Day313|心理学问题:人性塑国
上句见:Day312
The Story of Philosophy《哲学的故事》第1章Plato第6节VI. The Psychological Problem第1段第2句:
But behind these political problems lies the nature of man; to understand politics, we must, unfortunately, understand psychology. "Like man, like state"(575); "governments vary as the characters of men vary;…states are made out of the human natures which are in them"(544); the state is what it is because its citizens are what they are. Therefore we need not expect to have better states until we have better men; till then all changes will leave every essential thing unchanged. "How charming people are! — always doctoring, increasing and complicating their disorders, fancying they will be cured by some nostrum which somebody advises them to try, never getting better, but always growing worse…. Are they not as good as a play, trying their hand at legislation, and imagining that by reforms they will make an end to the dishonesties and rascalities of mankind — not knowing that in reality they are cutting away at the heads of a hydra?"(425).
浙江大学译本:“国如其人”(第575节);“政府之差异有如人的性格之多变……国家是国家中人的本性造就的”(第544节);一个国家具备什么样的特色取决于其民众的整体性格特征。
解析
1、"Like man, like state"(575);
“有什么样的人,就有什么样的国家(第575节)”
最熟悉的类似句型莫过于“Like father, like son"(有其父必有其子)。
2、"governments vary as the characters of men vary;
“政府随人的性格变而变;
3、…states are made out of the human natures which are in them"(544); the state is what it is because its citizens are what they are.
城邦是由邦中人的本性构成的。”(第544节)
4、the state is what it is because its citizens are what they are.
城邦之所以是这样子,是因为其民众是这样的人。
这句子进一步说明民众决定了城邦,尤其是他们性格。理想社会不存在,就是因为人性不够简单。
“有什么样的人,就有什么样的国家;”“政府随人的性格变而变;城邦是由邦中人的本性构成的。”城邦之所以是这样子,是因为其民众是这样的人。