THE SYSTEM OF ARISTOTLE 2
Moral Philosophy: Wisdom and Understanding
道德哲学：智慧和理解
Wisdom is a practical virtue which is concerned with what is good for human beings.
智慧是一种实践美德，它关注人类的利益。
Wisdom is expressed in practical reasoning: reasoning which starts from a general conception or pattern of human well-being, considers the circumstances of particular cases calling for decision, and concludes with a prescription for action.
智慧体现在实践推理中：推理从人类福祉的一般概念或模式开始，考虑需要决策的特定情况，并以行动处方作为结论。
Aristotle envisages the ethical reasoning of the wise person on the model of the professional reasoning of a physician, who starts with his knowledge of the medical art, applies it to the condition of the particular patient, and then issues, literally, a prescription.
亚里士多德以医生的专业推理为模型来设想明智之人的伦理推理，医生从他对医学艺术的知识开始，将其应用于特定病人的状况，然后真正地开出一个处方。
Wisdom, then, is an essential prerequisite for the exercise of moral virtue; without it, the most well-intentioned person may do wrong.
那么，智慧是行使道德美德的必要前提；没有它，最怀有善意的人也可能做错事。
But moral virtue is also required for the possession of wisdom; for only the virtuous person has the sound conception of human well-being which is the first premiss of practical reasoning: wickedness perverts us and deludes us about the ultimate grounds of action.
但道德美德也是拥有智慧的必要条件；因为只有有美德的人才有正确的人类福祉的概念，这是实践推理的第一个前提：邪恶使我们堕落并欺骗我们关于行动的最终根据。
So wisdom is impossible without moral virtue.
所以没有道德美德就不可能有智慧。
Wisdom and moral virtue are both acquired characteristics which build upon natural qualities.
智慧和道德美德都是建立在自然品质之上的后天特征。
On the one hand, wisdom demands inborn intelligence; but intelligence can be used for evil purposes as well as good ones, and only moral virtue will ensure that the good wins out.
一方面，智慧要求天生的智力；但智力既可以用于善也可以用于恶，只有道德美德才能保证善胜过恶。
On the other hand, children at an early age may have a sense of fairness and be attracted to brave or generous actions; but such good tendencies, without wisdom, can be positively harmful, like the strength of a blind man.
另一方面，孩子们在很小的时候就可能有公平感，并被勇敢或慷慨的行为所吸引；但这样的好倾向，没有智慧，就可能是有害的，就像拥有强大力量却无法明辨是非的人一样。
Only wisdom will turn these natural virtuous inclinations into genuine moral virtue.
只有智慧才能把这些自然的美德倾向转化为真正的道德美德。
So for real virtue and virtuous action, moral virtue and wisdom must be united with each other.
所以，对于真正的美德和有美德的行为，道德美德和智慧必须相互结合。
If we have to acquire virtue in order to become wise, and we cannot become wise without virtue, how can we ever acquire either virtue or wisdom?
如果我们必须获得美德才能变得智慧，而没有美德我们又不能变得智慧，那么我们怎么能获得美德或智慧呢？
Are we not trapped in a vicious circle?
我们不是陷入了一个恶性循环吗？
The difficulty is a spurious one.
这个困难是一个伪问题。
It is as if someone were to allege a difficulty about getting married.
这就好像有人要提出一个关于结婚的困难。
How can anyone ever become a husband?
任何人怎么能成为丈夫呢？
To be a husband you need to have a wife; but a woman cannot be a wife unless she has a husband!
要成为丈夫，你需要有一个妻子；但一个女人不能成为妻子，除非她有一个丈夫！
As one and the same union simultaneously turns a man into a husband and a woman into a wife, so the wedding of wisdom and virtue makes what was intelligence into wisdom and what was natural virtue into full-fledged virtue.
正如同一种结合同时使一个男人成为丈夫，一个女人成为妻子一样，智慧和美德的结合使原本是智力的东西变成了智慧，使原本是自然美德的东西变成了完全发展的美德。
In Aristotle as in Plato, wisdom is a virtue of the reasoning part of the soul; but, again like Plato, Aristotle divides the reasoning part of the soul into two parts.
