占據(jù)了相當(dāng)大的比重，讓我對精確分類非常感興趣。這種愛好，由于依據(jù)自然方法的一些原則學(xué)習(xí)植物學(xué)而得以加強(qiáng)和啟迪。我在法國暫住的時(shí)候，就滿腔熱情地開始運(yùn)用自然方法，盡管只是作為一種消遣。當(dāng)我發(fā)現(xiàn)，在快樂與痛苦的后果這一道德原則的指導(dǎo)下，把科學(xué)的分類應(yīng)用于偉大、復(fù)雜的主題——該罰的行為，按照邊沁引入這些主題的具體方法貫徹執(zhí)行時(shí)，我覺得被提升到一種能俯瞰廣闊的精神領(lǐng)域的高度，還能展望到無法估算的智力成果。隨著探討繼續(xù)深入，在這種智力清晰之外，我似乎還看到了最鼓舞人心的人類事務(wù)切實(shí)進(jìn)步的前景。邊沁對于構(gòu)建立法體系的總體思想，我并不十分陌生，因?yàn)槲艺J(rèn)真地讀過父親的文章《法理學(xué)》，這是篇極好的概論。但是，我沒有多少收獲，也幾乎完全不感興趣，無疑因?yàn)樗爬ǎ橄?，也因?yàn)樗P(guān)注民法的形式而非實(shí)質(zhì)，邏輯而非法律倫理。但是，邊沁的主題是立法，法理學(xué)只是其中的形式方面。人的觀念和制度應(yīng)該是什么樣的，如何讓它們變成該有的樣子，以及現(xiàn)在它們都偏離了多少，在每一頁上，他似乎都讓這些概念更加清楚和明朗。當(dāng)我放下《立法論》的最后一卷時(shí)，我已經(jīng)脫胎換骨了。邊沁所理解和應(yīng)用的“功利原則”，就和在這三卷書中理解和應(yīng)用的方式一樣，它恰到好處地成為了把我的知識和信念中支離破碎的部分整合起來的基礎(chǔ)。它把我對事物的概念統(tǒng)一起來。我現(xiàn)在有了主張；有了信條、學(xué)說和哲學(xué)體系；有了宗教，取宗教一詞的最佳意義；有了可向他人灌輸并傳播的東西，由此可訂立人生主要的外在目標(biāo)。而且，在我面前有了一個(gè)宏大的設(shè)想，就是用那個(gè)學(xué)說改變?nèi)祟惖木秤?。在我看來，《立法論》的結(jié)尾，描繪了人類生活最感人的畫卷，用論文中建議的那些觀點(diǎn)和法律就能創(chuàng)造出這樣的生活。它對切實(shí)可行的進(jìn)步的預(yù)期是謹(jǐn)慎、適度的，輕視并反對很多將來有一天對人類來說會很自然的事情，覺得那是由茫然的熱情產(chǎn)生的幻想，但對那些曾認(rèn)為它們異想天開的人來說，不公正可能會在他們身上發(fā)生。但是，在我的思想狀態(tài)中，這種高于幻想的想象，通過加深精神力量的影響，強(qiáng)化了邊沁的學(xué)說對我產(chǎn)生的影響。他向我展現(xiàn)的改良的前景，宏大而壯美，足以點(diǎn)燃我的人生，明確我的抱負(fù)。

After this I read, from time to time, the most important of the other works of Bentham which had then seen the light, either as written by himself or as edited by Dumont. This was my private reading: while, under my father's direction, my studies were carried into the higher branches of analytic psychology. I now read Locke5's Essay, and wrote out an account of it, consisting of a complete abstract of every chapter, with such remarks as occurred to me: which was read by, or (I think) to, my father, and discussed throughout. I performed the same process with Helvetius6 De l'Esprit, which I read of my own choice. This preparation of abstracts, subject to my father's censorship, was of great service to me, by compelling precision in conceiving and expressing psychological doctrines, whether accepted as truths or only regarded as the opinions of others. After Helvetius, my father made me study what he deemed the really master-production in the philosophy of mind, Hartley's Observations on Man. This book, though it did not, like the Traité de Législation, give a new colour to my existence, made a very similar impression on me in regard to its immediate subject. Hartley's explanation, incomplete as in many points it is, of the more complex mental phenomena by the law of association, commended itself to me at once as a real analysis, and made me feel by contrast the insufficiency of the merely verbal generalizations of Condillac, and even of the instructive gropings and feelings about for psychological explanations, of Locke. It was at this very time that my father commenced writing his Analysis of the Mind, which carried Hartley's mode of explaining the mental phenomena to so much greater length and depth. He could only command the concentration of thought necessary for this work, during the complete leisure of his holiday of a month or six weeks annually; and he commenced it in the summer of 1822, in the first holiday he passed at Dorking; in which neighbourhood, from that time to the end of his life, with the exception of two years, he lived, as far as his official duties permitted, for six months of every year. He worked at the Analysis during several successive vacations, up to the year 1829 when it was published, and allowed me to read the manuscript, portion by portion, as it advanced. The other principal English writers on mental philosophy I read as I felt inclined, particularly Berkeley7, Hume's Essays, Reid8, Dugald Stewart9 and Brown on Cause and Effect. Brown's Lectures I did not read until two or three years later, nor at that time had my father himself read them.

