大卫·休谟
大卫·休谟（David Hume，1711年5月7日—1776年8月25日[1]）是英国哲学家、经济学家、和历史学家。
语录
[编辑]- 天堂与地狱把人分为两种，好人和坏人。但是人性中最伟大的部分却是在恶与美之间浮动。
- Essay on the Immortality of the Soul
- “很幸运的，虽然理性并无法驱除我脑中哲学的忧郁和精神错乱，大自然本身达成了这个目标。透过放松这个脑袋或透过一些娱乐消遣，使我获得愉悦的感官刺激，消除了所有这些恼中的怪念头。我会吃吃东西、或是下下棋、与人聊天、与我的朋友度过美好时光；而在经过三四个小时的娱乐后，我才会回到那些哲学思考中，发现我的脑子竟是如此的冷酷、如此节制而可笑，让我体悟到我不应该再从事这种活动了。” 存档副本. [2007-06-09]. （原始内容存档于2006-08-24）.。
- 最初休谟打算从事法律职业，但不久后他发现自己有了“一种对于学习哲学和知识以外所有事物的极度厌烦感，当我的家人想像我正在阅读屋埃特和维尼阿斯（两位当时著名的法学家）时，我实际上却是在阅读西塞罗和维吉尔的著作。”休谟对于大学里的教授都不抱好感，他曾在1735年告诉一名朋友说：“你根本不能从教授身上学到任何东西，那些东西在书里都有了。”[2]
- 奴隶制对惯于自由的人而言是如此可怕，以至于必须将奴隶制逐步伪装才能被接受。但是，如果曾经失去新闻自由，就必然立即失去新闻自由。目前，反对对政府的反叛的一般法律已经可以制定。没有什么可以加以进一步的约束，而是要么在新闻界鼓掌，要么向法院赋予很大的酌处权，以惩罚使他们不愉快的一切。但是这些让步将是对自由的赤裸裸的侵犯，以至于它们可能是专制政府的最后努力。我们可以得出结论，当这些尝试取得成功时，英国的自由就永远消失了。
- 原文：Slavery has so frightful an aspect to men accustomed to freedom, that it must steal upon them by degrees, and must disguise itself in a thousand shapes, in order to be received. But, if the liberty of the press ever be lost, it must be lost at once. The general laws against sedition and libelling are at present as strong as they possibly can be made. Nothing can impose a farther restraint, but either the clapping an Imprimatur upon the press, or the giving to the court very large discretionary powers to punish whatever displeases them. But these concessions would be such a bare-faced violation of liberty, that they will probably be the last efforts of a despotic government. We may conclude, that the liberty of Britain is gone for ever when these attempts shall succeed.
- 当时从未有一个将权力交给某些法官的政府出现在世界上……但是议会公正地认为，国王太过显著，无法以自由裁量权来信任他，他可能会轻易地将其转向破坏自由。
- 原文：No government, at that time, appeared in the world… But the parliament justly thought, that the King was too eminent a magistrate to be trusted with discretionary power, which he might so easily turn to the destruction of liberty.
- 对罗马的效忠在英格兰不断增加。受到征服者的情绪及曾由埃德雷德和艾德加引入的修道院的青睐，它很快达到了在法国和意大利曾有过的高度。之后它走得更远。其被遥远的情势所青睐，起初阻碍了其进展。
- 原文：The devoted attachment to Rome continually encreased in England; and being favoured by the sentiments of the conquerors, as well as by the monastic establishments formerly introduced by Edred and by Edgar, it soon reached the same height, at which it had, during some time, stood in France and Italy. It afterwards went much farther; being favoured by that very remote situation, which had at first obstructed its progress;
- 对于那些以哲学眼光看待人类事务的人来说，没有什么比让许多人受少数人统治的容易程度更令人惊讶的了。隐含的屈从，使人们将自己的感情和激情投向统治者。
- 原文：Nothing appears more surprising to those, who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers.
- 由于一致的情绪使它变得更加奇妙，因此任何矛盾都使它感到震惊和不安。因此，大多数人在争执中发现了这种渴望。因此，即使是在最投机和冷漠的意见中，他们也很反对。
- 原文：And as it is wonderfully fortified by an unanimity of sentiments, so is it shocked and disturbed by any contrariety. Hence the eagerness, which most people discover in a dispute; and hence their impatience of opposition, even in the most speculative and indifferent opinions.
- 一般来说，宗教错误是危险的；那些在哲学上只是荒谬的。
- 原文：Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.
- 没有什么比想像力的飞行更危险的推理了，在哲学家中发生更多错误的机会也没有。在这方面，有才华的人可以与那些天使一样，用经文作翼遮住眼睛。在许多情况下已经出现了这种情况，因此我们可以免除进一步扩大它的麻烦。
- 原文：Nothing is more dangerous to reason than the flights of the imagination, and nothing has been the occasion of more mistakes among philosophers. Men of bright fancies may in this respect be compar'd to those angels, whom the scripture represents as covering their eyes with their wings. This has already appear'd in so many instances, that we may spare ourselves the trouble of enlarging upon it any farther.
- 天鹅，火鸡或孔雀的独特步态和显示出的自娱时的高尚理想；及他对所有他者的蔑视。这是更值得注意的，在最后两种动物中，高傲总是伴随著美，且仅在雄性中才发现。夜莺在歌唱中的虚荣心和模仿已被普遍提及……所有这些都是显而易见的证据，骄傲和谦卑不仅是人类的激情，而且还扩展到整个动物创造。
- 原文：The very port and gait of a swan, or turkey, or peacock show the high idea he has entertain'd of himself; and his contempt of all others. This is the more remarkable, that in the two last species of animals, the pride always attends the beauty, and is discover'd in the male only. The vanity and emulation of nightingales in singing have been commonly remark'd […] All these are evident proofs, that pride and humility are not merely human passions, but extend themselves over the whole animal creation.