在亚里士多德和柏拉图那里，智慧是灵魂推理部分的一种美德；但是，又像柏拉图一样，亚里士多德把灵魂的推理部分分成了两个部分。
Wisdom ( phronesis) is the virtue of the lower part, the deliberating part; the virtue of the superior or scientific part of the soul is understanding ( sophia), which consists in the grasp of the axioms, and the knowledge of the theorems, of the sciences.
智慧（phronesis）是较低部分，即推理部分的美德；灵魂较高或科学部分的美德是理解（sophia），它包括对公理的掌握，以及对科学定理的知识。
Aristotle’s teaching that the mastery of a science is an intellectual virtue brings out the fact that his Greek word for virtue, ‘ arete’, has a broader range than the English word.
亚里士多德的教导，即掌握一门科学是一种智力美德，突出了他用来表示美德的希腊词“arete”的范围比英语词更广的事实。
‘Virtue’ is an appropriate enough translation when what is in question is moral virtue; but the Greek word really means just ‘goodness’, ‘excellence’, and has a much broader range, so that we can speak of the arete of a knife or a horse.
当问题是道德美德时，“美德”是一个足够恰当的翻译；但希腊词真正的意思只是“善良”、“卓越”，并且有着更广泛的范围，所以我们可以说刀或马的arete。
I will, however, continue to use the traditional translation and to speak of intellectual virtues.
然而，我将继续使用传统的翻译，并说智力美德。
What is common to all intellectual virtues – whether deliberative, like wisdom, or theoretical, like the sciences – is that they are concerned with truth.
所有智力美德的共同点是——无论是推理的，像智慧，还是理论的，像科学——它们都关注真理。
To have an intellectual virtue is to be in the secure possession of truth about some field of knowledge.
拥有一种智力美德就是对某一知识领域的真理有着牢固的掌握。
It is not until Book X of the Nicomachean Ethics that the relationship between wisdom and understanding is tied up.
直到《尼各马可伦理学》第十卷，智慧和理解之间的关系才被梳理清楚。
In the intervening books Aristotle discusses other human characteristics and relationships that are neither virtues nor vices, but are closely related to them.
在中间的几卷中，亚里士多德讨论了其他既不是美德也不是恶习，但与它们密切相关的人类特征和关系。
Between the vice of intemperance and the virtue of temperance, for instance, there are two intermediate states and characters: there is the continent man, who exercises self-control in the pursuit of bodily pleasures, but does so only with reluctance; and there is the incontinent man, who pursues pleasures he should not pursue, but through weakness of will, not, like the intemperate man, out of a systematic policy of self-indulgence.
例如，在放纵的恶习和节制的美德之间，有两种中间状态和性格：有节制的人，在追求身体快乐时能够自我控制，但只是勉强做到；而无节制的人，追求他不应该追求的快乐，但这是通过意志薄弱，而不是像放纵的人那样，出于一种系统的放纵政策。
Closely allied to virtues and vices, also, are friendships, good and bad.
与美德和恶习也密切相关的是友谊，好的和坏的。
Under this heading Aristotle includes a wide variety of human relationships ranging from business partnerships to marriage.
在这个标题下，亚里士多德包括了从商业伙伴关系到婚姻等各种各样的人际关系。
The connection which he sees with virtue is that only virtuous people can have the truest and highest friendship.
他看到与美德有关的联系是，只有有美德的人才能拥有最真实和最高尚的友谊。
In Book X Aristotle finally answers his long-postponed question about the nature of happiness.
在第十卷中，亚里士多德最终回答了他长期推迟的关于幸福本质的问题。
Happiness, we were told early on in the treatise, is the activity of soul in accordance with virtue, and if there are several virtues, in accordance with the best and most perfect virtue.
我们在论文的早期就被告知，幸福是按照美德的灵魂活动，如果有多种美德，那就按照最好和最完美的美德。
Now we know that there are both moral and intellectual virtues, and that the latter are superior; and among the intellectual virtues, understanding is superior to wisdom.
现在我们知道，既有道德美德，也有智力美德，而后者是优越的；在智力美德中，理解优于智慧。
Supreme happiness, then, is activity in accordance with understanding; it is to be found in science and philosophy.
那么，至高的幸福就是按照理解的活动；它存在于科学和哲学中。
Happiness is not exactly the same as the pursuit of science and philosophy, but it is closely related to it: we are told that understanding is related to philosophy as knowing is to seeking.