這之后，我時(shí)不時(shí)地讀邊沁其他問世作品中最重要的一些，有的是他自己寫的，有的是杜蒙編輯的。這是我的個(gè)人閱讀，另外，在父親的指導(dǎo)下，我的學(xué)習(xí)進(jìn)入到分析心理學(xué)的更高分支。我現(xiàn)在讀了洛克的《隨筆》，并寫了報(bào)告，包括每一章的完整摘要，加上我想到的評論。父親讀了報(bào)告后，或者（我認(rèn)為）我讀給他聽了之后，就從頭到尾討論一遍。我以同樣的方式讀了愛爾維修《論精神》，這本書是我自選的。在父親的督導(dǎo)之下準(zhǔn)備這些摘要對我特別有用，因?yàn)樵谒伎己捅磉_(dá)心理學(xué)學(xué)說時(shí)，不管是視其為真理還是僅認(rèn)為是別人的觀點(diǎn)，都必須精確。讀完愛爾維修之后，父親讓我攻讀哈特利的《對人的觀察》，他認(rèn)為這是精神心理學(xué)領(lǐng)域真正的大師級作品。這本書，盡管不像《立法論》那樣給我的生活增添新的色彩，但是它的主題，也給我留下了類似的深刻印象。哈特利運(yùn)用聯(lián)系法解釋更為復(fù)雜的精神現(xiàn)象，雖然在很多地方都不全面，但作為真正的分析，馬上就引起了我的興趣，讓我通過對比感覺到，孔狄亞克僅僅拘泥于文字歸納的不足，甚至洛克在闡釋心理學(xué)時(shí)有益的探索和感想也有不足。就在這時(shí)，父親開始著手寫《精神分析》，用的是哈特利的精神現(xiàn)象闡述模式，但更全面，更深刻。他只能在每年一個(gè)月或者六個(gè)星期的假期里，完全閑著的時(shí)候，才能集中必需的精力做這項(xiàng)工作。他是1822年夏天開始寫的，那是他第一次在多金度假。從那時(shí)起到他去世，除了有兩年之外，只要職責(zé)允許，他每年都在那個(gè)地方住上半年。連續(xù)好幾個(gè)假期，他都用來寫《精神分析》，直到1829年發(fā)表。隨著他的進(jìn)展，他允許我逐步地讀該書的手稿。精神心理學(xué)領(lǐng)域的其他主要英語作家的作品，我只讀了我喜歡的，尤其是貝克萊、休謨的《隨筆》、里德、杜格爾德.斯圖爾特以及布朗的《因果論》。兩三年后我才讀布朗的《演講集》，當(dāng)時(shí)連我父親也沒有讀過。

Among the works read in the course of this year, which contributed materially to my development, I ought to mention a book (written on the foundation of some of Bentham's manuscripts and published under the pseudonyme of Philip Beauchamp) entitled Analysis of the Influence of Natural Religion on the Temporal Happiness of Mankind. This was an examination not of the truth, but of the usefulness of religious belief, in the most general sense, apart from the peculiarities of any special Revelation; which, of all the parts of the discussion concerning religion, is the most important in this age, in which real belief in any religious doctrine is feeble and precarious, but the opinion of its necessity for moral and social purposes almost universal; and when those who reject revelation, very generally take refuge in an optimistic Deism, a worship of the order of Nature, and the supposed course of Providence, at least as full of contradictions, and perverting to the moral sentiments, as any of the forms of Christianity, if only it is as completely realized. Yet, very little, with any claim to a philosophical character, has been written by sceptics against the usefulness of this form of belief. The volume bearing the name of Philip Beauchamp had this for its special object. Having been shewn to my father in manuscript, it was put into my hands by him, and I made a marginal analysis of it as I had done of the Elements of Political Economy. Next to the Traité de Législation, it was one of the books which by the searching character of its analysis produced the greatest effect upon me. On reading it lately after an interval of many years, I find it to have some of the defects as well as the merits of the Benthamic modes of thought, and to contain, as I now think, many weak arguments, but with a great overbalance of sound ones, and much good material for a more completely philosophic and conclusive treatment of the subject.

這一年間，我讀了一些對我的發(fā)展有實(shí)質(zhì)性作用的著作，這當(dāng)中我應(yīng)該提到一本書，名為《自然宗教對人類現(xiàn)世幸福影響的分析》（以邊沁的一些手稿為基礎(chǔ)寫的，用菲利浦.比徹姆的筆名出版）。這本書不是檢驗(yàn)最普遍意義上的宗教信仰的真?zhèn)危菣z驗(yàn)它是否有用，以及是否有任何特別的《啟示錄》的特性。這本書中所有和宗教有關(guān)的討論，都是這個(gè)時(shí)代最重要的，在這個(gè)時(shí)代，對任何宗教教義的真正信仰都是無益的，靠不住的。但是認(rèn)為宗教對實(shí)現(xiàn)道德和社會目標(biāo)是必要的幾乎是一個(gè)普遍認(rèn)可的觀點(diǎn)。那些拒絕神的啟示的人，一般都尋求樂觀的自然神論作庇護(hù)，即崇拜大自然的秩序和天道，這至少與任何形式的基督教一樣充滿矛盾，并墮落成道德情感，只是沒有被完全認(rèn)識到。然而，懷疑這種形式信仰有用的人，只寫了很少稱得上帶有任何哲學(xué)性質(zhì)的作品。以菲利普.比徹姆的名義寫的書，就以此為特定目標(biāo)。父親看過手稿后，把它交給我，我在頁邊緣上作了分析，就像讀《政治經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)要義》的時(shí)候一樣。這本書分析很透徹，是繼《立法論》之后對我產(chǎn)生最大影響的書籍之一。很多年后重讀這本書的時(shí)候，我發(fā)現(xiàn)了它功利主義思考模式的一些缺點(diǎn)和優(yōu)點(diǎn)，我現(xiàn)在覺得，它也有很多缺乏說服力的論證，但是也有很多合理的論證和好材料，可以用來對這個(gè)主題進(jìn)行更全面的哲理性和總結(jié)性的處理。

I have now, I believe, mentioned all the books which had any considerable effect on my early mental development. From this point I began to carry on my intellectual cultivation by writing still more than by reading. In the summer of 1822 I wrote my first argumentative essay. I remember very little about it, except that it was an attack on what I regarded as the aristocratic prejudice, that the rich were, or were likely to be, superior in moral qualities to the poor. My performance was entirely argumentative, without any of the declamation which the subject would admit of, and might be expected to suggest to a young writer. In that department however I was, and remained, very inapt. Dry argument was the only thing I could manage, or willingly attempted; though passively I was very susceptible to the effect of all composition, whether in the form of poetry or oratory, which appealed to the feelings on any basis of reason. My father, who knew nothing of this essay until it was finished, was well satisfied, and as I learnt from others, even pleased with it; but, perhaps from a desire to promote the exercise of other mental faculties than the purely logical, he advised me to make my next exercise in composition one of the oratorical kind: on which suggestion, availing myself of my familiarity with Greek history and ideas and with the Athenian orators, I wrote two speeches, one an accusation, the other a defence of Pericles10, on a supposed impeachment for not marching out to fight the Lacedemonians on their invasion of Attica. After this I continued to write papers on subjects often very much beyond my capacity, but with great benefit both from the exercise itself, and from the discussions which it led to with my father.

