培根

文 |成小秦，作者投稿

英國詩人蒲伯（Alexander Pope）曾評贊英倫兩位科學家：牛頓和培根。

蒲伯盛贊牛頓（Isaac Newton）：自然及自然律隱于黑夜；主說：“讓牛頓出世！”于是，萬物皆光明。（Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night; God said 'Let Newton be' and all was light.）對培根（Francis Bacon）則有褒有貶：“人世間最智慧、最出色、最卑劣者。”（The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind.）

培根（Francis Bacon，1561 - 1626年），英國文藝復興時期（1500-1660）偉大哲學家、歷史學家、文學家，現代科學之父，“啟蒙運動先驅中，培根精神遺澤綿長，啟迪人類四百年，以了解所處自然以及自身，使人類不斷自我進步。”（Among the Enlightenment founders, his spirit is the one that most endures. It informs us across four centuries that we must understand nature both around us and within ourselves, in order to set humanity on the course of self-improvement.ConsiliencebyE.O. Wilson）

羅素（Bertrand Russell）《西方哲學史》（A History of Western Philosophy）卷三 近代哲學（Book Three Modern Philosophy）第一篇從文藝復興到休謨（Part I From the Renaissance to Hume）第七章論及培根（CHAPTER VII Francis Bacon）：

Bacon's most important book, The Advancement of Learning, is in many ways remarkably modern. He is commonly regarded as the originator of the saying "Knowledge is power," and though he may have had predecessors who said the same thing, he said it with new emphasis. The whole basis of his philosophy was practical: to give mankind mastery over the forces of nature by means of scientific discoveries and inventions. He held that philosophy should be kept separate from theology, not intimately blended with it as in scholasticism. He accepted orthodox religion; he was not the man to quarrel with the government on such a matter. But while he thought that reason could show the existence of God, he regarded everything else in theology as known only by revelation. Indeed he held that the triumph of faith is greatest when to the unaided reason a dogma appears most absurd. Philosophy, however, should depend only upon reason. He was thus an advocate of the doctrine of "double truth," that of reason and that of revelation. This doctrine had been preached by certain Averroists in the thirteenth century, but had been condemned by the Church. The "triumph of faith" was, for the orthodox, a dangerous device. Bayle, in the late seventeenth century, made ironical use of it, setting forth at great length all that reason could say against some orthodox belief, and then concluding "so much the greater is the triumph of faith in nevertheless believing." How far Bacon's orthodoxy was sincere it is impossible to know.

參考譯文：培根力作《崇學論》在諸多方面極具現代感，據說，首創格言“知識就是力量”；此前或有人所說略同，但培根卻標新，其哲學根基具實用性：借助科學發現與發明，使人類制馭自然力量。培根主張，哲學應與神學分離，而不應如經院哲學那樣糅雜神學。培根信奉正統宗教；從不因此與政府爭辯，然而，雖認為理性足以證神存在，但將神學其余一切看作僅憑啟示才能認知。當然，培根以為，信念得勝極其偉大，僅憑理性，教理盡顯荒謬。然而，哲學只應憑理性，因而，培根倡導“雙重真理”，即理性真理與啟示真理。十三世紀，某些阿威羅伊派宣傳這一學說，但遭教會譴責。對正統教派而言，“信念得勝”說危險。十七世紀晚期，貝勒（Bayle）曾譏諷此說，詳述理性駁斥某些正統信念，然后斷定：“得勝信念愈發偉大，信仰依舊。”至于培根正統信仰多么真誠，則無從知曉。

培根以拉丁文著《新工具》（Novum Organum），1620年出版；19世紀，四個英文全譯本面世：

伍德（William Wood）英譯本（1831年），自1733年出版的第一部全譯本；

伍德（William Wood）和迪維（Joseph Devey）英譯本，Devey釋（1844年）；

基欽（G. W. Kitchin）英譯本（1855年）；

斯佩丁（James Spedding）、愛理斯（Robert Leslie Ellis）和希思（Douglas Denon Heath）英譯本（1858年）

商務印書館《新工具》（漢譯世界學術名著叢書），許寶骙先生根據1858年Spedding、Ellis和Heath英譯本翻譯。為比較起見，所引各段附William Wood，Joseph Devey 1844年英譯本，從中可見，各英譯本迥異，再轉漢譯，不知是否培根原意？

