Chapter III/2
Thinking in the Service of Knowledge
第三章 / 第二节
作为认识工具的思维
There are two things which are incompatible with one another: productive activity and the simultaneous contemplation of it.
有两种事物是互不相容的：创造性行为以及与此同时对其进行的思考。
The reason why it is impossible to observe thinking in the actual moment when it's taking place, is the very one which makes it possible for us to know it more immediately and more intimately than any other process in the world. It is just because it is our own creation that we know the characteristic features of its course, the manner in which it's activity unfolds.
是什么使得我们不可能在思考当下的进程中对其进行观察呢？ 正是 由于同一原因，使得我们，比起对世界上其它任何过程的认知而言，可以更加直接、更为密切地认识思考。 恰恰因为它是我们自己的创造，所以我们可以认识到其进程中独有的特性，以及所考察的 事件发生的方式。
What in all other spheres of observation can be found only indirectly, namely, the factual context and the relationship between the individual objects, is, in the case of thinking, known to us in an absolutely direct way.
其它观察领域中那些只能间接地被发现的东西，以及各个 单独客体相互间的那种与事实相符的关联与关系，在思考 的过程中，我们是以一种完全直接的方式去认识它们的。
I do not on the face of it know why, for my observation, thunder follows lightning; but I know directly, from the very content of the two concepts, why my thinking connects the concept of thunder with the concept of lightning. It does not matter in the least whether I have the right concepts of lightning and thunder. The connection between those concepts that I do have is clear to me, and that is through the very concepts themselves.
我并非从其表面现象就立即知道为什么，对我的观察来说，雷鸣跟随在 闪电之后；但是，正是从这两个概念的内容中，我 接就可以知晓，为什么我的思考会将雷鸣的概念与闪电的概念联系在一起。至于我是否对 闪电与雷鸣拥有正确的概念，这并不重要。我确实拥有的是这两个概念 之间的关联，这对我来说是清晰的，而这正源于这两个概念本身。
This transparent clarity concerning our thinking process is quite independent of our knowledge of the physiological basis of thinking.
我们的思考过程的透彻明晰，完全独立于我们对思考之生理基础的认知。
My observation shows me that in linking one thought with another there is nothing to guide me but the content of my thoughts; I am not guided by any material processes in my brain.
我的观察告诉我，在将一个思想与另一个思想相关联的 过程中，除了我的思想内容之外，没有任何东西会引领 我；我并不是被大脑中的某种物质过程所引领的。
Anyone who challenges the description of thinking which I have given here by quoting the statement by the physiologist Pierre Cabanis (1757-1808) that "the brain secretes thoughts as the liver does gall or the spittle-glands spittle ...", simply does not know what I am talking about. They try to find thinking by a process of mere observation in the same way that we proceed in the case of other objects in the world. But they cannot find it in this way because, as I have shown, it eludes just this ordinary observation.
有人通过引用卡巴尼斯的话来反对我在此针对思考所发展出的心象，他说“大脑 分泌出思想，就像肝脏分泌胆汁或唾液腺分泌唾液一样，等等”，凡是这样反对 的人，完全不知道我正在谈论的是什么。他试图通过单纯的观察过程去发现思考，所采用的方式，就像我 对待构成了世界内容的其它事物那样。但以这样的方法 他无法找到思考，因为，就像我所指出的，在此，思考恰好避开了普通的观察。
Whoever cannot transcend materialism lacks the ability to bring about the exceptional condition I have described, in which they become conscious of that which remains unconscious in all other mental activity.
任何一个无法超越物质主义的人，会缺乏那种“把我曾描述过的那一例外情形造就出来的”能力；正是这一例外情形会让他意识到那些在所有其它灵性行为中一直都无法意识到的东西。
For everyone, however, who has the ability to observe thinking - and with good will every normal person has this ability - this observation is the most important one they can possibly make. For they observe something which they themselves have created.
然而，对每一个有能力观察思考的人来说——只要有良好的意志，每个被正常组建起来的人都拥有这一能力——这是他能够做出的最为重要的一种观察。因为他观察到了某种东西，而他自己是其创造者；(...)
They know how the thing they are observing comes into being. They see into its connections and relationships. A firm point has now been reached from which one can, with some hope of success, seek an explanation of all other world phenomena.
他知道自己所观察到的现象是如何产生的。他洞察事物的关系与联系。由此获得了一个稳固的起点，从这个起点出发，人们可以怀着有根据的希望去寻找其他世界现象的解释。
When we make thinking an object of observation, we add to the other observed contents of the world something which usually escapes our attention, But the way we stand in relation to the other things is in no way altered. We add to the number of objects of observation, but not to the number of methods.
当我们把思考当作一个观察客体时，我们就在世界上其它可观察的内容之上，添加了某种时常逃离我们关注的东西。但我们与其它事物相关联的方式并没有发生任何改变。我们增加的是观察客体的数目，而并非观察方法。
Yet when I observe my own thinking, no such neglected element is present. For what now hovers in the background is once more just thinking itself. The object of observation is qualitatively identical with the activity directed upon it.