至此，對我早期的智力發(fā)展有任何重要影響的書籍，我相信已經(jīng)都提到了。從這時(shí)起，與讀書相比，我開始主要通過寫作來繼續(xù)進(jìn)行智力培養(yǎng)。1822年夏天，我寫了第一篇議論文。我已經(jīng)不怎么記得這篇文章了，只記得它是抨擊我理解的貴族化偏見，即認(rèn)為富人在道德素質(zhì)上高于窮人，或者很可能高于窮人。我所寫的完全是在論證，沒有任何慷慨陳詞，這種主題其實(shí)是允許激辯的，而且年輕作者可能也會被建議這么做。然而，我在這方面一直不擅長。樸素的論證是我唯一能把握的，或者說樂意嘗試的。然而，我很容易被動地受到在理性的基礎(chǔ)上打動人心的文學(xué)作品的影響，不管是詩歌還是演說。直到我寫完之后，父親才知道有這篇文章，他非常滿意，而且，我還從別人那里聽說，他甚至非常高興。但是，可能他希望我提高其他智力能力，而不僅僅是邏輯能力，所以，建議我接下來練習(xí)寫一篇演說類的文章。對于這個(gè)建議，我利用自己熟悉希臘歷史和思想以及雅典演說家這個(gè)優(yōu)勢，寫了兩篇演說，一篇是譴責(zé)伯里克利，另一篇是為他辯護(hù)，假設(shè)他由于沒有出兵攻打入侵阿提卡的斯巴達(dá)人而遭到了指責(zé)。這之后，我繼續(xù)寫一些主題經(jīng)常大大超出我能力的論文，但是，不管是從練習(xí)本身，還是從由此而與父親進(jìn)行的討論中，我都收獲頗多。

I had now also begun to converse, on general subjects, with the instructed men with whom I came in contact: and the opportunities of such contact naturally became more numerous. The two friends of my father from whom I derived most, and with whom I most associated, were Mr. Grote11 and Mr. John Austin. The acquaintance of both with my father was recent, but had ripened rapidly into intimacy. Mr. Grote was introduced to my father by Mr. Ricardo, I think in 1819, (being then about twenty-five years old), and sought assiduously his society and conversation. Already a highly instructed man, he was yet, by the side of my father, a tyro in the great subjects of human opinion; but he rapidly seized on my father's best ideas; and in the department of political opinion he made himself known as early as 1820, by a pamphlet in defence of Radical Reform, in reply to a celebrated article by Sir James Mackintosh, then lately published in the Edinburgh Review. Mr. Grote's father, the banker, was, I believe, a thorough Tory, and his mother intensely Evangelical; so that for his liberal opinions he was in no way indebted to home influences. But, unlike most persons who have the prospect of being rich by inheritance, he had, though actively engaged in the business of banking, devoted a great portion of time to philosophic studies; and his intimacy with my father did much to decide the character of the next stage in his mental progress. Him I often visited, and my conversations with him on political, moral, and philosophical subjects gave me, in addition to much valuable instruction, all the pleasure and benefit of sympathetic communion with a man of the high intellectual and moral eminence which his life and writings have since manifested to the world.

此時(shí)，我也已經(jīng)開始與接觸到的博學(xué)者討論一般性的問題，這種接觸的機(jī)會也自然變得更頻繁起來。從父親的兩個(gè)朋友，格羅特先生和約翰.奧斯丁先生那里，我收獲最多，與他們的交往也最多。他們和我父親都認(rèn)識不久，但他們的關(guān)系很快就由認(rèn)識變?yōu)槭熳R了。格羅特先生是李嘉圖先生介紹給父親認(rèn)識的，我想是在1819年（那時(shí)他差不多25歲），他一心尋求與父親交往。盡管他已經(jīng)是個(gè)非常博學(xué)的人了，但在父親面前，對于人類觀點(diǎn)這樣重大的主題，他仍是個(gè)初學(xué)者；但是，他能很快地抓住父親思想的精華。在政治觀點(diǎn)方面，早在1820年，他就因?yàn)榇饛?fù)詹姆斯.麥金托什爵士的著名論文，寫了篇為“激進(jìn)改革”辯護(hù)的論文而為人所知，這篇論文最近發(fā)表在《愛丁堡評論》上。格羅特先生的父親是個(gè)銀行家，我認(rèn)為是個(gè)十足的保守派，他的母親是個(gè)虔誠的基督教福音派教徒，所以他的自由觀點(diǎn)絕非來自家庭的影響。但是，和大多數(shù)將來能夠靠繼承遺產(chǎn)而富有的人不同，他雖然積極參與銀行業(yè)務(wù)，但還是把自己的很大一部分時(shí)間投入到了哲學(xué)研究中。他和我父親的熟識，在很大程度上決定了他思想發(fā)展下一階段的特點(diǎn)。我經(jīng)常拜訪他，和他探討政治、道德和哲學(xué)話題，除了很寶貴的指導(dǎo)外，與他這樣一個(gè)智力過人、道德高尚的人意氣相投地交流，還給我?guī)砹撕芏嗫鞓泛鸵嫣?。他過人的思想和高尚的道德，從那時(shí)起，已經(jīng)通過他的生活和作品展現(xiàn)在了世人面前。

Mr. Austin, who was four or five years older than Mr. Grote, was the eldest son of a retired miller in Suffolk, who had made money by contracts during the war, and who must have been a man of remarkable qualities, as I infer from the fact that all his sons were of more than common ability and all eminently gentlemen. The one with whom we are now concerned, and whose writings on jurisprudence have made him celebrated, was for some time in the army, and served in Sicily under Lord William Bentinck. After the peace he sold his commission and studied for the bar, to which he had been called for some time before my father knew him. He was not, like Mr. Grote, to any extent, a pupil of my father, but he had attained, by reading and thought, a considerable number of the same opinions, modified by his own very decided individuality of character. He was a man of great intellectual powers which in conversation appeared at their very best; from the vigour and richness of expression with which, under the excitement of discussion, he was accustomed to maintain some view or other of most general subjects; and from an appearance of not only strong, but deliberate and collected will; mixed with a certain bitterness, partly derived from temperament, and partly from the general cast of his feelings and reflections. The dissatisfaction with life and the world, felt more or less in the present state of society and intellect by every discerning and highly conscientious mind, gave in his case a rather melancholy tinge to the character, very natural to those whose passive moral susceptibilities are more than proportioned to their active energies. For it must be said, that the strength of will of which his manner seemed to give such strong assurance, expended itself principally in manner. With great zeal for human improvement, a strong sense of duty, and capacities and acquirements the extent of which is proved by the writings he has left, he hardly ever completed any intellectual task of magnitude. He had so high a standard of what ought to be done, so exaggerated a sense of deficiencies in his own performances, and was so unable to content himself with the amount of elaboration sufficient for the occasion and the purpose, that he not only spoiled much of his work for ordinary use by overlabouring it, but spent so much time and exertion in superfluous study and thought, that when his task ought to have been completed, he had generally worked himself into an illness, without having half finished what he undertook. From this mental infirmity (of which he is not the sole example among the accomplished and able men whom I have known), combined with liability to frequent attacks of disabling though not dangerous ill-health, he accomplished, through life, little in comparison with what he seemed capable of; but what he did produce is held in the very highest estimation by the most competent judges; and, like Coleridge12, he might plead as a set-off that he had been to many persons, through his conversation, a source not only of much instruction but of great elevation of character. On me his influence was most salutary. It was moral in the best sense. He took a sincere and kind interest in me, far beyond what could have been expected towards a mere youth from a man of his age, standing, and what seemed austerity of character. There was in his conversation and demeanour a tone of highmindedness which did not show itself so much, if the quality existed as much, in any of the other persons with whom at that time I associated. My intercourse with him was the more beneficial, owing to his being of a different mental type from all other intellectual men whom I frequented, and he from the first set himself decidedly against the prejudices and narrownesses which are almost sure to be found in a young man formed by a particular mode of thought or a particular social circle.

