On Human Nature and Politics
论人性和政治
伯特兰·罗素（Bertrand Russell ）
罗素(1872－1970)是20世纪声誉卓著、影响深远的思想家之一。在其漫长的一生中，完成了40余部著作，涉及哲学、数学、科学、论理学、社会学、教育、历史、宗教及政治等各个领域，对西方哲学产生了深刻影响。1950年获诺贝尔文学奖。
Undoubtedly the desire for food has been, and still is ,one of the main causes of great political events. But man differs from other animals in one very important respect, and that is that he has desires which are , so to speak, intimate, which can never be fully gratified, and which should keep him restless even in Paradise. The boa constrictor, when he had an adequate meal, goes to sleep, and does not wake until he needs another meal. Human beings, for the most not part are not like this. When the Arabs, who had been used to living sparingly on a few dates acquired the riches of the Eastern Roman Empire and dwelt in palaces of almost unbelievable luxury, they did not, on that account, become inactive. Hunger could no longer be a motive, for Greek slaves supplied them with exquisite viands at the slightest nod. But other desires kept them active; four in particular , which we can label acquisitiveness , rivalry, vanity and love of power.
毫无疑问，占有食物的欲望过去一直是，而且现在也仍然是导致重大政治事件的主要原因之一。而人不同于其他动物的一个重要方面在于人具有无止境的、永远无法满足的欲望，欲望使人即使到了天堂也会坐立不安。巨蟒饱食后就去睡觉，直到需要再进食时它才醒来，绝大部分人不像巨蟒那样。习惯于吃几个枣充饥的阿拉伯人没有因为获得了东罗马帝国的财富，稍一点头，希腊奴隶就会为他们端上最精美的食物，然而是其他欲望使他们行动起来，尤其是以下四种。可以称之为：占有欲，竞争欲、虚荣心、权力欲。
Acquisitiveness-the wish to possess as much as possible of goods , or the title to goods-is a motive which, I suppose, has its origin in a combination of fear with the desire for necessaries.
占有欲—希望尽可能多地占有财产或拥有财产的所有权—是一个动机。我认为该动机产生于恐惧心理和拥有必需品的欲望结合之中。
I once befriended two little girls from Esthonia, who had narrowly escaped death from starvation in a famine. They lived in my family ,and of course had plenty to eat.But they spent all their leisure visiting neighbouring farms and stealing potatoes, which they hoarded . Rockfeller ,who in his infancy had experienced great poverty ,spent his adult life in a similar manner.Similarly the Arab chieftains on their silken Byzantine divans could not forget the desert ,and hoarded riches far beyond any possible physical need. But whatever the psychoanalysis of acquisitiveness, no one can deny that it is one of the great motives -especially among the more powerful, for ,as I said before, it is one of the infinite motives .However much you may acquire you will always wish to acquire more ;satiety is a dream which will always elude you.
我曾经帮助过两个来自爱沙尼亚的小姑娘，她俩在一次饥荒中差点被饿死。她们住在我家，当然有许多吃的，可是她们却利用整个闲暇时间到附近的农场去转，偷土豆，还把偷来的土豆贮藏起来。洛克菲勒年幼时经历了极大的贫穷，成年后他仍以同样节俭的方式生活。同样，坐在拜占庭帝国丝绒沙发椅上的阿拉伯酋长也不会忘记沙漠，他们把远远超出任何可能物质需要的财富囤积起来。然而，无论对占有欲进行怎样的精神分析，没有人否认：占有欲是巨大动机之一—尤其在享有较多权力的人当中更是如此，正如我上面讲到的那样，占有欲是永无止境的动机之一。无论你得到了多少，你还希望得到更多，满足是个你永远实现不了的梦。
But acquisitiveness, although it is the mainspring of the capitalist system , is by no means the most powerful of the motives that survive the conquest of hunger .Rivalry is a much stronger motive ,Over and over again in Muhammadan history, dynasties have come to grief because the sons of a sultan by different mothers could not agree, and in the resulting civil war universal ruin resulted. The same sort of thing happens in modern Europe When the British Government very unwisely allowed the Kaiser to be present at a naval review at Spithead ,the thought which arose in his mind was not the one which we had intended.What he thought was.”I must have a Navy as good as Grandmamma’s.”And from this thought pier place than it is if acquisitiveness were always stronger than rivalry.But in fact ,a great many men will cheerfully face impoverishment if they can thereby secure complete ruin for their rivals, Hence the present level of taxation.