幸福并不完全等同于对科学和哲学的追求，但它与之密切相关：我们被告知，理解与哲学的关系就像知道与寻求的关系一样。
Happiness, then, in a way which remains to some extent obscure, is to be identified with the enjoyment of the fruits of philosophical inquiry.
那么，幸福，在某种程度上仍然模糊的方式中，是要与享受哲学探究的成果相一致的。
To many people this seems an odd, indeed perverse, thesis.
对许多人来说，这似乎是一个奇怪，甚至是扭曲的论点。
It is not quite as odd as it sounds, because the Greek word for happiness, ‘ eudaimonia’, does not mean quite the same as its English equivalent, just as ‘ arete’ did not mean quite the same as virtue.
它并不像听起来那么奇怪，因为表示幸福的希腊词“eudaimonia”，并不完全等同于它的英语对应词，就像“arete”并不完全等同于美德一样。
Perhaps ‘a worthwhile life’ is the closest we can get to its meaning in English.
也许“有价值的生活”是我们能够用英语接近它的意义的最好方式。
Even so, it is hard to accept Aristotle’s thesis that the philosopher’s life is the only really worthwhile one, and this is so whether one finds the claim endearing or finds it arrogant.
即便如此，还是很难接受亚里士多德的论点，即哲学家的生活是唯一真正有价值的生活，无论一个人是觉得这个主张可爱还是傲慢。
Aristotle himself seems to have had second thoughts about it.
亚里士多德自己似乎对此有了反思。
Elsewhere in the Nicomachean Ethics he says that there is another kind of happiness which consists in the exercise of wisdom and the moral virtues.
在《尼各马可伦理学》的其他地方，他说有另一种幸福，它由智慧和道德美德的运用组成。
In the Eudemian Ethics his ideal life consists of the exercise of all the virtues, intellectual and moral; but even there, philosophical contemplation occupies a dominant position in the life of the happy person, and sets the standard for the exercise of the moral virtues.
在《尤德米亚伦理学》中，他的理想生活由所有美德，智力的和道德的，的运用组成；但即使在那里，哲学的沉思在幸福人的生活中占据了主导地位，并为道德美德的运用设定了标准。
Whatever choice or possession of natural goods – health and strength, wealth, friends and the like – will most conduce to the contemplation of God is best: this is the finest criterion.
无论是选择或拥有什么自然的财富——健康和力量、财富、朋友等等——最有助于对上帝的沉思，那就是最好的：这是最好的标准。
But any standard of living which either through excess or defect hinders the service and contemplation of God is bad.
但任何一种生活水平，无论是通过过度或缺陷，妨碍了对神的服务和沉思，那就是不好的。
Both of Aristotle’s Ethics end on this exalted note.
亚里士多德的两部伦理学都以这种崇高的语气结束。
The contemplation commended by the Nicomachean Ethics is described as a superhuman activity of a divine part of us.
《尼各马可伦理学》所赞扬的沉思被描述为我们神圣部分的一种超人类的活动。
Aristotle’s final word here is that in spite of being mortal, we must make ourselves immortal so far as we can.
亚里士多德在这里的最后一句话是，尽管我们是凡人，我们必须尽我们所能使自己不朽。
Politics
政治
When we turn from the Ethics to their sequel, the Politics, we come down to earth with a bump.
当我们从《伦理学》转向它的续集《政治学》时，我们就会猛然回到现实。
‘Man is a political animal’ we are told: humans are creatures of flesh and blood, rubbing shoulders with each other in cities and communities.
我们被告知：“人是一种政治动物”：人类是有血有肉的生灵，在城市和社区中相互交往。
The most primitive communities are families of men and women, masters and slaves; these combine into a more elaborate community, more developed but no less natural, the state ( polis).
最原始的社区是由男女、主人和奴隶组成的家庭；这些家庭结合成一个更复杂的社区，更发达但不失自然，即国家（polis）。
A state is a society of humans sharing in a common perception of what is good and evil, just and unjust: its purpose is to provide a good and happy life for its citizens.
一个国家是一个由人类组成的社会，他们共享对善恶、正义和不义的共同认识：它的目的是为其公民提供一个美好而幸福的生活。
The ideal state should have no more than a hundred thousand citizens, small enough for them all to know one another and to take their share in judicial and political office.