奧斯丁先生比格羅特先生大四五歲，是薩?？丝ひ粋€(gè)退休磨坊主的長子。在戰(zhàn)爭中，這位父親靠承包賺了不少錢，我推斷他肯定是個(gè)品質(zhì)出眾的人，因?yàn)樗膬鹤幽芰Χ疾灰话?，都是?yōu)秀的紳士。我們現(xiàn)在關(guān)注的這位，因他的法學(xué)作品而著名，他曾經(jīng)有一段時(shí)間從軍，在威廉·本廷克勛爵的麾下，在西西里服過役。戰(zhàn)爭結(jié)束后，他賣了軍銜，開始學(xué)習(xí)法律，父親認(rèn)識他之前，他就已經(jīng)當(dāng)了一段時(shí)間的律師了。他和格羅特先生不一樣，根本不是我父親的學(xué)生，而是通過閱讀和思考，獲得了很多和我父親相同的觀點(diǎn)，輔之以他性格中堅(jiān)定的個(gè)性。他這個(gè)人才智突出，通過對話最能展現(xiàn)出來。在討論得很興奮的時(shí)候，他慣于用有力、華美的言辭，堅(jiān)持非常普通的主題中的某個(gè)觀點(diǎn)。他的外貌表現(xiàn)出的不僅是強(qiáng)硬，而且還有謹(jǐn)慎和冷靜的意志，也夾雜著某種尖酸，部分源于性格，部分源于他的情感和思索的總體特征。每一個(gè)有判斷力、非常負(fù)責(zé)的思想家，在目前的社會和智力狀態(tài)下，都或多或少感覺到對生活和世界不滿，而在他這兒這種不滿讓他的性格帶上相當(dāng)憂郁的色彩，這對于消極的道德情感壓倒積極活力的人來說，是很自然的現(xiàn)象。因?yàn)楸仨毘姓J(rèn)，他的風(fēng)格似乎強(qiáng)有力地證明了他的意志力，然而，他的意志力也僅止于其風(fēng)格。他非常熱心人類的進(jìn)步，有很強(qiáng)的責(zé)任感，還有他留下來的那些作品，足以證明他的能力和成就的水平，但他幾乎從沒完成任何有重大意義的智力作品。對于應(yīng)該做的事情，他的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)如此之高，總覺得自己的表現(xiàn)有缺點(diǎn)，不滿足于對情形和意圖而言已經(jīng)足夠的詳盡闡述，以至于不僅對很多用途普通的工作太過細(xì)心卻損毀了它們，而且還把很多時(shí)間和精力花在多余的研究和思考上。因此，當(dāng)他的任務(wù)需要完成的時(shí)候，他通常已經(jīng)積勞成疾了，而工作一半都沒有完成。由于這種心理弱點(diǎn)（在我認(rèn)識的有成就和有才干的人當(dāng)中，他并不是唯一的例子），加上經(jīng)常生病（這些病雖然不致命，但也損害身體能力），與他看起來能做到的相比，他一生的成就很小。但是，對于他確實(shí)創(chuàng)作出來的東西，最稱職的鑒定人也會給予他非常高的評價(jià)。和柯爾律治一樣，他可以為自己辯護(hù)，說通過交談他不僅為許多人提供了很多指導(dǎo)，還大大提升了他們的品質(zhì)。他對我的影響非常有益。那是最佳意義上的道德影響。他對我的關(guān)心很誠摯友善，一個(gè)尋常的年輕人很難想象從像他這種年齡、地位以及看似性格嚴(yán)厲的人那里獲得這種關(guān)心。他的言談和舉止中有一種高尚的風(fēng)格，在當(dāng)時(shí)我所認(rèn)識的人當(dāng)中，即使有人有同樣的品質(zhì)，也不會像在他身上展現(xiàn)出來的那么多。從與他的交往當(dāng)中，我收益更多，因?yàn)樗臀医?jīng)常拜訪的知識分子都不是一個(gè)思想類型的。而且，對于僅由一種思想模式或者一種社會圈子塑造的年輕人幾乎必然會有的偏見和狹隘，他從一開始就果斷地反對。