Novum Organum Preface（《新工具》序言）

Those who have taken upon them to lay down the law of nature as a thing already searched out and understood, whether they have spoken in simple assurance or professional affectation, have therein done philosophy and the sciences great injury. For as they have been successful in inducing belief, so they have been effective in quenching and stopping inquiry; and have done more harm by spoiling and putting an end to other men's efforts than good by their own.（Novum Organum Prefacetranslated by Spedding，Ellis，and Heath1858）

They who have presumed to dogmatize on nature, as on some well investigated subject, either from self-conceit or arrogance, and in the professorial style, have inflicted the greatest injury on philosophy and learning. For they have tended to stifle and interrupt inquiry exactly in proportion as they have prevailed in bringing others to their opinion: and their own activity has not counterbalanced the mischief they have occasioned by corrupting and destroying that of others.（translated by Wood and Devey1844）

商務印書館《新工具》譯文：有些人自認把自然界的法則作為已被搜尋出來和已被了解明白的東西來加以規定，無論是出于簡單化的保證的口吻，或者是出于職業化的矯飾的說法，都會給哲學以及各門科學帶來很大的損害。因為，他們這樣做固然能夠成功地引得人們相信，卻也同樣有效地壓熄了和停止了人們的探討；而破壞和截斷他人努力這一點的害處是多于他們自己努力所獲得的好處的。

評析：譯文冗贅，如“有些人自認把自然界的法則作為已被搜尋出來和已被了解明白的東西來加以規定，”其中，兩次用“被”，“的”，還有俗字“東西”等，均應刪汰。

培根《新工具》推崇歸納法，而自認為優于亞里斯多德三段論。“培根思考所有調查研究法，認為最佳者為歸納法，收集大量事實并發現模式。為確保最大客觀性，必須化除成見。培根宣示學科金字塔，塔基為自然科學，其上為物理并將其歸入，形而上學位于頂端，詮釋以下所有，雖說人類尚無法掌握其能力及形式。” （By reflecting on all possible methods of investigation available to his imagination, he concluded that the best among them is induction, which is the gathering of large numbers of facts and the detection of patterns. In order to obtain maximum objectivity, we must entertain only a minimum of preconceptions. Bacon proclaimed a pyramid of disciplines, with natural history forming the base, physics above and subsuming it, and metaphysics at the peak, explaining everything below–though perhaps in powers and forms beyond the grasp of man.ConsiliencebyE.O. Wilson）

羅素（Bertrand Russell）《西方哲學史》（A History of Western Philosophy）論及培根（CHAPTER VII Francis Bacon）《新工具》所涉“幻象”：

One of the most famous parts of Bacon's philosophy is his enumeration of what he calls "idols," by which he means bad habits of mind that cause people to fall into error. Of these he enumerates five kinds. "Idols of the tribe" are those that are inherent in human nature; he mentions in particular the habit of expecting more order in natural phenomena than is actually to be found. "Idols of the cave" are personal prejudices, characteristic of the particular investigator. "Idols of the market-place" are those that have to do with the tyranny of words and the difficulty of escaping from their influence over our minds. "Idols of the theatre" are those that have to do with received systems of thought; of these, naturally Aristotle and the scholastics afforded him the most noteworthy instances. Lastly there are "idols of the schools," which consist in thinking that some blind rule (such as the syllogism) can take the place of judgement in investigation.

