The God Delusion翻譯:第一章第一節(4)
(2007-02-19 23:34:15)
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One of Einstein's most eagerly quoted remarks is 'Science
without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.' But
Einstein also said,
It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious
convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I
do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied
this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me
which can be called religious then it is the unbounded
admiration for the structure of the world so far as our
science can reveal it.
Does it seem that Einstein contradicted himself? That his words
can be cherry-picked for quotes to support both sides of an argument?
No. By 'religion' Einstein meant something entirely different
from what is conventionally meant. As I continue to clarify the distinction
between supernatural religion on the one hand and
Einsteinian religion on the other, bear in mind that I am calling only
supernatural gods delusional.
愛因斯坦說過的話中人們最迫不及待地引用的一句是:"沒有信仰的科學是不完善的,沒有科學的信仰是盲目的"。但是愛因斯坦還說過:
你們讀到的關於我篤信宗教的事當然是謊言,是有係統地重複的謊言。我不相信有一個人格化的上帝,我多次申明這一點,從來也沒有否認過。如果說我內心有什麽可以稱之為宗教性的話,那就是我對我們的科學可以揭示的世界的結構的無邊的敬仰。
愛因斯坦自相矛盾嗎?他的話可以被可以挑揀出來左右逢源嗎?不。當愛因斯坦提到“宗教”這個詞的時候,他的意思和這個詞傳統的含義完全不同。下麵我會繼續澄清超自然宗教和愛因斯坦式的宗教的區別,請記住我僅僅說超自然的諸神是錯覺。
Here are some more quotations from Einstein, to give a flavour
of Einsteinian religion.
I am a deeply religious nonbeliever. This is a somewhat
new kind of religion.
I have never imputed to Nature a purpose or a goal, or
anything that could be understood as anthropomorphic.
What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we
can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill
a thinking person with a feeling of humility. This is a
genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with
mysticism.
The idea of a personal God is quite alien to me and seems
even naive.
下麵是更多的愛因斯坦的名言,從中可以窺出一些愛因斯坦式宗教的端倪:
我是一個深徹的不信教的人。這從某種意義上說是一種新的宗教。
我從來沒有給大自然賦予任何目的或目標,或任何擬人化的東西。我把大自然看作是我們現在還知之甚少的宏大的結構,這已經足夠讓思考的人類感到渺小了。這是一種純粹的宗教情感,和任何神秘主義的東西無關。
人格化的上帝這個概念和我格格不入而且聽起來很幼稚。
In greater numbers since his death, religious apologists understandably
try to claim Einstein as one of their own. Some of his
religious contemporaries saw him very differently. In 1940 Einstein
wrote a famous paper justifying his statement 'I do not believe in a
personal God.' This and similar statements provoked a storm of
letters from the religiously orthodox, many of them alluding to
Einstein's Jewish origins. The extracts that follow are taken from
Max Jammer's book Einstein and Religion (which is also my main
source of quotations from Einstein himself on religious matters).
自從愛因斯坦逝世以後,可以想見的,大量的宗教衛道士聲稱愛因斯坦和他們是一路的。但是,和他同時代的那些教徒們可不是這麽看的。1940年,愛因斯坦寫那篇著名的文章為他的“我不相信人格化的上帝”說法辯護。這篇文章和其他類似的言論在正統宗教界掀起了軒然大波,責問信鋪天蓋地而來。很多人甚至隱射愛因斯坦的猶太血統。下麵的一些文字是從麥克斯。雅摩爾的《愛因斯坦和他的宗教》一書中摘錄的(這本書同時也是我所引用的愛因斯坦本人宗教觀言論的主要來源):
The Roman Catholic Bishop of Kansas City said: 'It is sad to see a
man, who comes from the race of the Old Testament and its teaching,
deny the great tradition of that race.' Other Catholic clergymen
chimed in: 'There is no other God but a personal God . . . Einstein
does not know what he is talking about. He is all wrong. Some men
think that because they have achieved a high degree of learning in
some field, they are qualified to express opinions in all.' The notion
that religion is a proper field, in which one might claim expertise,
is one that should not go unquestioned. That clergyman presumably
would not have deferred to the expertise of a claimed
'fairyologist' on the exact shape and colour of fairy wings. Both he
and the bishop thought that Einstein, being theologically untrained,
had misunderstood the nature of God. On the contrary, Einstein
understood very well exactly what he was denying.
堪薩斯城的天主教會主教說:“看到這樣一位從承繼了舊約的教導的民族來的人拒絕了本民族的偉大傳統,這真的很可悲。”另一個教士岔進來說:“除了人格化的上帝沒有其他的上帝...愛因斯坦不知道自己在說什麽。他錯了。有的人以為自己在某些領域成就卓著就可以對他沒有資格談論的東西說三道四。”宗教能作為一個知識領域,而且有人可以自稱專家,對這樣一種說法可不能不存疑問。這位教士大概不會把關於小精靈的翅膀是什麽顏色和什麽形狀的知識當作“精靈學家”的學問吧?他和那個主教都認為愛因斯坦未經神學訓練時誤解了上帝的本質。其實正相反,愛因斯坦的對他拒絕相信的東西非常地清楚。