理想的国家应该不超过十万公民，足够小，让他们都能彼此了解，并参与司法和政治职务。
It is all very different from the Empire of Alexander.
这与亚历山大帝国大不相同。
In the Politics as in the Ethics Aristotle thought of himself as correcting the extravagances of the Republic.
在《政治学》和《伦理学》中，亚里士多德认为自己是在纠正《理想国》中的夸张之处。
Thus as in Aristotle’s ethical system there was no Idea of the Good, so there are no philosopher kings in his political world.
因此，在亚里士多德的伦理体系中，没有善的理念，所以在他的政治世界中也没有哲人王。
He defends private property and attacks the proposals to abolish the family and give women an equal share of government.
他捍卫私有财产，并攻击废除家庭和给予妇女平等政治权利的提议。
The root of Plato’s error, he thinks, lies in trying to make the state too uniform.
他认为，柏拉图错误的根源在于试图使国家过于一致。
The diversity of different kinds of citizen is essential to a state, and life in a city should not be like life in a barracks.
不同种类的公民的多样性对于一个国家是必不可少的，城市生活不应该像军营生活一样。
However, when Aristotle presents his own views on political constitutions he makes copious use of Platonic suggestions.
然而，当亚里士多德提出他自己关于政治制度的观点时，他大量地使用了柏拉图式的建议。
Three forms of constitution are tolerable, which he calls monarchy, aristocracy, and polity; and these three have their perverted and intolerable counterparts, namely tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy.
有三种形式的制度是可以容忍的，他称之为君主制、贵族制和共和政体；而这三种制度都有它们扭曲和不可容忍的对应物，即暴政、寡头制和民主制。
If a community contains an individual or family of an excellence far superior to everyone else, then monarchy is the best system.
如果一个社区包含了一个个人或家庭，其卓越程度远远超过其他人，那么君主制是最好的制度。
But such a fortunate circumstance is necessarily rare, and Aristotle pointedly refrains from saying that it occurred in the case of the royal family of Macedon.
但这样的幸运情况必然是罕见的，亚里士多德刻意避免说它发生在马其顿王室的情况下。
In practice he preferred a kind of constitutional democracy: for what he calls ‘polity’ is a state in which rich and poor respect each others’ rights, and in which the bestqualified citizens rule with the consent of all the citizens.
在实践中，他更喜欢一种宪政民主：他所说的“共和政体”是一种国家，其中富人和穷人尊重彼此的权利，而且最有资格的公民在所有公民的同意下统治。
The state which he calls ‘democracy’ is one of anarchic mob rule.
他所说的“民主”国家是一种无政府暴民统治的国家。
Two elements of Aristotle’s political teaching affected political institutions for centuries to come: his justification of slavery, and his condemnation of usury.
亚里士多德政治教导的两个要素影响了后来几个世纪的政治制度：他对奴隶制的辩护，和他对高利贷的谴责。
A slave, Aristotle says, is someone who is by nature not his own but another man’s property.
亚里士多德说，奴隶是一个天生不属于自己而属于另一个人财产的人。
To those who say that all slavery is a violation of nature, he replies that some men are by nature free and others by nature slaves, and that for the latter slavery is both expedient and right.
对于那些说所有奴隶制都是违反自然的人，他回答说，有些人天生是自由的，有些人天生是奴隶，对于后者来说，奴隶制既是有利的也是正确的。
He agrees, however, that there is such a thing as unnatural slavery: victors in an unjust war, for instance, have no right to make slaves of the defeated.
然而，他同意，有一种不自然的奴隶制：例如，在不公正的战争中胜利者没有权利使被打败者成为奴隶。
But some men are so inferior and brutish that it is better for them to be under the rule of a kindly master than to be free.
但有些人是如此低劣和残暴，以至于让他们在一个仁慈的主人的统治下比自由更好。
When Aristotle wrote, slavery was well-nigh universal; and his approval of the system is tempered by his observation that slaves are living tools, and that if non-living tools could achieve their purposes, there would be no need for slavery.