參考譯文：培根哲學最出名者是列舉所謂“幻象”，系指讓人陷于謬誤心理惡習。培根列舉五種幻象。“種族幻象”屬人性固有；特別提及習慣，是期望自然現象有超乎實際的秩序。“洞窟幻象”指個別調查者所持個人偏見。“市場幻象”關乎話語苛刻，以及難以擺脫其陰影。“劇場幻象”涉及公認思想體系；當然，亞里士多德及經院哲學家給予其特例。最后是“學派幻象”，堅信某些漠視證據教條（如三段論）在研究中能替代判斷。

《新工具》第一卷第四十二則（Novum Organum Book One XLII）論及“洞穴偶像”：

TheIdolsof the Cave are the idols of the individual man. For everyone (besides the errors common to human nature in general) has a cave or den of his own, which refracts and discolors the light of nature, owing either to his own proper and peculiar nature; or to his education and conversation with others; or to the reading of books, and the authority of those whom he esteems and admires; or to the differences of impressions, accordingly as they take place in a mind preoccupied and predisposed or in a mind indifferent and settled; or the like.（Novum Organum Book One42 translated by Spedding，Ellis，and Heath1858）

XLII.The idols of the den are those of each individual; for everybody (in addition to the errors common to the race of man) has his own individual den or cavern, which intercepts and corrupts the light of nature, either from his own peculiar and singular disposition, or from his education and intercourse with others, or from his reading, and the authority acquired by those whom he reverences and admires, or from the different impressions produced on the mind, as it happens to be preoccupied and predisposed, or equable and tranquil, and the like; （translated by Wood and Devey1844）

商務印書館《新工具》譯文：洞穴假象是各個人的假象。因為每一個人（除普遍人性所共有的錯誤外，都各有其自己的洞穴，使自然之光屈折和變色。這個洞穴的形成，或是由于這人自己固有的獨特的本性，或是由于他所受的教育和與別人的交往；或是由于他閱讀一些書籍而對其權威性發生崇敬和贊美；又或者是由于各種感印，這些感印又是依人心之不同（如有的人是“心懷成見”和“胸有成竹”，有的人則是“漠然無所動于中”）而作用各異的；以及類此等等。

評析：培根工于文辭，行文精心選詞甚至造詞，拉丁文迻英文，四個英譯本分梳義理，用詞各異，再從英文轉譯中文，其難度之大，可以想見。科學名著新詞甚多，或舊詞新用，英文詞義多歧，而中文專詞專用，難以盡表英文詞義內涵，“新理踵出，名目紛繁，索之中文，渺不可得，即有牽合，終嫌參差，譯者遇此，獨有自具衡量，即義定名。”（嚴復《天演論·譯例言》）因此，嚴復先生慨嘆：“一名之立，旬月踟躕”。如有條件，參照培根拉丁文原著，深究英文術語內涵，譯文或更貼近原意。

許寶骙先生譯《新工具》并加注釋，下了功夫。這里，僅就此段某些詞義商榷如下：

培根為表述創新理念，自創拉丁詞Idola specus，英譯Idols of the Cave。許譯idol為“假象”。查Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles，idol釋義為：“An image or similitude of a deity or divinity, used as an object of worship; applied to those used by pagans, whence, in scriptural language, = ‘false god’. Applied polemically to any material object of adoration in a Christian Church 1545.”中文詞典釋為：偶像；幻象；假神；謬見（fallacy）等。培根使用這一術語，論述邏輯和現代科學方法，認為幻象“源自各人身心獨具本性；亦源自教育、習慣，以及出于偶然。”（The Idols of the Cave take their rise in the peculiar constitution, mental or bodily, of each individual; and also in education, habit, and accident.LIII）

...... acaveordenof his own - cave譯為“洞穴”，而den有“獸穴”、“窩”、“窟”等意，培根在兩詞之間加or，意在區分，不宜并譯為“洞穴”。William Wood、Joseph Devey1844年版英譯：...... his own individualdenorcavern。cavern譯“大山洞”、“深凹”、“大洞穴”等。

