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第12节

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that moves sufficed to destroy the whole cosmography of the

ancients。 By disproving that law it might have been possible to retain

the old conception of the movements of the bodies; but without

disproving it; it would seem impossible to continue studying the

Ptolemaic worlds。 But even after the discovery of the law of

Copernicus the Ptolemaic worlds were still studied for a long time。

  From the time the first person said and proved that the number of

births or of crimes is subject to mathematical laws; and that this

or that mode of government is determined by certain geographical and

economic conditions; and that certain relations of population to

soil produce migrations of peoples; the foundations on which history

had been built were destroyed in their essence。

  By refuting these new laws the former view of history might have

been retained; but without refuting them it would seem impossible to

continue studying historic events as the results of man's free will。

For if a certain mode of government was established or certain

migrations of peoples took place in consequence of such and such

geographic; ethnographic; or economic conditions; then the free will

of those individuals who appear to us to have established that mode of

government or occasioned the migrations can no longer be regarded as

the cause。

  And yet the former history continues to be studied side by side with

the laws of statistics; geography; political economy; comparative

philology; and geology; which directly contradict its assumptions。

  The struggle between the old views and the new was long and

stubbornly fought out in physical philosophy。 Theology stood on

guard for the old views and accused the new of violating revelation。

But when truth conquered; theology established itself just as firmly

on the new foundation。

  Just as prolonged and stubborn is the struggle now proceeding

between the old and the new conception of history; and theology in the

same way stands on guard for the old view; and accuses the new view of

subverting revelation。

  In the one case as in the other; on both sides the struggle provokes

passion and stifles truth。 On the one hand there is fear and regret

for the loss of the whole edifice constructed through the ages; on the

other is the passion for destruction。

  To the men who fought against the rising truths of physical

philosophy; it seemed that if they admitted that truth it would

destroy faith in God; in the creation of the firmament; and in the

miracle of Joshua the son of Nun。 To the defenders of the laws of

Copernicus and Newton; to Voltaire for example; it seemed that the

laws of astronomy destroyed religion; and he utilized the law of

gravitation as a weapon against religion。

  Just so it now seems as if we have only to admit the law of

inevitability; to destroy the conception of the soul; of good and

evil; and all the institutions of state and church that have been

built up on those conceptions。

  So too; like Voltaire in his time; uninvited defenders of the law of

inevitability today use that law as a weapon against religion;

though the law of inevitability in history; like the law of Copernicus

in astronomy; far from destroying; even strengthens the foundation

on which the institutions of state and church are erected。

  As in the question of astronomy then; so in the question of

history now; the whole difference of opinion is based on the

recognition or nonrecognition of something absolute; serving as the

measure of visible phenomena。 In astronomy it was the immovability

of the earth; in history it is the independence of personality… free

will。

  As with astronomy the difficulty of recognizing the motion of the

earth lay in abandoning the immediate sensation of the earth's

fixity and of the motion of the planets; so in history the

difficulty of recognizing the subjection of personality to the laws of

space; time; and cause lies in renouncing the direct feeling of the

independence of one's own personality。 But as in astronomy the new

view said: 〃It is true that we do not feel the movement of the

earth; but by admitting its immobility we arrive at absurdity; while

by admitting its motion (which we do not feel) we arrive at laws;〃

so also in history the new view says: 〃It is true that we are not

conscious of our dependence; but by admitting our free will we

arrive at absurdity; while by admitting our dependence on the external

world; on time; and on cause; we arrive at laws。〃

  In the first case it was necessary to renounce the consciousness

of an unreal immobility in space and to recognize a motion we did

not feel; in the present case it is similarly necessary to renounce

a freedom that does not exist; and to recognize a dependence of

which we are not conscious。





                               …THE END…




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