His younger brother, Charles Austin, of whom at this time and for the next year or two I saw much, had also a great effect on me, though of a very different description. He was but a few years older than myself, and had then just left the University, where he had shone with great éclat as a man of intellect and a brilliant orator and converser. The effect he produced on his Cambridge contemporaries deserves to be accounted an historical event; for to it may in part be traced the tendency towards Liberalism in general, and the Benthamic and politico-economic form of it in particular, which showed itself in a portion of the more active-minded young men of the higher classes from this time to 1830. The Union Debating Society, at that time at the height of its reputation, was an arena where what were then thought extreme opinions, in politics and philosophy, were weekly asserted, face to face with their opposites, before audiences consisting of the élite of the Cambridge youth: and though many persons afterwards of more or less note, (of whom Lord Macaulay is the most celebrated), gained their first oratorical laurels in those debates, the really influential mind among these intellectual gladiators was Charles Austin. He continued, after leaving the University, to be, by his conversation and personal ascendancy, a leader among the same class of young men who had been his associates there; and he attached me among others to his car. Through him I became acquainted with Macaulay13, Hyde and Charles Villiers, Strutt (now Lord Belper), Romilly (now Lord Romilly and Master of the Rolls), and various others who subsequently figured in literature or politics, and among whom I heard discussions on many topics, as yet to a certain degree new to me. The influence of Charles Austin over me differed from that of the persons I have hitherto mentioned, in being not the influence of a man over a boy, but that of an elder contemporary. It was through him that I first felt myself, not a pupil under teachers, but a man among men. He was the first person of intellect whom I met on a ground of equality, though as yet much his inferior on that common ground. He was a man who never failed to impress greatly those with whom he came in contact, even when their opinions were the very reverse of his. The impression he gave was that of boundless strength, together with talents which, combined with such apparent force of will and character, seemed capable of dominating the world. Those who knew him, whether friendly to him or not, always anticipated that he would play a conspicuous part in public life. It is seldom that men produce so great an immediate effect by speech, unless they, in some degree, lay themselves out for it; and he did this in no ordinary degree. He loved to strike, and even to startle. He knew that decision is the greatest element of effect, and he uttered his opinions with all the decision he could throw into them, never so well pleased as when he astonished any one by their audacity. Very unlike his brother, who made war against the narrower interpretations and applications of the principles they both professed, he on the contrary, presented the Benthamic doctrines in the most startling form of which they were susceptible, exaggerating everything in them which tended to consequences offensive to any one's preconceived feelings. All which, he defended with such verve and vivacity, and carried off by a manner so agreeable as well as forcible, that he always either came off victor, or divided the honours of the field. It is my belief that much of the notion popularly entertained of the tenets and sentiments of what are called Benthamites or Utilitarians had its origin in paradoxes thrown out by Charles Austin. It must be said, however, that his example was followed, haud passibus aequis, by younger proselytes, and that to outrer whatever was by anybody considered offensive in the doctrines and maxims of Benthamism, became at one time the badge of a small coterie of youths. All of these who had anything in them, myself among others, quickly outgrew this boyish vanity; and those who had not, became tired of differing from other people, and gave up both the good and the bad part of the heterodox opinions they had for some time professed.

當(dāng)時(shí)以及接下來的一兩年里，我經(jīng)常見到他的弟弟查爾斯.奧斯丁，他對我的影響也很大，盡管類型很不相同。他比我只大幾歲，那時(shí)剛大學(xué)畢業(yè)。在大學(xué)里，他光芒四射，是位有識之士、才華橫溢的演講家和談話專家。他對劍橋同輩們產(chǎn)生的影響堪稱具有歷史性意義。因?yàn)橥ǔＲ饬x上的自由主義風(fēng)潮，尤其是它的功利主義和政治經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)形式，可以部分追溯到此。從這時(shí)起到1830年，這種風(fēng)潮在一部分上層社會思想較活躍的年輕人中展現(xiàn)出來。聯(lián)合辯論協(xié)會當(dāng)時(shí)正處于名聲鼎盛時(shí)期，在這個(gè)活動場所里，當(dāng)時(shí)被認(rèn)為很極端的政治和哲學(xué)觀點(diǎn)每星期都會被拿來和對手面對面地辯論，而觀眾里有劍橋的年輕精英。雖然很多后來或多或少有些名望的人（其中，麥考利勛爵是最著名的），是在這些辯論中首次摘得演說的桂冠，但這些高智商的辯論者中，真正有影響力的還是查爾斯.奧斯丁。離開大學(xué)后，他的談話技巧和個(gè)人魅力使得他仍然是大學(xué)里與他熟識那一階層年輕人的領(lǐng)袖。他讓我和別人一起，加入了他的行列。通過他，我結(jié)識了麥考利、海德、查爾斯.維利爾斯，斯特拉特(現(xiàn)在是貝爾珀勛爵)和羅米利（現(xiàn)在是羅米利勛爵，上訴院保管案卷的法官），還有很多后來因文學(xué)或政治而出名的人。我聽到他們討論很多話題，在某種程度上來說，我對這些話題還不熟悉。查爾斯.奧斯丁對我的影響跟我迄今為止提到的其他人不一樣，不是成年人對小孩子的影響，而是年齡稍長的同代人的影響。通過他，我第一次感覺到自己不是老師的小學(xué)生，而是成人中的一員。他是我見到的第一個(gè)高智商的平輩人，我們是平等的，雖然在這平等的基礎(chǔ)上我比他遜色很多。他會給任何與他接觸過的人留下深刻印象，即使他們的觀點(diǎn)與他完全相反。他給人的印象是有無窮的力量和才干，結(jié)合他顯而易見的意志和性格的力量，似乎能主宰世界。那些熟悉他的人，不管對他是否友好，都預(yù)料他會在公眾生活中發(fā)揮顯著作用。很少有人能通過演說產(chǎn)生這么大的直接影響，除非他們在某種程度上是精心準(zhǔn)備了而且用了功的。他喜歡給人留下深刻印象，甚至讓人震驚。他知道，果斷是效果的最大因素，他表達(dá)觀點(diǎn)時(shí)，盡力把所有果斷融入其中。他最高興的時(shí)候，就是他的觀點(diǎn)因?yàn)榇竽憚?chuàng)新而讓人大吃一驚的時(shí)候。他和哥哥很不一樣，他哥哥堅(jiān)決反對過于狹隘地解釋和應(yīng)用兩人都公開承認(rèn)的原則，恰恰相反，他以功利主義學(xué)說所能承受的最驚人的方式闡述這一學(xué)說，夸大學(xué)說中任何傾向于冒犯人們原有情感的東西。他充滿活力地為這一切辯護(hù)，以令人愉快又有說服力的態(tài)度應(yīng)付局面，因此他經(jīng)常成為勝者，或者分享勝者的榮譽(yù)。我堅(jiān)信，流行的邊沁主義者或功利主義者的原則和看法中的很多觀念，都源于查爾斯.奧斯丁提出的看似矛盾而實(shí)際可能正確的說法。然而，必須承認(rèn)，改變了信仰的年輕人步履蹣跚地仿效他的做法，夸大功利主義教條和準(zhǔn)則中所有大家都認(rèn)為有冒犯性的東西，曾有一段時(shí)間這成為了一個(gè)小圈子年輕人的標(biāo)志。那些有些天分的人，包括我自己，很快就拋棄了這種孩子氣的虛榮心；而沒有天分的人，逐漸厭倦了與別人唱反調(diào)，放棄了他們堅(jiān)持過一段時(shí)間的非主流觀點(diǎn)，不管是好的還是壞的部分。