許寶骙畢業于哲學系，譯《新工具》多選用哲學術語，用詞多為早期白話文，然而，從科學角度言，有些術語翻譯似有探討之處，例如：

refracts譯為“屈折”，據商務印書館1984年版《詞源》解：【屈折】彎曲。《莊子·駢拇》：“屈折禮樂，呴俞仁義。”釋文：“謂屈折支體為禮樂也。”文言文中常釋為“貶抑”、“曲折”，早期白話文中，雖用于形容光照三菱鏡，光線改變方向，但“屈折”易生歧義，而譯“折射”更精確。William Wood、Joseph Devey1844年版譯intercept，“截斷”意。

impression譯“感印”，此處譯“印象”似更好，因“象”字有“性狀”、“樣子”等含義，與偶像、幻象呼應。

《新工具》第一卷第五十六則：

There are found some minds given to an extreme admiration of antiquity, others to an extreme love and appetite for novelty; but few so duly tempered that they can hold the mean, neither carping at what has been well laid down by the ancients, nor despising what is well introduced by the moderns. This, however, turns to the great injury of the sciences and philosophy, since these affectations of antiquity and novelty are the humors of partisans rather than judgments; and truth is to be sought for not in the felicity of any age, which is an unstable thing, but in the light of nature and experience, which is eternal. These factions therefore must be abjured, and care must be taken that the intellect be not hurried by

them into assent. （Novum Organum Book One56 translated by Spedding，Ellis，and Heath1858）

LVI.Some dispositions evince an unbounded admiration of antiquity, others eagerly embrace novelty, and but few can preserve the just medium, so as neither to tear up what the ancients have correctly laid down, nor to despise the just innovations of the moderns. But this is very prejudicial to the sciences and philosophy, and instead of a correct judgment we have but the factions of the ancients and moderns. Truth is not to be sought in the good fortune of any particular conjuncture of time, which is uncertain, but in the light of nature and experience, which is eternal. Such factions, therefore, are to be abjured, and the understanding must not allow them to hurry it on to assent. （translated by Wood and Devey1844）

商務印書館《新工具》譯文：還可看到，有的心極端地崇古，有的心則如饑如渴地愛新；求其秉性有當，允執厥中，既不吹求古人之所制定，也不鄙薄近人之所倡導，那是很少的了。這種情形是要轉為有大害于科學和哲學的；因為，這種對于古和新的矯情實是一種黨人的情調，算不得什么判斷；并且真理也不能求之于什么年代的降福 --那是不經久的東西，而只能求之于自然和經驗的光亮 -- 這才是永恒的。因此，我們必須誓絕這些黨爭，必須小心勿讓智力為它們所促而貿然有所贊同。

評析：迻譯科學名著，信、達而外，應求文體一致。“允執厥中”與“那是很少的了”，“那是不經久的東西”，一雅一俗，用在同一句中，反差太大。“允執厥中”是堯授舜，舜授禹的話。朱熹釋《中庸》言：“...... 其見于經，則‘允執厥中’者，堯之所以授舜也；‘人心惟危，道心惟微，惟精惟一，允執厥中’者，舜之所以授禹也。”（《中庸章句》序）語言學家周秉鈞將“允執厥中”釋為“誠實保持著中道”，似未盡其精義。此外，原文中無破折號，漢譯用破折號，反而阻礙語流。

《新工具》第二卷第七則：

And after all, this is but a small part of the work of discovering the true Configuration in the compound body; which Configuration is a thing far more subtle and exact, and such as the operation of fire rather confounds than brings out and makes distinct.（Novum OrganumBook Two 7 VII translated by Spedding，Ellis，and Heath1858）

VII.Besides, it is, after all, but a small part of the labor of discovering the real conformation in the compound, which is so subtile and nice, that it is rather confused and lost by the operation of the fire, than discovered and brought to light.（translated by Wood and Devey1844）

商務印書館《新工具》譯文：究竟來說，就著發現復合物體之中的真正結構這一工作來說，這種解剖乃不過是其中很小的一個部分；而那真正的結構卻是一個精微得多、細密得多的事物，若單憑火練這一類的動作，那是只有把它弄亂而不會把它揭出并弄清楚的。

