某套思想长久以来有着不可超越的影响 A single set of ideas has long exercised unsurpassed influence
标称 同世界作斗争 label it the struggle with the world
它将召唤我们走上一条向上的道路 It calls us to a path of ascent
要达到这条路必须通过社会和自我的改革 achieved through transformation of society and of the self
而其结果是增加我们 and resulting one it is successful in an increase of our share
归于上帝属性的份额 in the attributes that we ascribe to god
它有两个来源 It has 2 sources
一个是神圣来源 一个是异教来源 one sacred, the other profane
其神圣来源是闪米特人的上帝救世的宗教 Its sacred source are the Semitic religions of salvation
即 犹太教 基督教和伊斯兰教 Judaism and Christianity and Islam
说的是上帝介入历史 拯救人类 with their narrative of gods saving intervention in history
而其异教来源是 Its profane source are the secular projects of the emancipation
解放人类的世俗计划 which for over 2 centuries
而这个计划已让全世界为之振奋了2个多世纪 have set the whole world on fire
民主主义 自由主义与社会主义的政治目标 The political projects of democracy, liberalism and socialism
以及关于流行浪漫文化的个人计划 and the personal project of the popular romantic culture
是每个男人和女人都是神圣的这一信念 was its message that every man and woman is godlike
这一系列观念如今既强大又弱小 This set of ideas is now at once strong and weak
说其强大 是因为它掌控了无与伦比的权威 Strong, because it commands unequalled authority
而说它弱小 是因为它的追随者们 Weak, because its votaries no longer know
再也不知道下一步要怎么走 what its next step should be
它已经迷失了 It is lost
要让这些观念生存下来 我们必须再造它们 To make these ideas live, we must reinvent them
与世界作斗争 的形而上学理论背景是 The metaphysical background to the struggle with the world
对现实 以及对我们在现实中位置的看法 is a vision of reality and of our place within it
世界是真实存在的 There is one real world
时间是真实的 一路向前 Time is real, goes all the way down
所有事物都在它的基础上发展 and holds swell of everything
历史是开放性的 不会按照任何既定路线走 History is open and fails to conform to a script
真正的新事物之所以会产生 The really new can happen
是因为可能性并不仅仅是一个慢慢逼近这个世界 because the possible is not simply a ghost stalking the world
并等待机会登上真实世界舞台的幽灵 and waiting for its cue to come on to the stage of actuality
不限定深度 那么自我就具有不确定性 The self has indeterminate if not on limited depth
并且在寻常人身上比身处高位者 and there is more dignity and potential
具有更多的尊严与潜能 in the common place than in the grand
现实视野支持这一自我观念 This vision of reality supports a conception of the self
我们体现为凡人的有机体 We are incarnate in mortal organisms
并在我们创造并居住的 and shaped by the social and cultural context
社会和文化环境中得到塑造 that we built and inhabit
然而我们当中 无论是我们每个个体 Nevertheless, there is always more in us, in each of us individually
还是作为人类的整体 and in all of us collectively the human race
都比他们现有或者可以有的人类种族要多 than there is or there can be in them
我们看到的 发现的 经历的 发展的东西 We can always see, discover,experience and develop
总是比他们能容忍的东西多 more than they can countenance
环境的限制与想要超越环境的力量 This dialectic between restrictive circumstance
这二者之间的辩证 and the power to transcend it
正是我们人类的最典型特征 is a defining feature of our humanity
我刚刚概述的形而上学的观点 The metaphysical view I have outlined
好像是重复某个陈词滥调 may seem to be a litany of platitudes
但实际上这是一连串革命性观点 In fact it is a string of revolutionary propositions
与我们许多传统信念是不相容的 incompatible with many of our conventional beliefs
在我们对自然的信念里 In our beliefs about nature
我们开玩笑地提出许多可能存在的世界的观点 we toy with the idea of many possible worlds
但是我们这个唯一真实世界的最重要特征是 But the most important feature of this one real world
是什么就是什么 不是别的东西 is that it is what it is and not something else
对于时间的真实性 我们模棱两可 We equivocate about the reality of time
并墨守自然法则永恒不变框架的概念 and cling to the notion of the immutable framework of laws of nature
然而 如果时间是真实的 那么自然法则 But if time is for real, the laws of nature
就很容易被改变 并且不可能作为 must be susceptible to change and cannot serve
我们对因果关系解释的稳定保证 as the unchanging warrants of our causal explanations
我们禁不住诱惑 将数学视为 We succumb to the temptation to see mathematics
到达永恒真理的捷径 as a shortcut to eternal truth
并想象自然的终极实体 and then imagine that the ultimate realities of nature
与数学观念的永恒有着某些共性 must share in the timelessness of this mathematical ideas
但是数学是对世界幻影 But mathematics is a visionary exploration
进行的幻想性的探索 of a simulacrum of the world
在数学中 from which all phenomenal distinction
所有现象的差异以及时间都被抽出 and time have been sucked out
它之所以这么有用 正因为适用范围如此有限 and it is so useful only because it is so limited
在我们的政治信念中 我们排斥 In our political beliefs, we except
甚至将已制定的制度设置神圣化 and even sanctify the established institutional arrangements
便于民主制 市场经济 for the organization of democracies, market economies
