大学英语四六级晨读经典365秋日激情篇

　　220 Human Nature

　　220 人性

　　For most thinkers since the Greek philosophers, it was self-evident that there is something called human nature, something that constitutes the essence of man. There were various views about what constitutes it, but there was agreement that such an essence exists -- that is to say, that there is something by virtue of which man is man. Thus man was defined as a rational being, as a social animal, an animal that can make tools, or a symbol-making animal.

　　对于自希腊哲学家以来的大多数思想家而言，很明显的一点是，存在一种叫做人的天性的东西，它是构成人之本性的一种东西。对于是什么构成了人的本性的观点有很多，但是大家都一致地认为，这样一种本性是确实存在着的，也就是说，确实有这样一种东西，由于它人才成为其为人。因而，人就被 定义为一种理性的生物，一种社会动物，一种能制造工具的动物或者一种会制造符号的动物。

　　More recently, this traditional view has begun to be questioned. One reason for this change was the increasing emphasis given to the historical approach to man. An examination of the history of humanity suggested that man in our epoch is so different from man in previous times that it seemed unrealistic to assume that men in every age have had in common something that can be called human nature. The historical approach was reinforced, particularly in the United States, by studies in the field of cultural anthropology. The study of primitive peoples has discovered such a diversity of customs, values, feelings, and thoughts that many anthropologists arrived at the concept that man is born as a blank sheet of paper on which each culture writes its text. Another factor contributing to the tendency to deny the assumption of a fixed human nature was that the concept has so often been abused as a shield behind which the most inhuman acts are committed. In the name of human nature, for example, Aristotle and most thinkers up to the eighteenth century defended slavery. Or in order to prove the rationality and necessity of the capitalist form of society, scholars have tried to make a case for acquisitiveness, competitiveness, and selfishness as innate human traits. Popularly, one refers cynically to human nature in accepting the inevitability of such undesirable human behavior as greed, murder, cheating and lying.

　　最近，这种传统观念开始受到质疑。导致这种变化的原因之是人们越来越注重通过历史的方法对人类进行考察。对人类历史的考察表明，我们这个时代的人与早先时代的人大不相同，因而如果假定所有时期的人都存在着某种相似的可以称之为。人性。的东西似乎是不切实际的。尤其是在美国，这种观点被许多文化人类学领域的研究所证实。对原始民族的研究发发现，风俗、价值观，情感以及思想是如此的多样化，以至于许多人类学家得出这样的概念，即人生下来只是一张白纸，但是每一种文化都在这张纸上写下各自不同的文章。导致人们倾向于否定一成不变的人性假说的另一个因素是，人性这个概念常常被滥用作一块盾牌，在它的保护下，一些最不人道的行为才得以发生。比如说，从亚里士多德直到18世纪，大多数思想家都以人性的名义维护奴隶桃而为了证明资本主义社会形态的合理性及必要性，学者们试图证明贪婪，竞争和自私是人类天生的特点。通常，人们在承认贪婪，凶杀，欺诈和说谎等不良的人类行为不可避免时，时常带着嘲弄的态度把它们称之为人性。

　　Another reason for skepticism about the concept of human nature probably lies in the influence of evolutionary thinking. Once man came to be seen as developing in the process of evolution, the idea of a substance which is contained in his essence seemed untenable. Yet I believe it is precisely from an evolutionary standpoint that we can expect new insight into the problem of the nature of man.

　　对人性概念产生怀疑的另一个原因很可能是由于进化论思想的影响，一旦把人类看作是在进化论的过程中不断发展的。那么，这种认为在人性中存在着某种一成不变的东西的想法就站不住脚了。然而我相信，正是从进化论的角度，我们可以对人性这个问题有新的思考。