It was in the winter of 1822—3 that I formed the plan of a little society, to be composed of young men agreeing in fundamental principles— acknowledging Utility as their standard in ethics and politics, and a certain number of the principal corollaries drawn from it in the philosophy I had accepted—and meeting once a fortnight to read essays and discuss questions conformably to the premises thus agreed on. The fact would hardly be worth mentioning, but for the circumstance, that the name I gave to the society I had planned was the Utilitarian Society. It was the first time that any one had taken the title of Utilitarian; and the term made its way into the language, from this humble source. I did not invent the word, but found it in one of Galt's novels, the Annals of the Parish, in which the Scotch clergyman, of whom the book is a supposed autobiography, is represented as warning his parishioners not to leave the Gospel and become utilitarians. With a boy's fondness for a name and a banner I seized on the word, and for some years called myself and others by it as a sectarian appellation; and it came to be occasionally used by some others holding the opinions which it was intended to designate. As those opinions attracted more notice, the term was repeated by strangers and opponents, and got into rather common use just about the time when those who had originally assumed it, laid down that along with other sectarian characteristics. The Society so called consisted at first of no more than three members, one of whom, being Mr. Bentham's amanuensis, obtained for us permission to hold our meetings in his house. The number never, I think, reached ten, and the society was broken up in 1826. It had thus an existence of about three years and a half. The chief effect of it as regards myself, over and above the benefit of practice in oral discussion, was that of bringing me in contact with several young men at that time less advanced than myself, among whom, as they professed the same opinions, I was for some time a sort of leader, and had considerable influence on their mental progress. Any young man of education who fell in my way, and whose opinions were not incompatible with those of the Society, I endeavoured to press into its service; and some others I probably should never have known, had they not joined it. Those of the members who became my intimate companions—no one of whom was in any sense of the word a disciple, but all of them independent thinkers on their own basis —were William Eyton Tooke, son of the eminent political economist, a young man of singular worth both moral and intellectual, lost to the world by an early death; his friend William Ellis, an original thinker in the field of political economy, now honorably known by his apostolic exertions for the improvement of education; George Graham, afterwards an official assignee of the Bankruptcy Court, a thinker of originality and power on almost all abstract subjects; and (from the time when he came first to England to study for the bar in 1824 or 1825) a man who has made considerably more noise in the world than any of these, John Arthur Roebuck.

1822年冬天，我制定了建立一個(gè)小型學(xué)會的計(jì)劃。這個(gè)學(xué)會由認(rèn)同基本原則的年輕人組成，即認(rèn)可效用為他們道德規(guī)范和政治觀點(diǎn)的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，認(rèn)可我所接受的哲學(xué)從效用中得出的一些主要推論。我們兩星期進(jìn)行一次活動，讀文章，并討論與由此達(dá)成的前提一致的問題。如果不是一個(gè)細(xì)節(jié)，我打算給學(xué)會起名叫功利主義者學(xué)會這件事就根本不值一提。這是第一次有人用功利主義者這個(gè)名稱，這個(gè)詞就從這種不起眼的渠道進(jìn)入了英語。它不是我發(fā)明的，我是從高爾特的一部小說《教區(qū)年鑒》中看到的，這本書假托一名蘇格蘭牧師的自傳。在小說中，他警告自己教區(qū)的居民不要放棄福音，而要變成功利主義者。出于男孩子對名字和標(biāo)語的喜好，我采納了這個(gè)詞，有幾年，用它作為一個(gè)派別的稱號來稱呼自己和其他一些人。偶爾，持有這個(gè)詞本來所指含義的一些人也會用它。隨著那些觀點(diǎn)吸引了更多注意力，這一術(shù)語被陌生人和反對者不斷重復(fù)，就在倡導(dǎo)者放棄它和其他一些派系特征時(shí)，這個(gè)詞反而應(yīng)用得相當(dāng)普遍了。這個(gè)所謂的學(xué)會最初僅有三名成員，其中一個(gè)是邊沁先生的文書，為我們獲得許可在邊沁家里開會。我想人數(shù)從來沒達(dá)到十個(gè)。學(xué)會于1826年解散，因此，它存在了大約三年半。對我來說，除了練習(xí)口頭討論這個(gè)好處之外，它對我的主要作用是讓我接觸到好幾個(gè)當(dāng)時(shí)水平不如我的年輕人，由于他們承認(rèn)相同的觀點(diǎn)，在他們中間，我有一段時(shí)間算是個(gè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者，對他們的智力進(jìn)步產(chǎn)生了很大影響。任何我所遇見的、受過教育的年輕人，只要觀點(diǎn)與學(xué)會不沖突，我都會盡力爭取讓他加入學(xué)會；還有一些人，要不是加入了學(xué)會的話，我可能永遠(yuǎn)都不會認(rèn)識。那些變成我親密朋友的會員——沒有一個(gè)是任何意義上的信徒，而全都是基于各自知識基礎(chǔ)而進(jìn)行獨(dú)立思考的思想家——包括威廉.艾頓.圖克，他是一位著名政治經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家的兒子，是位道德上和智力上都有非凡優(yōu)點(diǎn)的年輕人，可惜英年早逝。他的朋友威廉.埃利斯，是政治經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)領(lǐng)域內(nèi)一位有創(chuàng)造性的思想家，現(xiàn)在由于為教育進(jìn)步做使徒般的努力而出名，受人尊敬；喬治.格雷厄姆，后來成了破產(chǎn)法庭的官方代理人，是位在幾乎所有抽象主題上都有創(chuàng)意、有能力的思想家；還有一位（從1824年或1825年，他最初到英國學(xué)習(xí)法律開始），他在這個(gè)世界發(fā)出的聲音比上述所有人都要多，他就是約翰·阿瑟·羅巴克。

