评论
打印
The chief difference between man and the other animals consists in this,
人类与动物区别在于：
that the former has reason, whereas the latter have only instinct;
前者具有理性，而后者唯有本能，
but, in order to understand what we mean by the terms reason and instinct,
不过为了弄清我们所说的理性与本能的定义，
it will be necessary to mention three things in which the difference very distinctly appears.
在此，有必要阐述三点人与动物之间的显见差异。
Let us first, to bring the parties as nearly on a level as possible, consider man in a savage state,
首先，让我们将人类与动物尽可能置于同一范畴比较，
wholly occupied, like the beasts of the field, in providing for the wants of his animal nature;
与兽类雷同，完全处于野蛮状态下的人类，就动物生存性需要而言，人类与动物无异；
and here the first distinction that appears between them is the use of implements.
这里，人类与动物关键差异在于工具的使用。
When the savage provides himself with a hut or a wigwam for shelter, or that he may store up his provisions,
当原始人出于自身考虑，搭建茅舍或者棚屋以遮风避雨，甚至存贮食物，
he does no more than is done by the rabbit, the beaver, the bee, and birds of every species.
其实，人类行为绝非具有超越野兔、海狸、蜜蜂或任何鸟类的本能意义。
But the man can not make any progress in this work without tools;
如果没有工具，在原始生存环境下，人类不会获取任何进步；
he must provide himself with an ax even before he can cut down a tree for its timber;
当原始人为获取木头而砍伐树木前，他必须准备刀斧之类工具；
whereas these animals form their burrows, their cells, or their nests, with no other tools than those with which nature has provided them.
而动物打算挖建洞穴、筑造蜂巢、或垒搭鸟窝，无法利用自然界物件造出可供自己使用的工具。
In cultivating the ground, also, man can do nothing without a spade or a plow;
如果没有木锹或铧犁，人类无法耕作或翻整土地；
nor can he reap what he has sown till he has shaped an implement with which to cut down his harvest.
甚而无法收获播种的庄稼，除非他事先做出某种可以收割庄稼的工具。