当亚里士多德写作时，奴隶制几乎是普遍的；他对这个制度的赞同被他对奴隶是活工具的观察所缓和，如果没有生命的工具能够实现它们的目的，就不需要奴隶制了。
If every instrument could achieve its own work, obeying or anticipating the will of others, like the statues of Daedalus . . . if, likewise, the shuttle could weave and the plectrum touch the lyre, overseers would not want servants nor would masters slaves.
如果每一个工具都能完成自己的工作，服从或预测别人的意志，就像代达罗斯（Daedalus）的雕像一样……如果同样地，织布机能织布，拨弦器能弹琴，监工就不需要仆人，主人也不需要奴隶。
If Aristotle were alive today, in the age of automation, there is no reason to believe that he would defend slavery.
如果亚里士多德今天还活着，在自动化的时代，没有理由相信他会为奴隶制辩护。
Aristotle’s remarks on usury were brief, but very influential.
亚里士多德关于高利贷的评论简短而有影响力。
Wealth, he says, can be made either by farming, or by trade; the former is more natural and more honourable.
他说，财富可以通过农业或贸易来获得；前者更自然更光荣。
But the most unnatural and hateful way of making money is by charging interest on a loan.
但是最不自然和最可恨的赚钱方式是对贷款收取利息。
For money was intended to be used in exchange, but not to increase at interest.
因为钱本来是用来交换的，而不是用来增值的。
And this term interest ( tokos), which means the birth of money from money, is applied to the breeding of money because the offspring resembles the parent.
而这个词利息（tokos），意思是钱生钱，是用来形容钱的繁殖的，因为后代与父母相似。
That is why of all modes of getting wealth this is the most unnatural.
这就是为什么在所有获取财富的方式中，这是最不自然的。
Aristotle’s words were one reason for the prohibition, throughout medieval Christendom, of the charging of interest even at a modest rate.
中世纪基督教世界禁止收取任何利息，即使是很低的利率，亚里士多德的话是其中一个原因。
They lie behind Antonio’s reproach to the moneylender Shylock in The Merchant of Venice: 它们是《威尼斯商人》中安东尼奥对放债者夏洛克的指责背后的原因：
When did friendship take A breed for barren metal of his friend?
友谊何时会从他朋友的不生育的金银中生出金银？
Science and Explanation
科学与解释
We now turn to Aristotle’s work in the theoretical sciences.
我们现在转向亚里士多德在理论科学方面的工作。
He contributed to many sciences, but with hindsight we can see that his contribution was uneven.
他对许多科学都有贡献，但回顾过去我们可以看到他的贡献是不平均的。
His chemistry and his physics were much less impressive than his inquiries into the life sciences.
他的化学和物理学比他对生命科学的探究要差得多。
In particular, partly because he lacked precise clocks and any kind of thermometer, he was unaware of the importance of the measurement of velocity and temperature.
特别是，部分因为他缺乏精确的时钟和任何一种温度计，他没有意识到测量速度和温度的重要性。
While his zoological writings were still found impressive by Darwin, his physics was already superannuated by the sixth century ad.
当达尔文仍然对他的动物学著作印象深刻时，他的物理学在公元六世纪就已经过时了。
In works such as On Generation and Corruption and On the Heavens Aristotle bequeathed to his successors a world-picture which included many features inherited from his pre-Socratic predecessors.
在《论生与灭》和《天论》等著作中，亚里士多德把一个世界图景遗留给了他的后继者，其中包括了许多从他先于苏格拉底的前辈那里继承下来的特征。
He took over the four elements of Empedocles: earth, water, air, and fire, each characterized by the possession of a unique pair of the primary qualities of heat, cold, wetness and dryness.
他接受了恩培多克勒斯的四元素：土、水、气、火，每一种元素都以拥有一对独特的主要品质来表征，即热、冷、湿、干。
Each element had its natural place in an ordered cosmos, towards which it tended by its own characteristic movement: thus earthy solids fell while fire rose ever higher.
每一种元素在一个有序的宇宙中都有其自然的位置，它们通过自己的特征运动倾向于这个位置：因此，土质的固体下降，而火则不断上升。
Each such motion was natural to its element; other motions were possible, but were ‘violent’. (We preserve a relic of Aristotle’s distinction when we contrast natural with violent death.)
