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托马斯·马尔萨斯:人口论·摘录 172

托马斯·马尔萨斯《人口论》· An Essay on the Principle of Population · 投资

A state of trial seems to imply a previously formed existence that does not agree with the appearance of man in infancy and indicates something like suspicion and want of foreknowledge, inconsistent with those ideas which we wish to cherish of the Supreme Being. I should be inclined, therefore, as I have hinted before, to consider the world and this life as the mighty process of God, not for the trial, but for the creation and formation of mind, a process necessary to awaken inert, chaotic matter into spirit, to sublimate the dust of the earth into soul, to elicit an ethereal spark from the clod of clay. And in this view of the subject, the various impressions and excitements which man receives through life may be considered as the forming hand of his Creator, acting by general laws, and awakening his sluggish existence, by the animating touches of the Divinity, into a capacity of superior enjoyment. The original sin of man is the torpor and corruption of the chaotic matter in which he may be said to be born.

出处: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4239
定位:Excerpt 172 · 核对日期:2026-10-19 · 核验:短摘录

白话

马尔萨斯认为,“考验”这个说法意味着人事先已有一个完整灵魂,可婴儿出生时明明是一张白纸,所以考验说暗示上帝需要试探人、缺乏预知,这跟我们对上帝的观念不合。他更愿意把世界和今生看作上帝创造和形成心灵的宏大过程:把惰性、混沌的物质唤醒成精神,把尘土提升为灵魂,从泥块里引出火花。人一生中各种印象和刺激,就是造物主用普遍规律塑造他的手,把昏睡的存在唤醒成能享受更高幸福的能力。他说的“原罪”,就是人出生时那种混沌物质的迟钝和败坏。

上下文

马尔萨斯《人口论》第二版中借用神学语言,解释人口压力如何被纳入“心灵形成”的框架。

今日一问

你相信人的品格主要是天生固定的,还是可以被后天经历和训练塑造出来的?

公版作品;原文逐字取自 Project Gutenberg,仅摘录段落并附全书链接。

本文本为公版;底本与原文链接见上。 版权

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