In May, 1823, my professional occupation and status for the next thirty-five years of my life, were decided by my father's obtaining for me an appointment from the East India Company, in the office of the Examiner of India Correspondence, immediately under himself. I was appointed in the usual manner, at the bottom of the list of clerks, to rise, at least in the first instance, by seniority; but with the understanding that I should be employed from the beginning in preparing drafts of despatches, and be thus trained up as a successor to those who then filled the higher departments of the office. My drafts of course required, for some time, much revision from my immediate superiors, but I soon became well acquainted with the business, and by my father's instructions and the general growth of my own powers, I was in a few years qualified to be, and practically was, the chief conductor of the correspondence with India in one of the leading departments, that of the Native States. This continued to be my official duty until I was appointed Examiner, only two years before the time when the abolition of the East India Company as a political body determined my retirement. I do not know any one of the occupations by which a subsistence can now be gained, more suitable than such as this to any one who, not being in independent circumstances, desires to devote a part of the twenty-four hours to private intellectual pursuits. Writing for the press, cannot be recommended as a permanent resource to any one qualified to accomplish anything in the higher departments of literature or thought: not only on account of the uncertainty of this means of livelihood, especially if the writer has a conscience, and will not consent to serve any opinions except his own; but also because the writings by which one can live, are not the writings which themselves live, and are never those in which the writer does his best. Books destined to form future thinkers take too much time to write, and when written come, in general, too slowly into notice and repute, to be relied on for subsistence. Those who have to support themselves by their pen must depend on literary drudgery, or at best on writings addressed to the multitude; and can employ in the pursuits of their own choice, only such time as they can spare from those of necessity; which is generally less than the leisure allowed by office occupations, while the effect on the mind is far more enervating and fatiguing. For my own part I have, through life, found office duties an actual rest from the other mental occupations which I have carried on simultaneously with them. They were sufficiently intellectual not to be a distasteful drudgery, without being such as to cause any strain upon the mental powers of a person used to abstract thought, or to the labour of careful literary composition. The drawbacks, for every mode of life has its drawbacks, were not, however, unfelt by me. I cared little for the loss of the chances of riches and honours held out by some of the professions, particularly the bar, which had been, as I have already said, the profession thought of for me. But I was not indifferent to exclusion from Parliament, and public life: and I felt very sensibly the more immediate unpleasantness of confinement to London; the holiday allowed by India-House practice not exceeding a month in the year, while my taste was strong for a country life, and my sojourn in France had left behind it an ardent desire of travelling. But though these tastes could not be freely indulged, they were at no time entirely sacrificed. I passed most Sundays, throughout the year, in the country, taking long rural walks on that day even when residing in London. The month's holiday was, for a few years, passed at my father's house in the country: afterwards a part or the whole was spent in tours, chiefly pedestrian, with some one or more of the young men who were my chosen companions; and, at a later period, in longer journeys or excursions, alone or with other friends. France, Belgium, and Rhenish Germany were within easy reach of the annual holiday: and two longer absences, one of three, the other of six months, under medical advice, added Switzerland, the Tyrol, and, Italy to my list. Fortunately, also, both these journeys occurred rather early, so as to give the benefit and charm of the remembrance to a large portion of life.

1823年5月，父親為我在東印度公司印度通信檢察署謀了一個(gè)職位，在他的直接領(lǐng)導(dǎo)之下，我接下來三十五年的職業(yè)生涯和地位都因此確定了。我以通常程序被錄用，排在職員名單的最后面，升職要靠資歷，至少在起初的時(shí)候是這樣。但是我知道自己從一開始就要準(zhǔn)備做起草公務(wù)急報(bào)的工作，這樣可以得到充分的鍛煉，以便接替當(dāng)時(shí)這個(gè)辦事處更重要部門的職員。有一段時(shí)間，我的草稿當(dāng)然需要我的直接上司進(jìn)行很多修正，但是，我很快就熟悉了業(yè)務(wù)。由于父親的指導(dǎo)，加上自己能力的總體提升，沒過幾年，我就能勝任土邦某個(gè)主要部門里面與英屬印度通信的總指揮的工作了，而且實(shí)際上就在做這個(gè)工作。被任命為檢查官之前，這一直都是我的正式職務(wù)，就在我被任命為檢查官兩年后，東印度公司作為政治實(shí)體被廢除，這決定了我必須退休。對于一個(gè)經(jīng)濟(jì)上不獨(dú)立，又渴望把二十四小時(shí)的一部分時(shí)間用于個(gè)人智力追求的人來說，我不知道還有比這個(gè)謀生的工作更合適的選擇了。對于一個(gè)有能力在文學(xué)或思想這些更高領(lǐng)域有所成就的人來說，為出版社寫稿，不是可取的永久性辦法，不僅因?yàn)檫@種謀生手段的不確定性，尤其是如果這個(gè)作家有良心，除了自己的觀點(diǎn)之外，不會為了別人的觀點(diǎn)而寫作。還因?yàn)?，讓人能夠賺錢謀生的那些作品本身沒有生命力，也永遠(yuǎn)不是作者傾注全力的作品。一本書，如果注定能造就未來思想家，就必定要花很長時(shí)間來寫，寫完后，通常要過很長時(shí)間才能被人注意，并得到榮譽(yù)，因此無法作為賴以生存的手段。那些靠寫作謀生的人必須依靠做文學(xué)苦力，最好寫通俗作品。只能從必須花費(fèi)的時(shí)間之外抽出一點(diǎn)時(shí)間用于追求自己的夢想，這點(diǎn)時(shí)間一般比公職容許的閑暇少，然而，卻遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)更讓人頭腦倦怠、疲勞。對我來說，整個(gè)一生中，我發(fā)現(xiàn)公職實(shí)際上是我同時(shí)進(jìn)行其他腦力勞動的調(diào)劑。公職也需要一些智力，足以不讓人覺得是討厭的苦差事，而且，還不會給習(xí)慣于抽象思考，或者努力進(jìn)行細(xì)心文學(xué)創(chuàng)作者的智力帶來任何壓力。然而，我也不是沒有感覺到它的缺點(diǎn)，因?yàn)槿魏紊罘绞蕉加腥秉c(diǎn)。我不在乎失去某些職業(yè)有機(jī)會獲得的財(cái)產(chǎn)和榮譽(yù)，尤其是律師工作，我已經(jīng)說過，父親曾為我考慮過這個(gè)職業(yè)。但是，我卻無法不在乎被議會和公共生活排除在外，而且被限制在倫敦，會讓我很明顯地感覺到更直接的不快。東印度公司的慣例是每年允許的假期不超過一個(gè)月，然而，我很想過鄉(xiāng)村生活，并且，在法國的逗留讓我強(qiáng)烈渴望旅行。盡管不能毫無顧忌地沉迷于我的這些喜好，但它們也絕沒有因?yàn)楣ぷ鞫勘缓雎缘?。一年中的大部分星期天，我都是在鄉(xiāng)下度過的，在鄉(xiāng)間進(jìn)行長時(shí)間散步。即使住在倫敦的時(shí)候，也是如此。在這每年一個(gè)月的假期中，有幾年，我是在父親鄉(xiāng)下的房子里度過的。后來，一部分或整個(gè)假期都在旅行，主要是和一個(gè)或更多我選好的年輕同伴一起步行。再后來，在較遠(yuǎn)的旅行或遠(yuǎn)足中，我是自己一個(gè)人或者和其他朋友一起去的。法國、比利時(shí)和德國萊茵河由于離得近是每年假期都可能會去的地方。根據(jù)醫(yī)生建議，我有了兩個(gè)較長的假期，一次是三個(gè)月，另一次六個(gè)月，分別去了瑞士、蒂羅爾和意大利。幸運(yùn)的是，這兩次旅行都是在相當(dāng)年輕的時(shí)候去的，讓我大半生都有陶醉、有益的回憶。