当我们把思考当作一个观察客体时，我们就在世界上其它可观察的内容之上，添加了某种时常逃离我们关注的东西。但我们与其它事物相关联的方式并没有发生任何改变。我们增加的是观察客体的数目，而并非观察方法。
This is just another characteristic feature of thinking. When we make it an object of observation, we are not required to do so with the help of something qualitatively different, but can remain within the same element.
而这又是思考的一种具有独特意义的特性。当我们把它当作一个观察客体时，我们并非在不同性质的某种东西的协助下被迫这样做的。与此相反，我们仍能保持在相同的元素当中。
What is impossible for us with regard to nature, namely, creating before knowing, we achieve in the case of thinking. Were we to refrain from thinking until we had first gained knowledge of it, we would never be able to make a start at all.
在自然方面对我们来说不可能实现的内容，换句话说，即在认知之前先行创造，就思考而言则能够得以实现。如果我们在获得对思考的认知之前抑制住不思考，那我们根本永远无法达成思考。
For the observation of thinking, we ourselves first create an object; the presence of all other objects is taken care of without any activity on our part.
为了观察思考，是我们自己首先创造了一个客体；而对所有其它观察客体来说，它们的存在，并没有任何我们的活动参与其中。
This then is indisputable, that in thinking we have taken hold of one corner of the whole world process which requires our presence if anything is to happen. And this is just what matters.
那么，一个毋庸置疑的事实就是，在思考中，我们获得了整个世界过程的一角；在这里，如果有什么事情要发生的话，则我们必须在场。这正是问题的关键所在。
The very reason why objects confront me in such a puzzling way is simply that I play no part in their creation. They are just given to me, whereas in the case of thinking I know how it is done. Hence for the study of all that happens in the world there can be no more fundamental starting point than thinking itself.
为何事物会以如此令人费解的方式与我相面对，其真正原因恰恰在于，在它们产生的过程中我未曾发挥任何作用。它们只是被赋予了我；而对于思考来说，我却知道它是如何产生的。因此，为了对世界上所发生的一切进行研究，就没有比思考自身更根本的出发点了。
When Archimedes had discovered the lever, he thought he could lift the whole cosmos from its hinges, if only he could find a point of support for his device. He needed something that was supported by itself and by nothing else.
当阿基米德发明杠杆时，他相信只要找到一个支点，就能凭借杠杆撬动整个宇宙。他需要的是一种可以靠自身支撑，而不是依赖其他事物支撑的东西。
In thinking we have a principle which subsists through itself. Let us try, therefore, to understand the world starting from this basis. We can grasp thinking by means of itself. The question now is, whether we can also grasp anything else through it.
在思维中，我们有一个凭自身而存在的原则。从这里出发，我们试图理解世界。思维可以通过它自身被把握。问题只是，我们是否还能通过同样的思维把握到其他的东西。
To this I must reply that in order to arrive at an understanding of the relation between thinking and consciousness, I must think about it. Hence I presuppose thinking.
对此我必须如此回应：即为了理清思考与意识之间的关系，我必须对其进行思索。因此，我是以思考为先决条件的。
We must first consider thinking on its own, without reference to a thinking subject or a thought object. For both 'subject' and 'object' are concepts formed by thinking.
首先，我们必须十分公正地审视思考，无关乎思考的主体还是思考的客体。因为在主体与客体之中，我们已经有了由思考而形成的概念。
There is no denying that before anything else can be understood, thinking must be understood.
不容否认：在其它任何事物可以被理解之前，思考必须首先被理解。
The philosopher can only reach their goal when they recognise that which comes last in time must come first for their point of departure. This absolutely last thing which world evolution has achieved is in fact thinking.
只有当哲学家认识到在时间上位于最后的内容才是自己的首要关注点时，他才能实现自己的目标。这种由世界进化所实现的绝对处于最末位的事物，实际上就是思考。
Above all one should not confuse the 'having of thought-images' with the elaboration of thought by thinking. Thought-images may appear in the soul after the fashion of dreams, like vague intimations. This is not thinking.
我们只是不应将“拥有思想图景”与通过思考对思想的加工混为一谈。思想图景也许会以梦一般的形式出现在心中，就像一些模糊的灵机一动。但这并非思考。
Granted that the nature of thinking necessarily implies its being willed, the point that matters is that, while it is being carried out, nothing is willed which does not appear to the 'I' as its own fully transparent activity.
就算思考的本质必然会暗示着它是带有意愿的，但其实问题的关键在于，没有任何带有意愿的东西，在其执行过程中，看上去对“吾”来说，会不是完全由“吾”自己拥有的并处于“吾”自身监控下的一种行为。
Unprejudiced observation shows that nothing is to be counted as belonging to the nature of thinking except what is found in thinking itself. One can never arrive at something which is the cause of thinking if one steps outside the realm of thinking itself.
毫无偏见的观察指出，除了于思考自身之内在找到的内容之外，其他任何东西都不能被归为思考的本性。如果一个人跨出了思考本身的范畴，那他永远也无法找到任何引发了思考的东西。