虽然占有欲是资本主义制度的主要动机，但它并不是征服饥饿后的一个强大动机，更为强烈的动机乃是竞争。在伊斯兰教史上，王朝一次又一次的遭难，是因为同父异母的子女们常常意见不同，从而导致了内战，赞成了普遍的破坏。现代欧洲也发生过同样的事情。当英国政府极不明智地允许德皇出席斯匹特海德海军检阅式时，出现在德皇脑海里的想法并不是我们所想的那种，他想的是”我必须拥有一个海军，跟祖母的一样好”。就是他的这个想法造成了一系列的麻烦。如果占有欲总是比竞争欲强烈，那么世界会比现在列充满幸福。但事实上，许多人只要保证把他们的竞争对手彻底击败宁肯面对贫穷，于是就出现了目前的税制。
Motive of immense potency. Anyone who has much to do with children knows how they are constantly performing some antic and saying “Look at me” “Look at me “is one of the most fundamental desires of the human heart. It can take innumerable was a Renaissance Italian princeling who was asked by the priest on his deathbed if he had anything to repent of “Yes,”he said “There is one thing.On one occasion I had a visit from the Emperor and the Pope simultaneously .I too tem to the top of my tower to see the view ,and I neglected the opportunity to throw them both down .which would have given me immortal fame.” history does not relate whether the priest gave him absolution. One of the troubles about vanity is that it grows with what it feeds on .The talked about. The condemned murderer who is allowed to see the account of his trial in the Press is indignant if he finds a newspaper which has reported it inadequately. And the more he finds about himself in other newspapers ,the more indignant he will be with those whose reports are meager. Politicians and literary men are in the same case. And the more famous they become,the more difficult the press cutting agency finds it to satisfy them .It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the influence of vanity throughout the range of human life, from the child of three to the potentate at whose frown the world trembles. Mankind have even committed the impiety of attributing similar desires to the deity ,whom they imaging avid for continual praise.
虚荣心是个有巨大潜力的动机。与孩子们打交道的人都知道，孩子们是如何一边做了一些滑稽动作，一边说着”看我”。”看我”是人心中最基本的欲望，它以不同的形式出现，从讲粗俗的笑话到追求死后的声望形式各异。有一位文艺复兴时期的意大利王公，临终前牧师问他是否有什么需要忏悔的，他说”是的，有一年事。”“有一天皇上和教皇同时到我这里来参观，我领他们登上塔顶观景，我没有利用这个把他俩仍下去的机会，如果我那样做了，一定会获得不朽的声望。”历史没有告诉我们那位牧师是否给这个王公免了罪。虚荣心的问题之一是随着鼓励的增加而增加，越是被别人谈论，越希望被别人谈论。让判了刑的杀人犯阅读一下报上登载的审判他的报告，如果他发现哪家报纸没作充足的报导，他会十分气愤的。报纸报导他的越多，对那些报导他少的报纸他感到气愤。政治家和文人就是这样。他们越出名，剪报机构觉得越难满足他们。在人类生活阶段，从三岁幼童到皱一皱眉世界就得抖一抖的君主，要夸大虚荣心的影响不太可能，人类犯了个大不敬的错误，认为神灵敢有同样的欲望，想象神灵也渴望得到不断的歌颂。
But great as is the influence of the motives we have been considering, there is one which out weighs these all……Power, like vanity, is insatiable,Nothing short of omnipotence could satisfy it completely.And as it is especially the vice of energetic men, the casual efficacy of love of power is out of all proportion to its frequency. It is ,indeed, by far the strongest motive in the lives of important men .Love of power is greatly increased by the experience of power ,and this applies to petty power as well as to that of potentates ,In the happy days before 1914,when well-to -do ladies could acquire a host of servants, their pleasure in exercising power over the domestics steadily increased with age .Similarly, in any autocratic regime, the holders of power become increasingly, tyrannical with experience of the delights that power can afford. Since power over human beings is shown in making them do what they would rather not do, the man who is actuated by love of power is more apt to inflict pain than to permit pleasure .If you ask your boss for leave lf absence from the office on some legitimate occasion, his love of power will derive more satisfaction from refusal than from consent .If you require a building permit ,the petty official concerned will obviously get more pleasure from saying “No” than from saying “Yes”.It is this sort of thing which makes the love of power such a dangerous motive ,But it has other sides which are more desirable .The pursuit of knowledge is ,I think ,mainly actuated by love lf power ,And so are all advances in scientific technique ,In politics also ,a reformer may have just as strong a love of power as a despot .It would be a complete mistake to decry love of power altogether as a motive ,Whether you will be led by this motive to actions which are useful ,or to actions which are pernicious ,depends upon the social system ,and upon your capacities .
