英語短文名人故事 哲學(xué)思想家 第31期:約翰·斯圖爾特·穆勒
13 John Stuart Mill 約翰·斯圖爾特·穆勒
John Stuart Mill was born on 20 May, 1806 in London. 約翰·斯圖爾特·穆勒于1806年5月20日出生于倫敦。
His father was the influential radical thinker James Mill. 他的父親是當(dāng)時(shí)非常有影響的激進(jìn)主義思想家詹姆斯·穆勒。
In his Autobiography, Mill gives one of the most famous accounts of a childhood, certainly of a philosopher's childhood. 在穆勒《自傳》一書中，有一段非常著名的、對(duì)童年生活的描述，當(dāng)然，那是一個(gè)哲學(xué)家的童年。
Interpretations have differed radically but everyone, including Mill, agrees that he had an extraordinary childhood, and that it shaped his later life as a thinker. 盡管對(duì)這本書的評(píng)論和解釋有著一些截然不同的版本，但包括穆勒在內(nèi)，所有的人都認(rèn)為他有一個(gè)與眾不同的童年，這也對(duì)他日后成為一個(gè)思想家有很大影響。
Essentially, 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. 很重要的一點(diǎn)是，穆勒給我們講述了他父親是如何教育他的，從很小的時(shí)候在家中受教育直到18歲他到父親的辦公室上班。
John Stuart Mill did not go to school or university. 約翰·斯圖爾特·穆勒從來沒上過中學(xué)或大學(xué)，
Instead his father established for him a unique experiment in education. 都是在父親獨(dú)特的教育方式下學(xué)習(xí)。
At age three, Mill was learning ancient Greek and arithmetic. 三歲時(shí)他就學(xué)習(xí)了古希臘語和算術(shù)。
Soon he was being taken by his father on walks across the fields and reciting the evidence of his day's reading. 不久后，父親帶他到田野上散步，并且要求他背誦他一天當(dāng)中所閱讀的文章。
At the age of eight, Mill began Latin, and this part of his life story is a long list of books in different languages. 八歲時(shí)穆勒開始學(xué)習(xí)拉丁語。他的這段生活就是一長串各種不同語言所寫的書籍的清單。
Several of these childhood texts are directly relevant to On Liberty, particularly ancient works of political theory by Plato, Aristotle and Cicero. 童年時(shí)期閱讀的這些書籍對(duì)后期《論自由》的完成有直接影響，尤其是柏拉圖、亞里士多德、西塞羅等所寫的關(guān)于政治理論的古代著作對(duì)他影響較大。
From the age of twelve, Mill was taught logic, on which, in adult life, he became a leading authority. 從12歲起穆勒開始學(xué)習(xí)邏輯學(xué)，長大之后，他成了這方面的權(quán)威。
Mill also draws our attention to missing elements in his education, notably the absence of religion, for which he remains grateful. 穆勒也將人們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，為此穆勒很慶幸。
On the other hand, he does look back on a more damaging absence, the lack of affection. 從另一方面講，他也確實(shí)回憶過他童年一種更加有害的缺乏--缺乏愛。
For some readers, notably Mill's friend Carlyle, this is the account of a nightmare childhood. 對(duì)于許多讀者，特別是穆勒的朋友凱雷來說，那簡直是噩夢(mèng)般的童年。
For others, such as the contemporary philosopher Jonathan Riley, the verdict is more mixed, as it seems to have been for Mill himself. 而對(duì)于其他一些人，就像當(dāng)時(shí)的哲學(xué)家喬納森·萊里，他的評(píng)價(jià)就有點(diǎn)復(fù)雜，就像他是穆勒一樣。
Many of his father's political ideas continue to find expression within On Liberty, 而父親的政治觀點(diǎn)也持續(xù)影響著他的寫作，在《論自由》中都有所體現(xiàn)。
but in other ways, as Isaiah Berlin observes, the book can be seen as a reaction against an upbringing- given its emphasis upon the well-being of the individual and upon the need for people to find their own way of living and thinking. 但以賽亞·伯林從另一角度出發(fā)，他認(rèn)為我們可以把這本書看成是穆勒反抗其成長方式的體現(xiàn)--強(qiáng)調(diào)個(gè)人的幸福生活，強(qiáng)調(diào)人們對(duì)于尋找自己的生活和思考方式的需要。