評析：學術著述翻譯，最忌文體混雜，尤其應避免使用粗陋鄙俚語，如“把它弄亂而不會把它揭出并弄清楚的”。培根是哲學家、科學家和文學家，翻譯《新工具》，應以優美文筆傳達其意，否則，國人會誤以為哲人是粗人。

《論語·雍也篇》論君子“質”與“文”，錢穆先生釋“樸也”及“華飾也”；楊伯峻先生釋“樸實”與“文采”。劉勰以“質”與“文”評論文章：“非采而何？...... 文附質也。...... 質待文也。”（《文心雕龍·情采》) 后世常用這一理念評判文字，譯界有人以為，“文”多用于文學作品，而“質”必見于科學著作。然而，許多科學家兼文學家，科學名著之所以傳世，非獨科學卓見，還因斐然成章，文質并重。

《新工具》第一卷第四十二則（Novum OrganumBook One XLII），培根論所謂“洞穴偶像”，談及spirit： So that thespiritof man (according as it is meted out to different individuals) is in fact a thing variable and full of perturbation, and governed as it were by chance. Whence it was well observed by Heraclitus that men look for sciences in their own lesser worlds, and not in the greater or common world.（Novum Organum Book One 42translated by James Spedding，Ellis and Heath1858）

商務印書館《新工具》譯文：人的元精（照各個不同的人所秉受而得的樣子）實際上是一種易變多擾的東西，又似為機運所統治著。因此，赫拉克利泰（Heraclitus）曾經說得好，人們追求科學總是求諸他們自己的小天地，而不是求諸公共的大天地。

附1844年Wood及Devey此段英譯，以比較培根《新工具》不同英譯：So that the spirit of man (according to its several dispositions), is variable, confused, and as it were actuated by chance; and Heraclitus said well that men search for knowledge in lesser worlds, and not in the greater or common world.（Novum Organumanslated by Wood and Devey1844）

許寶骙譯《新工具》并加注釋，但譯文文體及“信、達、雅”，仍須探討。這里，僅就句中spirit（元精）詞義商榷如下：“元精”一名始見干丹書，《古文參同契》載：“元氣之積厚而精英者，稱為元精。”漢王充《論衡·超奇》：“天稟元氣，人受元精。”“元精”舊指天地之精氣。

董仲舒《春秋繁露》同類相動第五十七論及陰陽之氣：天將陰雨，人之病，故為之先動，是陰相應而起也。天將欲陰雨，又使人欲睡臥者，陰氣也。有憂亦使人臥者，是陰相求也；有喜者使人不欲臥者，是陽相索也。水得夜益長數分，東風而酒湛溢。病者至夜而疾益甚，雞至幾明皆鳴而相薄，其氣益精。故陽益陽，而陰益陰，陰陽之氣因可以類相益損也。

《夢溪筆談》卷七“象數”一 134：醫家有五運六氣之術，大則候天地之變，寒暑風雨，水旱暝蝗，率皆有法，小則人之眾疾，亦隨氣運盛衰，今人不知所用，而膠于定法，故其術皆不驗。假令厥陰用事，其氣多風，民病濕泄，豈溥天之下皆多風，溥天之民皆病濕泄邪？至于一邑之間，而旸雨有不同者，此氣運安在？

培根《新工具》第一卷第五十則，第二卷第七則和第四十則分別論及spirit，似指人體內之物或質，包含在“可觸（有形）體內”或“肉身內”，生有毛孔、通道、脈絡和細胞，在第四十則各段，舉例詳述spirit可釋放，同化、消化，自我繁殖。

Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles釋spirit：“The animating or vital principle in man (and animal); that which gives life to the physical organism, in contrast to its purely material elements; the breath of life.”根據這一中古英語釋義，spirit似應譯“元氣”（原氣）或“精氣”，即王充所說：“人之所以生者，精氣也。”（《論衡·論死》），雖說“元氣”與“精氣”有所區別，再商榷。