虽然我们谈到的动机影响很大，但权力欲的影响更大。如同虚荣心，权力欲也无法得到满足。简直可以这样说；只有无限权力才能使它满足。由于精力充沛的人特别容易染上这一恶习，权力欲的偶然被实现与人们希望得到权力的欲望不成比例。的确，重要人物生活中最强烈的动机就是权力欲，体验到权力后便增加了人的权力欲，无论是小小的芝麻官还是至尊的当权者都是如此，在1914年以前那段幸福的日子里，家境富裕的太太们能雇用一帮仆人，行使权力的快乐与年龄俱增。同样，在任何独裁社会制度里，当掌权者享受到权力给他带来的快乐后，他变得更加专横拔扈了。由于对人的权力表现在能迫使人去做他不愿意做的事情上，那么受权力欲影响的人往往易于给人造成痛苦而让人快乐。如果你有正当理由向上司请假不上班，拒绝比同意更能满足他的权力欲。如果你申请建一座楼房，很显然，说”不行”比说”行”更能使那个小负责人得到快乐。就是这类事情使权力欲变成了一个危险的动机。权力欲也有它符合需要的方面。我认为：寻求知识主要受权力欲的影响，科学技术的进步也受它的影响，在政治方面，改革者可能和暴君有同样强的权力欲。把权力欲完全当成一个动机是十分错误的，这个动机是引导你去做有益的事情还是去做有害的事情，取决于社会制度，取决于你的能力。
I come now to other motives which ,though in a sense less fundamental than those we have been considering ,are still of considerable importuned ,The first of these is love of excitement .Human beings show their superiority to the brutes by their capacity for boredom ,though I have sometimes thought ,in Examining the apes at the Zoo. that they ,perhaps ,have the rudiments of this tiresome emotion .However that may be,experience shows that escape from boredom is one of the really powerful desires of almost all human beings .
现在我们来看一看其他动机。虽然从某种意义上讲它们比不上我们谈过的动机那样重要，但仍具有相当的重要性。其一是寻求刺激。人在感受厌烦方面表现得优于牲畜，但当我观察动物园里的猿时，有时我也想猿可能也有厌倦情感的萌芽吧。无论怎样，实验证明摆脱厌倦几乎是所有人的强烈愿望之一。
When white men first effect contact with some unspoilt race of savages, they offer them all kinds of benefits , from the light of the Gospel to pumpkin pie. These , however ,much as we may regret it ,most savages receive with indifference. What they really value among the gifts that we bring to them is intoxicating liquor ,which enables them .for the first time in their lives ,to have the illusion, for a few brief moments ,that it is better to be alive than dead.
当白人开始与某个未受破坏的野蛮民族接触时，他们从送基督教福音书到送南瓜馅饼，主动给野人各种好处。虽然我们可能表示遗憾，然而许多野人却冷冷地接受这一切。在我们带去的这些礼物中野人真正看重的是那令人陶醉的酒，酒使他们有生以来第一次产生了片刻的幻觉，觉得活着比死了强。
Red Indians ,while they were still unaffected by white men ,would smoke their pipes .not calmly as we do ,but orgiastically ,in haling so deeply that they sank into a faint ,And when excitement by means of nicotine failed ,a patriotic orator would stir them up to attack a neighbouring tribe ,which would give them all the enjoyment that we (according to our temperament ) derive from a horse race of a Genral Election.
