培根-论真理

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【英文】 Of Truth

WHAT is truth? said jesting Pilate,and would not stay for an answer. Certainly there be, that delight in giddiness, and count it a bondage to fix a belief; affecting free-will in thinking, as well as in acting. And though the sects of philosophers of that kind be gone, yet there remain certain discoursing wits, which are of the same veins, though there be not so much blood in them, as was in those of the ancients. But it is not only the difficulty and labor, which men take in finding out of truth, nor again, that when it is found, it imposeth upon men's thoughts, that doth bring lies in favor; but a natural, though corrupt love, of the lie itself. One of the later school of the Grecians, examineth the matter, and is at a stand, to think what should be in it, that men should love lies; where neither they make for pleasure, as with poets, nor for advantage, as with the merchant; but for the lie's sake. But I cannot tell; this same truth, is a naked, and open day-light, that doth not show the masks, and mummeries, and triumphs, of the world, half so stately and daintily as candle-lights. Truth may perhaps come to the price of a pearl, that showeth best by day; but it will not rise to the price of a diamond, or carbuncle, that showeth best in varied lights. A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure. Doth any man doubt, that if there were taken out of men's minds, vain opinions, flattering hopes, false valuations, imaginations as one would, and the like, but it would leave the minds, of a number of men, poor shrunken things, full of melancholy and indisposition, and unpleasing to themselves?

One of the fathers, in great severity, called poesy vinum daemonum, because it fireth the imagination; and yet, it is but with the shadow of a lie. But it is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in, and settleth in it, that doth the hurt; such as we spake of before. But howsoever these things are thus in men's depraved judgments, and affections, yet truth, which only doth judge itself, teacheth that the inquiry of truth, which is the love-making, or wooing of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature. The first creature of God, in the works of the days, was the light of the sense; the last, was the light of reason; and his sabbath work ever since, is the illumination of his Spirit. First he breathed light, upon the face of the matter or chaos; then he breathed light, into the face of man; and still he breatheth and inspireth light, into the face of his chosen. The poet, that beautified the sect, that was otherwise inferior to the rest, saith yet excellently well: It is a pleasure, to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea; a pleasure, to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle, and the adventures thereof below: but no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage ground of truth (a hill not to be commanded, and where the air is always clear and serene), and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below; so always that this prospect be with pity, and not with swelling, or pride. Certainly, it is heaven upon earth, to have a man's mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.




To pass from theological, and philosophical truth, to the truth of civil business; it will be acknowledged, even by those that practise it not, that clear, and round dealing, is the honor of man's nature; and that mixture of falsehoods, is like alloy in coin of gold and silver, which may make the metal work the better, but it embaseth it. For these winding, and crooked courses, are the goings of the serpent; which goeth basely upon the belly, and not upon the feet. There is no vice, that doth so cover a man with shame, as to be found false and perfidious. And therefore Montaigne saith prettily, when he inquired the reason, why the word of the lie should be such a disgrace, and such an odious charge? Saith he, If it be well weighed, to say that a man lieth, is as much to say, as that he is brave towards God, and a coward towards men. For a lie faces God, and shrinks from man. Surely the wickedness of falsehood, and breach of faith, cannot possibly be so highly expressed, as in that it shall be the last peal, to call the judgments of God upon the generations of men; it being foretold, that when Christ cometh, he shall not find faith upon the earth. 【译文】

《培根随笔集》之论真理

何为真理？彼拉多曾戏问，且问后不等回答。世上的确有人好见异思迁，视固守信仰为枷锁缠身，故而在思想行为上都追求自由意志。虽说该类学派的哲学家均已作古，然天下仍有些爱夸夸其谈的才子，他们与那些先贤一脉相承，只是与古人相比少些血性。但假象之所以受宠，其因不止于世人寻求真理之艰辛，亦非觅得之真理会对人类思维施加影响，而是缘于一种虽说缺德但却系世人与生俱有的对假象本身的喜好。希腊晚期学派中有位哲人对此进行过研究，而思索世人为何好假令他感到困惑，因其既非像诗人好诗一般可从中获取乐趣，亦不像商人好商那样可从中捞得利润，爱假者之爱假仅仅是为了假象本身的缘故。但我不能妄下结论，因上述真理是种未加遮掩的日光，若要使这世间的种种假面舞会、化装演出和胜利庆典显得优雅高贵，此光远不及灯烛之光。在世人眼里，真理或许可贵如在光天化日下最显璀璨的珍珠，但绝不可能贵如在五彩灯火中最显辉煌的钻石或红玉。错觉假象之混合物总是能为世人添乐。

假如从世人头脑中除去虚幻的印象、悦人的憧憬、错误的估价、随意的空想以及诸如此类的东西，那恐怕许多人都只会剩下个贫乏而干瘪的头脑，充于其间的只有忧郁不安和自厌自烦，对此假设有谁会质疑呢？一位先人曾因诗能满足想像力而将其称为“魔鬼的酒浆”，其实诗不过是带有假象的影子罢了。大概有害的并非脑子里一闪即逝的错觉，而是上文所说的那种沉人心底并盘踞心中的假象。但纵有这些假象如此根植于世人堕落的观念与情感之中，只受自身评判的真理依然教导吾辈探究真理，认识真理并相信真理。探究真理即要对其求爱求婚，认识真理即要与之相依相随，而相信真理则要享受真理的乐趣，此乃人类天性之至善。在创天地万物的那几日中，上帝的第一创造是感觉之光，最后创造是理智之光；从那时暨今，他安息日的工作便一直是以其圣灵启迪众生。起初他呈现光明于万物或混沌之表面，继而他呈现光明于世人之面庞，如今他依然为其选民的面庞注入灵光。那个曾为伊壁鸠鲁学派增光，


从而使其不逊于别派的诗人说得极好：登高岸而濒水伫观舟楫颠簸于海上，不亦快哉；踞城堡而倚窗凭眺两军酣战于脚下，不亦快哉；然断无任何快事堪比凌真理之绝顶（一巍然高耸且风清气朗的峰顶），一览深谷间的谬误与彷徨、迷雾与风暴。如此常凌常览，这番景象也许会诱发恻隐之心，而非引出自命不凡或目无下尘。

毋庸置疑，若人心能随仁爱而行，依天意而定，且绕真理之轴而转，尘世当为人间乐园。 从神学和哲学上的真理说到世俗交往中的诚实，连那些不信奉真理者也得承认，行为光明磊落乃人性之保证，而弄虚作假则犹如往金银币里掺合金，此举或更利于钱币流通，但却降低了钱币的成色。盖此类三弯九转的做法乃蛇行之法，蛇行无足可用，只能卑贱地用其肚腹。最令人无地自容的恶行莫过于被人发现其阳奉阴违，背信弃义；因此蒙田的说法可谓恰如其分，他探究谎言为何这般可耻这般可恨时说：细细想来，说人撒谎就等于说他不畏上帝而惧世人。因谎言直面上帝而躲避世人。想必撒谎背信之恶不可能被揭示得比这更淋漓尽致了，依照此说，撒谎背信将是唤上帝来审判世人的最后钟声；盖预言曾云：基督重临之日，他在这世间将难觅忠信。

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