此外，與spirit 并用的essence也值得深究。essence在中古英語釋為entity；an element distinct from the four elements，即實體；有別于四大元素【“行”】（水、火、土、風）。

歐洲文藝復興時，“現代化學之父”巴希爾·法蘭廷（Basil Valentine）著托名之作《銻凱旋車》（Currus Triumphalis Antimonii by Basil Valentine 1604），沿襲帕拉塞爾蘇斯（Paracelsus）三要素概念，詳論銻和銻鹽之藥用價值，記述銻之化合物制備過程和方法。在這本化學專著，法蘭廷也提及spirit和tangible essence，培根是否受其影響，也未可知：

...... because of a certain Mercurial volatile Matter still predominant in them; which volatile Spirit is the Cause why other things, which are in man, are expelled ......

...... the Element of Fire, which resides in the Element of Air, is extracted from the Elementary Earth, and by Coagulation formally changed into a tangible Essence, in whichtangible Essence, (viz. whence Antimony is formally made) is found very much of Sulphur predominant, of Mercury not so much, and of Salt the least of all three; yet it assumes so much Salt, as it thence acquires an hard and immalleable Mass.（FromCurrus Triumphalis Antimonii）

據此，試譯spirits為“精氣”，tangible essence為“有形要素”：

...... Hence all the working of thespiritsenclosed in tangible bodies lies hid and unobserved of men ......（Novum Organum Book One 50translated by James Spedding，Ellis and Heath1858）

試譯：因此，有形體內精氣運行皆隱蔽且難以察覺。

For example, we must inquire what amount of spirit there is in every body, what of tangible essence; and of the spirit, whether it be copious and turgid, or meagre and scarce; whether it be fine or coarse, akin to air or to fire, brisk or sluggish, weak or strong, progressive or retrograde, interrupted or continuous, agreeing with external and surrounding objects or disagreeing, &c. In like manner we must inquire into the tangible essence (which admits of no fewer differences than the spirit), into its coats, its fibres, its kinds of texture. Moreover the disposition of the spirit throughout the corporeal frame, with its pores, passages, veins and cells, and the rudiments or first essays of the organised body, fall under the same investigation.（Novum Organum Book Two 7translated by James Spedding，Ellis and Heath1858）

商務印書館《新工具》譯文：舉例來說，對于每一物體，我們必須探究其中元精有多少分量，可觸本質又有多少分量。關于元精，我們還必須探究它是豐盈和浮脹的還是瘠瘦和稀微的；是精的還是粗的；是近于火的還是近于空氣的；是矯捷的還是懶慢的；是強的還是弱的；是前進的還是后退的；是間斷的還是連續不斷的；同外面周圍的東西是相一致的還是不相一致的；以及此類等等。關于可觸本質（其中容有的差異也不少于在元精方面的），我們同樣也要探究到它的外皮、纖維與組織種類。此外，通貫于這實在體架直至其膚孔、通道和脈絡和細胞的元精的傾向，以及有機物體的初形或最初努力，這些亦都應加以同樣的查究。

評析：“的的”不休，譯文趨于口語，亦顯煩冗。

試譯：例如，吾人須探究每一物體精氣含量，有形要素含量，以及精氣充沛及膨脹，或瘦瘠和稀散，精細或粗糙，近似氣或火，活潑或遲鈍，虛弱或強壯，漸進或衰退，斷續或持續，適合外界及周邊物體，或與其相異，等等。吾人以同樣方式探究有形要素（差異幾與精氣同）、其皮毛、纖維和肌理。此外，貫通軀體之精氣性質，連同毛孔、通道、脈絡和細胞，以及有機體雛形或初試，都以相同方式探查。

...... For example, it is obvious that air andspirit, and like bodies, which in their entire substance are rare and subtle, can neither be seen nor touched. Therefore in the investigation of bodies of this kind it is altogether necessary to resort to reductions.（Book Two 40）

試譯：例如，空氣和精氣，以及類似物體，其整個本質稀疏且隱約，顯然既不可見，亦不可觸，因此，探查此類物體，亦須借助歸納法。