红种印第安人，当他们还未受到白人影响时，不像我们平静地吸烟斗，而是发狂地猛吸直至隐入昏厥。当尼古丁的刺激不起作家时，一位爱国演说者就煽动他们去攻击邻近的一个部落，这样会使他们获得我们（根据我们的不同性格）看赛马或参加大选所得到的一切乐趣。
With civilized men ,as with primitive Red Indian tribes ,it is ,I think ,chiefly love of excitement which makes the populace applaud when war breaks out ;the emotion is exactly the same as at a football match ,although the results are sometimes somewhat more serious.
我认为：和原始红种印第安部落一样，当战争爆发时，文明人出于寻求刺激而鼓掌欢呼，那种情绪和观看一切足球比赛时的情绪一模一样，虽然有时结果有些严重。
It is not altogether easy to decide what is the root cause of the love of excitement. I incline to think that our mental make-up is adapted to the stage when men lived by hunting .When a man spent a long day with very primitive weapons in stalking a deer with the hope of dinner and when ,at the end of the day ,he dragged the carcase triumphantly to his cave ,he sank down in contented weariness, while his wife dressed and cooked the meat ,He was sleepy ,and his bones ached ,and the smell of cooking filled every nook and cranny of his consciousness. At last after eating ,he sank into deep sleep. In such a life there was neither time nor energy for boredom. But when he took to agriculture , and made his wife do all the heavy work in the fields, he had time to reflect upon the vanity of human life ,to invent mythologies and systems of philosophy ,and to dream of the life hereafter in which he would perpetually hunt the wild boar of Valhalla.
找出寻求刺激的根源并不是件容易的事情。我倾向于认为我们目前的心理构成只停留在人靠狩猎为生的那个阶段上。一个男人花整整一天的时间，拿着非常原始的武器跟踪一头鹿，希望美餐一顿。在一天结束之时，胜利地将死鹿拖进他的洞里，然后他疲惫不堪地、心满意足地坐下来，由他的妻子收拾鹿、炖鹿肉。他困得要命，骨头发酸，炖鹿肉的香味充进他意识中的每个角落。饱餐后他便呼呼大睡。在这种生活里面既没有时间也没有精力去感到厌倦。但当他开始从事农业，让妻子干田里一切重活时，他就有时间去考虑人生的虚荣、去创造神话和哲学体系，梦想来世他能不断地捕猎天堂的野猪。
Our mental make-up is suited to a life of very severe physical labour , I used ,when I was younger ,to take my holidays walking ,I would cover 25 miles a day ,and when the evening came I had no need of anything to keep me from boredom ,since the delight of sitting amply sufficed .But modern lift cannot be conducted on these physically strenuous principles ,A great deal of work is sedentary and most manual work exercises only a few specialized muscles. When London crowds assemble in Trafalgar Square to cheer to the echo an announcement that the government has decided to have them killed ,they would not do so if they had walked 25 miles that day .This cure for bellicosity is ,however ,impracticable and if the human race is to survive – a thing which is ,perhaps ,undesirable -other means must be found for securing an innocent outlet for the unused physical energy that produces love of excitement.
我们的心事构成只适于干非常重的体力劳动的生活，当我年轻的时候，我经常徒步旅行度假，一天要步行25英里，到了晚上我就不需要用什么去摆脱厌倦，因为坐着的快乐就足够了。但是现代生活不能靠这种消耗体力的原则进行，许多工作都需要坐着干，大多数体力活也只需运用几块专门肌肉而已。成群成群的伦敦人聚集在特拉法加广场欢呼政府决定让他们去送死的声明，如果那天他们步行25英里，他们就不会那样喊了。如果人类要生存下去—也许它不合需要—用步行医治好战问题是不切实际的，必须找出其他既能发泄未用上的、能产生刺激欲的体验又无危害的途径来。
This is a matter which has been too little considered, both by moralists and by social reformers .The social reformers are of the opinion that they have more serious things to consider , The moralists ,on the other hand ,are immensely impressed with the seriousness of all the permitted outlets of the love of excitement; the seriousness ,however ,in their minds is that of Sin ,Dance halls ,cinemas ,this age of jazz are all ,if we may believe our ears gateways to Hell, and we should be better employed sitting at home contemplating our sins. I find myself unable to be in entire agreement with the grave men who utter these warnings. The devil has many forms, some designed to deceive the young ,some designed to deceive the old and serious .If it is the devil that tempts the young to enjoy themselves ,is it not ,perhaps ,the same personage that persuades the old to condemn their enjoyment? And is not condemnation perhaps merely a form of excitement appropriate to old age ?And is it not , perhaps ,a drug which -like opium -has to be taken in continually stronger doses to produce the desired effect? Is it not to be feared that ,beginning with the wickedness of the cinema,we should be led step by step to condemn the opposite political party ,dagoes ,wops ,Asiatics ,and ,in short, everybody except the fellow members of our club? And it is from just such condemnations ,when widespread, that wars proceed .I never heard of a war that proceeded from dance halls.
