名人认知系列 哲学思想家13：John Stuart Mill 约翰·斯图尔特·穆勒

John Stuart Mill

约翰·斯图尔特·穆勒

John Stuart Mill was born on 20 May, 1806 in London. His father was the influential¹ radical² thinker James Mill. In his Autobiography³, Mill gives one of the most famous accounts of a childhood, certainly of a philosopher’s childhood. Interpretations⁴ have differed radically⁵ but everyone, including Mill, agrees that he had an extraordinary childhood, and that it shaped his later life as a thinker. Essentially⁶, Mill tells us how his father educated him at home from an extremely early age until he went off to work in his father’s office at the age of 18. John Stuart Mill did not go to school or university. Instead his father established for him a unique experiment in education. At age three, Mill was learning ancient Greek and arithmetic Soon he was being taken by his father on walks across the fields and reciting the evidence of his day’s reading.

约翰·斯图尔特·穆勒于1806年5月20日出生于伦敦。他的父亲是当时非常有影响的激进主义思想家詹姆斯·穆勒。在穆勒《自传》一书中，有一段非常著名的、对童年生活的描述，当然，那是一个哲学家的童年。尽管对这本书的评论和解释有着一些截然不同的版本，但包括穆勒在内，所有的人都认为他有一个与众不同的童年，这也对他日后成为一个思想家有很大影响。 很重要的一点是，穆勒给我们讲述了他父亲是如何教育他的，从很小的时候在家中受教育直到18岁他到父亲的办公室上班。约翰·斯图尔特·穆勒从来没上过中学或大学，都是在父亲独特的教育方式下学习。三岁时他就学习了古希腊语和算术。不久后，父亲带他到田野上散步，并且要求他背诵他一天当中所阅读的文章。

At the age of eight, Mill began Latin, and this part of his life story is a long list of books in different languages. Several of these childhood texts are directly relevant to On Liberty, particularly ancient works of political theory by Plato, Aristotle and Cicero. From the age of twelve, Mill was taught logic⁷, on which, in adult life, he became a leading authority.

八岁时穆勒开始学习拉丁语。他的这段生活就是一长串各种不同语言所写的书籍的清单。童年时期阅读的这些书籍对后期《论自由》的完成有直接影响，尤其是柏拉图、亚里士多德、西塞罗等所写的关于政治理论的古代著作对他影响较大。从12岁起穆勒开始学习逻辑学，长大之后，他成了这方面的权威。

Mill also draws our attention to missing elements in his education, notably⁸ the absence of religion, for which he remains⁹ grateful. On the other hand, he does look back on a more damaging absence, the lack of affection. For some readers, notably Mill’s friend Carlyle, this is the account of a nightmare childhood. For others, such as the contemporary philosopher Jonathan Riley, the verdict is more mixed, as it seems to have been for Mill himself. Many of his father’s political ideas continue to find expression within On Liberty, but in other ways, as Isaiah Berlin observes, the book can be seen as a reaction against such an upbringing— given its emphasis upon the well-being¹⁰ of the individual and upon the need for people to find their own way of living and thinking.
 

穆勒也将人们的注意力集中到他在教育上缺失的那部分，尤其是宗教部分的缺失，为此穆勒很庆幸。从另一方面讲，他也确实回忆过他童年一种更加有害的缺乏——缺乏爱。对于许多读者，特别是穆勒的朋友凯雷来说，那简直是噩梦般的童年。而对于其他一些人，就像当时的哲学家乔纳森·莱里，他的评价就有点复杂，就像他是穆勒一样。而父亲的政治观点也持续影响着他的写作，在《论自由》中都有所体现。但以赛亚·伯林从另一角度出发，他认为我们可以把这本书看成是穆勒反抗其成长方式的体现——强调个人的幸福生活，强调人们 对于寻找自己的生活和思考方式的需要。

1 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

2 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

3 autobiography   

n.自传

参考例句：

• He published his autobiography last autumn.他去年秋天出版了自己的自传。
• His life story is recounted in two fascinating volumes of autobiography.这两卷引人入胜的自传小说详述了他的生平。

4 interpretations   

n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解

参考例句：

• This passage is open to a variety of interpretations. 这篇文章可以有各种不同的解释。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The involved and abstruse passage makes several interpretations possible. 这段艰涩的文字可以作出好几种解释。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 radically   

ad.根本地，本质地

参考例句：

• I think we may have to rethink our policies fairly radically. 我认为我们可能要对我们的政策进行根本的反思。
• The health service must be radically reformed. 公共医疗卫生服务必须进行彻底改革。

6 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

7 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

8 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。