每一种这样的运动都是其元素的自然运动；其他运动也是可能的，但是“暴力”的。（当我们把自然死亡和暴力死亡对比时，我们保留了亚里士多德区分的遗俗。）
The earth was in the centre of the universe: around it a succession of concentric crystalline spheres carried the moon, the sun and the planets in their journeys across the heavens.
地球位于宇宙的中心：在它周围，一系列同心的水晶球带着月亮、太阳和行星在天空中旅行。
Further out, another sphere carried the fixed stars.
再往外，另一个球体带着固定的星星。
The heavenly bodies did not contain the four terrestrial elements, but were made of a fifth element or quintessence.
天体不包含四种地球元素，而是由第五种元素或精华构成。
They had souls as well as bodies: living divine intellects, guiding their travel across the sky.
它们既有身体也有灵魂：活着的神圣理智，指导着它们在天空中的旅行。
These intellects were movers which were themselves in motion, and behind them, Aristotle argued, there must be a source of movement not itself in motion.
这些理智是自身在运动的动力，而在它们背后，亚里士多德认为，必须有一个不自身运动的运动源。
That was the ultimate, unchanging, divinity, moving all other beings ‘as an object of love’ – the love which, in the final words of Dante’s Paradiso, moved the sun and the first stars.
那就是最终的、不变的、神圣的存在，以“爱之对象”的方式驱动所有其他存在——那种爱，在但丁《天堂》的最后一句话中，驱动了太阳和最初的星星。
Even the best of Aristotle’s scientific work now has only a historical interest, and rather than record his theories in detail I will describe the common notion of science which underpins his researches in diverse fields.
即使是亚里士多德最好的科学作品现在也只有历史意义，我不会详细记录他的理论，而是描述支撑他在不同领域研究的科学的共同概念。
Aristotle’s conception of science can be summed up by saying that it is empirical, explanatory, and teleological.
亚里士多德对科学的概念可以总结为说它是经验主义的、解释性的和目的论的。
Science begins with observation. In the course of our lives we notice things through our senses, we remember them, we build up a body of experience. Our concepts are drawn from our experience, and in science observation has the primacy over theory. Though a mature science can be set out and transmitted to others in the axiomatic form described in the Posterior Analytics, it is clear from Aristotle’s detailed works that the order of discovery is different from the order of exposition.
科学始于观察。在我们的生活中，我们通过感官注意到事物，记住它们，积累了一定的经验。我们的概念来自于我们的经验，在科学中，观察优先于理论。尽管成熟的科学可以按照《后分析篇》中描述的公理形式来阐述和传播给他人，但从亚里士多德的详细著作中可以清楚地看出，发现的顺序与阐述的顺序是不同的。
If science begins with sense-perception it ends with intellectual knowledge, which Aristotle sees as having a special character of necessity. Necessary truths are such as the unchanging truths of arithmetic: two and two make four, and always have and always will. They are contrasted with contingent truths, such as that the Greeks won a great naval victory at Salamis; something which could have turned out otherwise. It seems strange to say, as Aristotle does, that what is known must be necessary: cannot we have knowledge of contingent facts of experience, such as that Socrates drank hemlock? Some have thought that he was arguing, fallaciously, from the truth:
如果科学以感知开始，那么它以智性知识结束，亚里士多德认为这种知识具有必然性的特殊性质。必然的真理是像算术中不变的真理那样的：二加二等于四，过去如此，将来也如此。它们与偶然的真理形成对比，例如希腊人在萨拉米斯赢得了一场伟大的海战；这是可能有其他结果的事情。像亚里士多德那样说，所知必须是必然的，似乎很奇怪：难道我们不能对经验中偶然的事实有所了解，比如苏格拉底喝了毒药？有些人认为他是从以下真理谬误地推论出来的：
Necessarily, if p is known, p is true to
If p is known, p is necessarily true which is not at all the same thing. (It is a necessary truth that if I know there is a fly in my soup, then there is a fly in my soup. But even if I know that there is a fly in my soup, it is not a necessary truth that there is a fly in my soup: I can fish it out.) But perhaps Aristotle was defining the Greek word for ‘knowledge’ in such a way that it was restricted to scientific knowledge. This is much more plausible, especially if we notice that for Aristotle necessary truths are not restricted to truths of logic and mathematics, but include all propositions that are true universally, or even ‘true for the most part’. But the consequence remains, and would be accepted by Aristotle, that history, because it deals with individual events, cannot be a science.