和公民社会的组织 and civil societies
并使得计划性的争论范围被缩小至 and allow the scope of programmatic debate to be narrowed
继承制度结构内的 to the attempt to reconcile economic flexibility and social protection
尝试协调经济灵活性与社会保障的范围内 within the horizon of the inherited institutional structure
但是当前社会的基本问题 But none of the basic problems of contemporary societies
没有一个得以解决 can be solved
而我们最强大的利益与理想都未取得进步 and none of our most potent interest and ideals advanced
除非我们在经济 社会 unless we innovate in the institutional forms
和政治多元化的制度形式上进行改革 of economic, social and political pluralism
我们需要市场经济 即不会把大多数劳动力 We need market economies that do not abandon the majority
强迫成为奴性的工薪阶层的市场经济 of the labor force to servile wage labor
我们需要公民社会 即不仅仅依靠财富转移 civil societies that do not make social solidarity
来促进社会团结的的公民社会 depend solely on money transfers
我们也需要减少改革对危机的依赖的民主制 and democracies that weaken the dependence of change upon crisis
关于如何生存的信念中 In our beliefs about how to live
我们在很大程度上仍是改造的异教徒 we remain for the most part on reconstructive pagans
赋予自尊心一个位置 即 giving pride a place to the virtues of courage
面对贫瘠与公平的勇气的美德 for barrens and fairness
使得我们每个人 that win each of us away from the illusion that he lies
远离那个他处于世界中心的错觉 at the center of the world
作为更高生命形式的支撑 这些美德必不可少 These virtues are indispensable as supports for higher forms of life
但是在与世界斗争的光环下 But under the light of the struggle with the world
我们的任务远远超过了这些 our task goes far beyond them
还包括向新事物 向他人展开胸怀 to open ourselves to the new and to the other person
协调伟大与平和 to reconcile greatness and sweetness
拿掉我们的保护伞 to cast down our shields
以探索的方式生活 to live life as a search
并且只死一次 and to die only once
谁是 与世界作斗争 的敌人？ Who is the enemy of the struggle with the world?
现在它最强大的对手是异教哲学 Today its most formidable adversary is a pagan philosophy
就拿现代海德格尔的思想和方向为例 Take the extreme but revealing instance
它极端但是具有启迪作用 of the thought and the trajectory of modern Heidegger
曾经有过3个转折点 There were 3 moments
第一个转折点是 in the first moments
我们在经历世界无根据环境中 terror at the certainty of death
感受到的是对死亡之必然的恐惧 experienced in the setting in the groundlessness in the world
并利用这一恐惧折磨我们自己 and the use of this terror to wrench ourselves
脱离了集体生活的道路 out of the routines of collective life
第二个转折点是政治上的灾难 In the second moment the misadventures of politics
因为海德格尔认同国家社会主义运动 for Heidegger identification with a national socialist movement
第三个转折点是从政治灾难中 In a third moment retreat from the political catastrophe
撤退到虔诚地接受现实 into the worshipful reception of reality
这些转折点也适用于那些旁观 待机者 Those also serve who only stand and wait
有一个伟大的天主教诗人写道 wrote a great Christian poet
抛下那些伪装成希望的绝望 Betraying the despair in the disguise of hope
这种绝望是新异教的核心 This despair is the core of the new paganism
所以它才会 And so it happens again and again
从对必死与妄言的恐惧 from the fright of mortality and groundlessness
以及对政治的幻灭 and disillusionments of politics
到贬低愉悦屈服的惯例 into the private sublime in a belittling ritual
而抬高私人的崇高地位中反复出现 of euphoria surrender
对异教哲学一个基本的反对观点是 A fundamental objection to the pagan philosophy
它否认了人类最重要的特征 即 is that it denies the most important feature of our humanity
我们违反与超越的力量 our power to transgress and to transcend
如果真有完美无缺存在 那么就是生活 If there is a supreme good, it is life
生活超越并颠覆了它存在的所有形式 Life exceeds and overturns all the forms in which it moves
如果没有反抗与惊奇 那么它什么也不是 It is nothing if not resistance and surprise
异教哲学可能会回应道 The pagan philosopher may respond
与世界作斗争否认了 that the struggle with the world denies us
当下我们事实上已有的 what we can in fact have—the present moment
交换 in exchange for something
未来我们永远不能拥有的的东西 that we can never possess—the future
但是为未来而活是一种现在的生活方式 But living for the future is a way of living in the present
作为一个存在方式 不由环境决定 as a being not determined by his circumstances
异教的哲学家们希望我们戴着枷锁歌唱 The philosophers of paganism want us to sing in our chains
他们甚至想说服我们 They even try to persuade us
通过用别的方式思考并感受 that we can make our chains vanish
我们就能让枷锁消失 by thinking and feeling differently
但是我们不能假装已自由来获得自由 But we cannot free ourselves by pretending to be free
或许戴着枷锁歌唱比沉默要好 It is better to sing in our chains than not to sing at all
但是最好 我们要解放自己 But better yet, to unchain ourselves
我们如此做获得的最好前景就是 Our best prospect of doing so is to breathe new life and new meaning
为西方革命性正统说教注入新生命与新意义 into the revolutionary orthodoxy of the west