对于这种事情道德家和社会改革者们考虑得极少，社会改革者们认为他们有更为严重的事情要考虑，而另一方面，道德家们则对一切允许人们发泄刺激欲的事情的严重性产生极大兴趣。在他们脑子里，严重性就是犯罪的严重性。如果我们没听错的话，舞厅、电影院，我们这个时代的爵士乐统统都是通往地狱的途径，因此我们最好坐在家里反思自己的罪过。我觉得自己不能完全同意发出这样警告的人的意见。魔鬼有多种形式，有的企图欺骗青年，有的企图欺骗老年人和严肃的人，假如魔鬼能引诱青年寻欢作乐，有没有可能这个魔鬼还能劝说老年人去谴责青年享乐的呢？有没有可能受谴责是一种适合老年人的刺激呢？有没有可能有那么一种药—像鸦片—必须不断地，大剂量地吃，以此产生所需要的效果来？是不是恐怕有人从谴责电影院的邪恶开始；引导我们一步一步地去谴责对立政党、意大利佬、南欧佬、亚洲佬，总之，除了本俱乐部成员之外的所有人呢？当这种谴责广泛传播之时，战争便爆发了。我从未听说过哪场战争是由舞厅引起的。
What is serious about excitement is that so many of its forms are destructive.It is destructive in those who cannot resist excess in alcohol or gambling. It is destructive when it takes the form of mobviolence . And above all it is destructive when it leads to war , It is so deep a need that is will find harmful outlets of this kind unless innocent outlets are at hand. There are such innocent outlets at present in sport, and in politics so long as it is kept in constitutional bounds , But these are not sufficient ,especially as the kind of politics that is most exciting is also the kind that does most harm.
寻求刺激的严重性在于它的许多种形式具有危害性。其有害性表现在那些不能控制自己饮酒、赌博的人身上。当寻求刺激以聚众斗殴的形式出现时，它是有害的。总之，当寻求刺激导致战争时，它是有害的。除非有既无危害又能发泄人的刺激欲的现成途径，否则人的刺激欲太强可能用有害的方式发泄。目前既无危害又能发泄人的追求刺激欲的途径有运动、还有政治（只要在宪法之内），但是这些还不够，尤其是最能产生刺激的那种政治，它也最能产生危害。
Civilized life has grown altogether too tame, and, if it is to be stable , it must provide harmless outlets for the impulses which our remote ancestors satisfied in hunting. In Australia ,where people are few and rabbits are many ,I watched a whole populace satisfying the primitive impulse in the primitive manner by the skilful slaughter of many thousands of rabbits ,But in London or New York, where people are many and rabbits are few ,some other means must be found to gratify primitive impulse ,I think every big town should contain artificial waterfalls that people could descend in very fragile canoes ,and they should contain bathing pools full of mechanical sharks ,Any persons found advocating a preventive war should be condemned to two hours a day with these ingenious monsters.
文明生活已经变得太平淡了，如果要保持社会稳定，必须给人们提供一种满足冲动的途径，就是我们的老祖宗从打猎中获得的、毫无危害的满足冲动的方式。在人少兔多的澳大利亚，我看到全国的老百姓用原始的方式熟练地屠杀成千上万只兔子以此来满足他们那种原始冲动。但是在人多兔少的伦敦或美国，必须找出其他满足人们原始冲动的途径来。我认为每个大城市都应设人造瀑布以供人们乘坐不结实的木舟往下滑，还应设充满机械鲨鱼的浴池，只要发现有谁提倡打防御战，就罚他一天与可怕的怪物呆两个小时。