如果p被知道，p就是真的，那么必然地，
如果p被知道，p就是必然真的，这两者根本不是一回事。（如果我知道我的汤里有一只苍蝇，那么我的汤里就有一只苍蝇，这是一个必然的真理。但即使我知道我的汤里有一只苍蝇，我的汤里有一只苍蝇也不是一个必然的真理：我可以把它捞出来。）但也许亚里士多德是用这样一种方式定义希腊语中的“知识”一词，使它限于科学知识。这更有可能，特别是如果我们注意到，对于亚里士多德来说，必然的真理不仅限于逻辑和数学的真理，而且包括所有普遍真实的命题，甚至是“大部分情况下真实”的命题。但结果仍然存在，并且会被亚里士多德接受，那就是历史，因为它涉及个别事件，不能成为一门科学。
Science, then, is empirical: it is also explanatory, in the sense that it is a search for causes. In a philosophical lexicon in his Metaphysics, Aristotle distinguishes four types of causes, or explanations. First, he says, there is that of which and out of which a thing is made, such as the bronze of a statue and the letters of a syllable. This is called the material cause. Secondly, he says, there is the form and pattern of a thing, which may be expressed in its definition: his example is that the proportion of the length of two strings in a lyre is the cause of one being the octave of the other. The third type of cause is the origin of a change or state of rest in something: he gives as examples a person reaching a decision, and a father who begets a child, and in general anyone who makes a thing or changes a thing.
因此，科学是经验性的：它也是解释性的，因为它是对因果的寻求。在他的《形而上学》中的一个哲学词汇表中，亚里士多德区分了四种类型的因果或解释。首先，他说，有一种是事物所由和所由之物，比如雕像的青铜和音节的字母。这叫做质料因。其次，他说，有一种是事物的形式和模式，可以用它的定义来表达：他举的例子是琴弦的长度之比是一个弦成为另一个弦八度音的原因。第三种类型的原因是某物变化或静止的起源：他举的例子是一个人做出决定，一个父亲生育一个孩子，以及一般来说任何制造或改变事物的人。
The fourth and last type of cause is the end or goal, that for the sake of which something is done; it is the type of explanation we give if someone asks us why we are taking a walk, and we reply ‘in order to keep healthy’.
第四种也是最后一种类型的原因是目的或目标，即为了某事而做某事；这是我们给出的一种解释，如果有人问我们为什么要散步，我们回答“为了保持健康”。
The fourth type of cause (the ‘final cause’) plays a very important role in Aristotle’s science. He inquires for the final causes not only of human action, but also of animals’ behaviour (‘why do spiders weave webs?’) and of their structural features (‘why do ducks have webbed feet?’). There are final causes also for the activities of plants (such as the downward pressure of roots) and those of inanimate elements (such as the upward thrust of flame). Explanations of this kind are called ‘teleological’, from the Greek word telos, which means the end or final cause.
第四种类型的因果（“目的因”）在亚里士多德的科学中起着非常重要的作用。他不仅探究人类行为的目的因，也探究动物行为（“为什么蜘蛛织网？”）和它们的结构特征（“为什么鸭子有蹼足？”）的目的因。植物的活动（比如根部的向下压力）和无生命元素的活动（比如火焰的向上推力）也有目的因。这种类型的解释被称为“目的论”的，来自希腊语单词telos，意思是终点或目的因。
When Aristotle looks for teleological explanations, he is not attributing intentions to unconscious or inanimate objects, nor is he thinking in terms of a Grand Designer. Rather, he is laying emphasis on the function of various activities and structures. Once again, he was better inspired in the area of the life sciences than in chemistry and physics. Even post-Darwinian biologists are constantly on the look-out for function; but no one after Newton has sought a teleological explanation of the motion of inanimate bodies.
当亚里士多德寻求目的论的解释时，他并不是把意图归于无意识或无生命的物体，也不是用一个伟大设计者的观点来思考。相反，他是强调各种活动和结构的功能。再一次，他在生命科学领域比在化学和物理领域更有灵感。即使是后达尔文主义的生物学家也在不断地寻找功能；但是在牛顿之后，没有人寻求无生命物体运动的目的论解释。
