在这个八集的系列中 In this eight part series
我讨论了哲学和宗教上常见的问题 I discuss problems common to philosophy and to religion
我重点讨论的是 人类与虚无主义作斗争 My focus is our struggle with nihilism
我们的生命和世界本身或许是没有意义的恐惧 The fear that our lives and world itself may be meaningless
在第一部分 我将问道什么是宗教 In this first part, I ask what is religion
什么是哲学 什么是虚无主义 what is philosophy and what is nihilism
宗教的定义是什么 What is religion?
我们要在世界幻象中定位我们的生活方向 We anchor an orientation to life in a vision of the world
随着我们的信仰变得越来越广泛 As our beliefs become more comprehensive
定位和幻象之间的反差越来越能被理解了 the contrast between orientation and vision seizes to make sense
我们的生活在一个特定的方向中前进 We commit our lives in a particular direction
但是 对于这样一种不可逃遁的义务 although we never have, for such an inescapable commitment
我们从来没有充分的理由 adequate grounds
我们与我们最大的恐惧和最高的希望进行斡旋 We deal with our greatest terrors and our highest hopes
起初 In the beginning
这些恐惧和希望与我们对自然界的依赖有关 these terrors and hopes had to do with our dependence on nature
然后随着我们逐渐建立起文明 then as we built our civilizations
重点转移到了人类存在的缺陷 the emphasis shifted to the defects in human existence
因为我们注定要死亡 As we are doomed to die
我们希望能够获得永生 we hope for eternal life
由于我们不能够抓住终极实在的本质 As we are unable to grasp the nature of ultimate reality
或者是我们置身其中的位置 or our place within it
我们希望消除这种神秘性 we hope to dispel the mystery
并且解除人类存在的飘忽不定性 and to relieve our existence of its dreamlike character
由于我们受牵制于贪得无厌的欲望轮回 As we are bound to a wheel of insatiable desire
并从有限中寻求无限的可能性 and seek the infinite from the finite
我们希望能够得到等值于我们欲望的客体 we hope for an object of our desires that would be worth it
因为它将会是无限的 because it would be infinite
宗教史的一个新的时刻就要到来 A new moment in a history of religion will begin
当我们抵制住诱惑 when we resist the temptation
劝导自己 一切都还好 to persuade ourselves that everything is all right
因此 And therefore
基于对人类存在 on the basis of a recognition
无可救药的缺陷的认知 of the incorrigible flaws in human existence
我们决心要增加 Our determination to increase our share
我们赋有的那些属性中的份额 in the attributes that we ascribe
什么是哲学 在过去 What is philosophy? In the past
哲学经常成为一种将来时的超科学 philosophy has often been a would-be superscience
在自我发展的过程中 In the service of self-help
它有时候变成了一种镇压思想自由的思想警察 Then it has sometimes become a thought police
它既不是思想警察 也不是超科学 Neither thought police nor super science
哲学的更好作用是 The better work of philosophy is
作为一种思想工具 to serve as the instrument of the mind that were
来对我们的洞察能力的极限进行测试 testing the limits of our capacities for insight
和督促我们处理最重要事情的特权 and insisting on our prerogative to deal with things that matter most
以马利·康德用三种问题形式来描述它 Emmanuel Kant described them in a form of three questions
我可以得知什么 What can I know?
我应该怎么办 What should I do?
我可以期望什么 For what can I hope?
正是通过第三个问题 It is by this third question
哲学和宗教以及政治最直接地联系了起来 that philosophy most directly connects with religion and with politics
哲学上可以这么理解 In philosophy so understood
我们反抗方法论强加的约束 we rebel against the constraints imposed by the methods
以及询问和谈话中 and the presuppositions of all particular areas
所有特定领域的假说 of enquiry and of discourse
虽然 我们宣布放弃对超科学的声称 Yet we renounce the claim to a superscience
宣称放弃基础知识的早产儿 The renunciation of the preterms of foundational knowledge
似乎与我们反抗的决心是相互矛盾的 may seem to contradict the determination to rebel
然而 这种限制和力量的结合 Nevertheless, this combination of limits and of powers
验证了我们人类的一个根本属性 exemplifies a fundamental attribute of our humanity
我们处于一个思想 We are situated in particular context of thought
文化和社会的特定环境中 culture and society
它们形成了我们 它们造就了我们 They form us, they make us who we are
但是 我们比这种环境拥有更多属性 But there is more in us then there is in them
什么是虚无主义 What is nihilism?
我们不能够把握 We are unable to grasp the solution
解开现实世界谜团的办法 to the enigma of the reality of the world
和人类存在的本质 and of the nature of human existence
死亡的必然性使得这种无根据变得更有负担 The certainty of death lends weight to this groundlessness
虚无主义是我们对于必死性观点的 Our groundlessness experienced
无根据体验 in the perspective of our mortality is nihilism
虚无主义威胁着压倒我们的参与和连接 Nihilism threatens to overwhelm our engagements and connections
通过否认它们作为人类体外的一种立足点 by denying them a foothold outside ourselves
然而 虚无主义不仅仅是一种威胁 Nevertheless nihilism is more than a threat
它还是一种承诺 It is also a promise
或许可以从我们的受幻想抑制 Our struggle with nihilism may expunge
却还没被幻想毁灭掉的理念和理想中 from our ideas and ideals
剔除与虚无主义的斗争 detained of illusion if it does not destroy them
为了洞察力起见 我们冒着虚无主义的风险 We risk nihilism for the sake of insight
并通过洞察力实现一种更美好的生活 and achieve, through insight, a greater live