I am disposed to agree with what has been surmised by others, that the opportunity which my official position gave me of learning by personal observation the necessary conditions of the practical conduct of public affairs, has been of considerable value to me as a theoretical reformer of the opinions and institutions of my time. Not, indeed, that public business transacted on paper, to take effect on the other side of the globe, was of itself calculated to give much practical knowledge of life. But the occupation accustomed me to see and hear the difficulties of every course, and the means of obviating them, stated and discussed deliberately, with a view to execution; it gave me opportunities of perceiving when public measures, and other political facts, did not produce the effects which had been expected of them, and from what causes; above all, it was valuable to me by making me, in this portion of my activity, merely one wheel in a machine, the whole of which had to work together. As a speculative writer, I should have had no one to consult but myself, and should have encountered in my speculations none of the obstacles which would have started up whenever they came to be applied to practice. But as a Secretary conducting political correspondence, I could not issue an order or express an opinion, without satisfying various persons very unlike myself, that the thing was fit to be done. I was thus in a good position for finding out by practice the mode of putting a thought which gives it easiest admittance into minds not prepared for it by habit; while I became practically conversant with the difficulties of moving bodies of men, the necessities of compromise, the art of sacrificing the non-essential to preserve the essential. I learnt how to obtain the best I could, when I could not obtain everything; instead of being indignant or dispirited because I could not have entirely my own way, to be pleased and encouraged when I could have the smallest part of it; and when even that could not be, to bear with complete equanimity the being overruled altogether. I have found, through life, these acquisitions to be of the greatest possible importance for personal happiness, and they are also a very necessary condition for enabling any one, either as theorist or as practical man, to effect the greatest amount of good compatible with his opportunities.

我的公務(wù)職位讓我有機(jī)會通過親自觀察，學(xué)習(xí)實(shí)際管理公共事務(wù)的必要條件，有人猜測，作為我那個(gè)時(shí)代觀點(diǎn)和制度的理論改革家，這對我有很大價(jià)值，我愿意承認(rèn)這一點(diǎn)。以書面形式辦理，在地球另一端生效的公共事務(wù)，其本身并非適合提供生活中的很多實(shí)用知識。但是，這個(gè)職業(yè)讓我習(xí)慣于看到、聽到每一項(xiàng)事業(yè)里面的困難，以及消除困難的方法：它們被慎重地表達(dá)，討論，并著眼于執(zhí)行。它讓我有機(jī)會覺察到，公共措施和其他政治行為在什么時(shí)候不能產(chǎn)生期待的結(jié)果，以及原因是什么。最重要的是，在我的這段工作中，它讓我僅僅成為一臺機(jī)器的一個(gè)輪子，而整臺機(jī)器必須通力合作，這一點(diǎn)對我是很有價(jià)值的。作為思考型的作家，除了自己之外，我本來應(yīng)該沒有任何人可以請教，在思索中，本來應(yīng)該碰不到任何把思考應(yīng)用于實(shí)踐都會突然出現(xiàn)的障礙。但是，作為管理政治通信的書記，我發(fā)布命令或表達(dá)觀點(diǎn)時(shí)，必須讓各種各樣的，和我完全不同的人滿意，覺得這件事適合實(shí)施才行。因此，我所處的有利位置能夠讓我通過實(shí)踐找出方法，讓不習(xí)慣接受某種想法的人，很容易地接受這個(gè)想法。同時(shí)，我在實(shí)踐上熟悉了說服眾人的困難，妥協(xié)的必要性，和犧牲不重要的以保護(hù)重要的處世藝術(shù)。我學(xué)會了在我不能獲得一切的時(shí)候，要盡力得到最好的。如果不能隨心所欲，我也不會憤怒或者沮喪。相反，即便能在很小的程度上這么做，我也會歡欣鼓舞。如果這也做不到，就泰然忍受被完全否決。縱觀人生，我發(fā)現(xiàn)，這些收獲對個(gè)人幸福來說，是最重要的，它們也是讓任何人，無論是理論家還是實(shí)干家，利用機(jī)會實(shí)現(xiàn)最大利益的非常必要的條件。

(1) 安托萬·洛朗·拉瓦錫（1743—1794），法國化學(xué)家，被認(rèn)為是現(xiàn)代化學(xué)的奠基人。

(2) 波拿巴，是法國皇帝拿破侖的家族姓氏。

(3) 吉倫特派，法國大革命時(shí)期立法委員會和國民議會中的一個(gè)政治派系。

(4) 邊沁主義，邊沁提倡的功利主義學(xué)說。

(5) 約翰·洛克（1632—1704）英國哲學(xué)家。在《人類理智論》（1690年）中，他提出了經(jīng)驗(yàn)論原則，他的《政府論兩篇》（1690年）影響了《獨(dú)立宣言》。

(6) 克勞德·阿德里安·愛爾維修（1715—1771），18世紀(jì)法國唯物主義者，主要著作有《論精神》《論人的理智能力和教育》。

(7) 喬治·貝克萊（1685—1753），愛爾蘭主教、哲學(xué)家，其基本理論是反對托馬斯.霍布斯的物質(zhì)主義，認(rèn)為存在是感知或被感知。其著作有《人類和知識原理》（1710年）等。

(8) 托馬斯·里德（1710—1796），蘇格蘭哲學(xué)家，創(chuàng)立了共同意識的哲學(xué)。

(9) 杜格爾德·斯圖爾特（1753—1828），英國哲學(xué)家，是常識學(xué)派的支持者。

(10) 伯里克利（約公元前495—前429），古雅典首領(lǐng)，因其推進(jìn)了雅典民主制并下令建造巴臺農(nóng)神廟而著名。

(11) 喬治·格羅特（1794—1871），英國歷史學(xué)家，以所著《希臘史》聞名。

(12) 塞繆爾·泰勒·柯爾律治（1772—1834），英國詩人、批評家、浪漫主義流派的倡導(dǎo)者。