DIA-Ame： to the practice of the sciences rather than to the theo
Equality develops the desire in each man to judge everything by himself;
it gives him in all things a taste for the tangible and real and a
contempt for traditions and forms.
Those who cultivate the sciences in democratic peoples always fear losing
themselves in utopias. They distrust systems, they like to hold
themselves very close to the facts and to study them by themselves;
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Scientific traditions hold little dominion over them; they never stop for
long at the subtleties微妙 of a school and they are not easily fobbed敷衍 off with
big words;
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they penetrate as much as they can to the principal parts of
the subject that occupies them, and they like to expose them in vulgar
language. The sciences therefore have a freer and surer but less lofty崇高的
style.
★★★
Nothing is more necessary to the cultivation of the advanced高级的 sciences
or of the elevated高的 portion of sciences than meditation思考
The democratic social state and institutions bring most men to act
continually; yet the habits of mind suited to action
are not always suited to thought.
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The man who acts is often reduced to contenting himself with what is
nearly so because he would never arrive at the end of his design if
he wished to perfect every detail.
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He must constantly rely on ideas that he has not had the leisure业余的 to
fathom彻底了解, for it is much more the timeliness of the idea he makes use
of than its rigorous exactness that helps him;
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and all in all, there is less risk for him in making use of some false
principles than in wasting his time in establishing the truth of all his
principles.
In centuries in which almost everyone acts, one is therefore
generally brought to attach an excessive value to rapid sparks and
superficial conceptions of the intellect and, on the contrary, ★to
depreciate贬低 immoderately无节制地 its profound, slow work.
“Archimedes阿基米德 had a heart so lofty高傲的 that he never deigned to
leave any work in writing on the manner of erecting建立 all the machines of
war; and holding the whole science of inventing and composing machines
and generally every art that ascribes把..归因于 some utility to putting it in
practice to be vile邪恶的/肮脏的, low, and mercenary唯利是图的, he applied his
mind and his study to writing only things whose beauty and subtlety were not
at all mixed with necessity.”★That is the aristocratic aim of the sciences.
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It cannot be the same in democratic nations.
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Most men who compose these nations are very eager for present material
enjoyments; as they are always discontented with the position they
occupy and always free to leave it, they dream only of the means of
changing their fortune or of increasing it.
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every new method that leads to wealth by a shorter path,
every machine that shortens work, every instrument that diminishes
the costs of production, every discovery that facilitates pleasures
and augments them seems to be the most magnificent effort of human
intelligence.
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★It is principally in this way that democratic peoples apply themselves
to the sciences, understand them, and honor them. In aristocratic
centuries, enjoyments of the mind are particularly demanded of the
sciences; in democratic, those of the body.
★★★
Reckon that the more a nation is democratic, enlightened, and free,
the more the number of these interested appreciators of scientific
genius天才/天赋 is going to be increasing and the more the discoveries
immediately applicable to industry will bestow★授予 profit, glory, and even
power on their authors;
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for in democracies, ★the working class takes part
in public affairs, and those who serve it have to expect honors
as well as money from it.
★★★
In vain does an instinctive penchant嗜好 elevate提升 [the mind] toward the
highest spheres领域 of the intellect; interest leads it back toward the
middle ones. 降级？？？
(一种本能的嗜好徒劳地将[思想]提升到智力的最高领域;)
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There it deploys its force and restive不安宁的 activity, and begets产生
marvels. The same Americans who have not discovered a single general
law of mechanics have introduced a new machine into navigation领航 that
is changing the face of the world.
In our age of the world, and among so many literate
nations that the ardor狂热 of industry incessantly不断地 stirs, the
bonds that unite the different parts of science among themselves
cannot fail to strike their regard;
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and the very taste for practice, if it is enlightened,
will bring men not to neglect theory.
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In the midst of so many attempts at application, of so many
experiences repeated daily, it is almost impossible that very general
laws should not often make their appearance, so that great discoveries
would be frequent even though great inventors would be rare. (???)
It is not to be believed that among such a great multitude some
speculative genius whom the singular love of truth inflames will not
be born from time to time.
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One can be assured that he will strive to penetrate the
most profound mysteries of nature, whatever the spirit
of his country and his times should be.
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There is no need to aid(v./n.帮助) his
ascent /ə'sent/ 上升; ★it is enough not to stop it.
Permanent inequality of conditions brings men to confine限制 themselves to
the haughty傲慢的, sterile枯燥乏味的 search for abstract truths,
whereas the democratic social state and institutions disposes★处置/安排 them to
demand of the sciences only their immediate, useful applications.
In our day one must detain留住 the human mind in theory; it runs of
itself to practice, and instead of constantly leading it back toward
the detailed examination of secondary effects, it is good to distract
it from them sometimes in order to raise it to the contemplation冥思 of
first causes.
Because Roman civilization died following the barbarian invasions,
we are perhaps too much inclined to believe that civilization
cannot die in any other way.
If the lights that enlighten us ever came to be extinguished,
they would be obscured little by little and as if by themselves.
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★★★
By dint凹痕 of being confined限制 to application, one would lose
sight of the ★principles操守/道义, and ★when one had entirely forgotten
the principles one would follow the methods derived from them badly;
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one would no longer be able to invent new ones, and one would employ
without intelligence and without art the erudite
procedures that one would no longer understand.
When the Europeans landed in CH three hundred years ago,
they found that almost all the arts there had reached a certain
degree of perfection, and they were astonished that having arrived
at that point, they had not gone further.
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Later they discovered the vestiges残余 of some advanced knowledge that
had been lost. The nation was industrial; most of the scientific
methods had been preserved within it;
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★★★
but science itself no longer existed. That explained
to them the singular kind of immobility静止 in which they had found the
minds of this people.
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★★★
The Chinese, in following the trail足迹 of their
fathers, had forgotten the reasons that had directed them.
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★★★
They still made use of the formula without seeking the sense of it; they
kept the instrument and no longer possessed the art of modifying修改
and reproducing it. Therefore the Chinese could not change anything.
They had to renounce宣布放弃 improvement.
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They were forced to imitate their fathers always and in everything, so as
not to be cast into impenetrable不可穿过的 darkness if they strayed失散
for an instant from the path these latter had traced.
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★★
The source of human knowledge had almost dried up; and although
the river still flowed, it could no longer swell增长/膨胀 its waters or
change its course航向.
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Nevertheless, CH subsisted存在 peacefully for centuries; its
conquerors had adopted its mores; order reigned there. A sort of
material well-being let itself be perceived on all sides.
Revolutions were very rare, and war was so to speak unknown.
One must therefore not reassure消除恐惧 oneself by thinking that the
barbarians are still far from us; ★★★for if there are peoples who
allow the light to be torn from their hands, there
are others who stifle扼杀 it themselves under their feet.
