溢满馨香的田园.pdfVIP

溢满馨香的田园 On Pleasure 论 快 乐 伊壁鸠鲁 (公元前 342 - 前 270 年)是古希腊著名哲学家,创 立了伊壁鸠鲁学派。在古希腊文明晚期,城邦民主政治瓦解, 社会趋于混乱,个人无所适从。伊壁鸠鲁于是教导人们,幸福 即安宁,保持身体健康与心平气和 即可进入快乐境界。他认 为,快乐乃至高的善,趋乐避苦是人的本性,但重要的是快乐的 持久度而不是强度,是心灵无忧虑,身体无痛苦,而不是感官的 不断刺激 。快乐的生活人人可 以享受,为此人们必须清 除不必 要的欲望,远离政治,多交朋友。同时,他强调只有通过研究哲 学,探求知识,人们才能认识快乐的本源 。必须指出,伊壁鸠鲁 的快乐哲学具有明显 的消极、禁欲色彩,但有助于我们认识古 希腊文明晚期 的价值转向。伊 氏主要著作有 《论 自然》、《准则 学》、《论 目的》等,本文选 自他的书信集。 Since pleasure is the first good and natural to us, for this very rea- son we do not choose every pleasure, but sometimes we pass over many 1 L iteral Gardern pleasures, when greater discomfort accrues to us as the result of them : and similarly we think many pains better than pleasures, since a greater pleasure comes to us when we have endured pains for a long time .Every pleasure then because of its natural kinship to us is good, yet not every pleasure is to be chosen ; even as every pain also is an evil, yet not all are always of a nature to be avoided .Yet by a scale of comparison and by the consideration of advantages and disadvantages we must form our judgment on all these matters .For the good on certain occasions we treat as bad, and conversely the bad as good . ... We must consider that of desires some are natural, others vain, and of the natural some are necessary and others merely natural ;and of the necessary some are necessary for happiness, others for the repose of the body, and others for very life Unhappiness comes either through fear or through vain and unbri- dled desire ;but if a man curbs these, he can win for himself the bless- edness of understanding Of desires, all that do not lead to a sense of pain, if they are not satisfied, are not necessary, but involve a crav- ing which is easily dispelled, when the obj ect is hard to procure or