Chapter I
Conscious Human Action
第一章
有意识的人类行为
Is the human being in their thinking and acting a free being, or are they compelled by the iron necessity of purely natural law? There are few questions in the history of human thought that have been subject to more ingenious examination.
在人类的思维和行为中，人究竟是一个精神上自由的存在，还是受制于纯粹自然法则的铁一般的必然性？很少有其他问题像这个问题一样，引发如此多的深刻思考。
The same necessity by which a stone makes a definite movement as the result of an impact, is said to compel the human being to carry out an action when caused to do so no matter what the reason.
就像石头在受到撞击时必然会产生某种运动一样，当人被某种原因驱使时，他也必然会执行某种行为。
The error in this train of thought is soon discovered. Spinoza, and all who think like him, overlook the fact that the human being not only is conscious of their action, but also may become conscious of the underlying causes which direct them.
这个思路中的错误很容易发现。斯宾诺莎以及所有与他想法相同的人忽略了这样一个事实：人不仅对自己的行为有意识，而且也可以对引导自己行为的原因有意识
Have we any right to consider the question of the freedom of will by itself at all? And if not, with what other question must it necessarily be connected?
是否可以单独提出关于我们意志自由的问题？如果不可以，它必然要与哪一个问题联系起来
If there is a difference between a conscious motive of action and an unconscious urge, then the conscious motive will lead to an action which must be judged differently from one that springs from blind impulse. Hence our first question will concern this difference. The position we shall take on the question of freedom will depend on the outcome of this enquiry.
如果我的行为的有意识动机与无意识冲动之间存在区别，那么前者也会导致一种必须与出于冲动的行为以不同方式加以判断的行动。因此，对这种区别的探究将是首先要提出的问题。这一探究的结果，将决定我们应当如何看待真正的自由问题。
What does it mean to have knowledge of the reasons for one's action? Too little attention has been paid to this question because, unfortunately, we have torn into two what is in reality an inseparable whole: the individual human being. We have distinguished between the knower and the doer and have left out of account precisely the one who matters most of all, namely the knowing doer, the one who acts out of knowledge.
知道自己行为的理由是什么意思？这一问题一直被忽视了，因为人们总是遗憾地把一个不可分割的整体撕裂成两个部分：人本身。人们区分了行动者与认识者，而由此受到损失的，恰恰是最重要的那一个——那个出于认识而行动的人。
For the question is just this, whether reason, purposes and resolutions, exercise the same kind of compulsion over a human being as their animal passions.
因为问题正是在于，理性、目的和决断是否会像动物的欲望那样，对人产生同样的强制作用。
The question is not whether I can carry out a decision once made, but how the decision comes about within me.
重要的并不是我是否能够把一个坚定的决定付诸实行，而是这个决定在我内心是如何产生的。
What distinguishes the human being from all other living beings arises from their rational thinking. Simply being active they have in common with all other life forms.
人类与所有其他有机生物的区别在于他的理性思维。活动（行动）这一点，他与其他有机体是共同的。
It goes without saying that a deed cannot be free when it is committed with no knowledge of the reasons for doing it. But what about a deed for which the reasons are known?
一个人若不知道自己为何采取某种行动，那么这种行动当然不可能是自由的。这一点十分显然。但若一个人知道自己行动的理由，那又该怎样呢？
This leads us to the question of the origin and significance of thinking. For without understanding the thinking activity of the mind, it will not be possible to form a concept of knowledge about anything at all, including knowledge about an action.
这使我们提出一个问题：思维的起源和意义是什么？因为如果不理解灵魂的思考活动，就不可能对事物的认识，即对行为本身，形成一个概念。
When we understand the role of thinking in general, it will then also be easy to gain clarity about the part that thinking plays in human action.
当我们认识到思维一般意味着什么时，我们也就容易明白思维在人类行为中所起的作用。
As Hegel rightly says, 'It is thinking that turns the soul, which the animals also possess, into spirit.'
Hence it will also be the thinking activity that gives human action its unique character.
正如黑格尔所言，思想使灵魂——即动物也具备的东西——首次成为精神；因此，思维也必然赋予人类行为其独特的印记。
Love, pity, and patriotism are driving forces for actions which cannot be reduced to cold intellectual concepts. It is said that here the heart, the mood of the soul, hold sway. No doubt. But the heart and the mood of the soul do not create the motives. They presuppose them and adopt them as their own.
爱、同情、爱国主义是行动的驱动力，无法被还原为冷静的理性概念。人们常说：此时心灵与情感获得了它们应有的地位。毫无疑问，这是正确的。然而，心灵与情感并不会创造行动的动机。它们只是以这些动机为前提，并将其纳入自身的领域。
Pity enters my heart when the mental picture of a person who arouses pity appears in my consciousness. The way to the heart is through the head. Love is no exception.
在我的内心中，当我的意识中出现一个引起怜悯的人的形象时，怜悯之情便油然而生。通往内心的道路要经过头脑，爱情也不例外。
It is said that love makes us blind to the failings of the loved one. But we can also turn this around to say that it is just for the good qualities of the other that love opens the eyes. Many pass by these good qualities without noticing them. For the one who perceives them however, love awakens in his soul.
人们常说：爱情会使人对所爱之人的缺点视而不见。事情也可以反过来理解：爱情恰恰使人对那个人的优点睁开了眼睛。许多人经过这些优点身边，却毫无察觉。唯有一个人看见了它们，而正因为如此，爱情在他的心灵中苏醒。
What else has been done but that a mental picture was made of what hundreds of others have failed to see? Love was not awakened in them because they lacked the mental picture.
他又做了什么别的呢？不过是对那些一百个其他人毫无概念的事物，产生了一个想象而已。他们没有爱情，因为他们缺乏这种想象。
However we approach the matter, it becomes ever clearer that the question of the nature of human action presupposes that of the origin of thinking. We shall, therefore, make this our next question.
无论我们想以何种方式来处理这个问题：都必须越来越清楚地看到，对人类行为本质的探问，预设了对思维起源的探问。因此，我首先转向后一个问题。
