self-reflection and rational analysis. But there's one philosopher, born in France in 1533, who had a refreshingly different take.

但有一位哲學家，1533年生於法國， 對此有令人耳目一新的不同看法。

Michel de Montaigne was an intellectual who spent his writing life

米歇爾·德·蒙田，作為知識分子， 他一生的寫作都在揶揄知識分子的傲慢

knocking the arrogance of intellectuals. In his great masterpiece, the 'Essays', he comes across as relentlessly wise and intelligent

在他傑出的著作《隨筆集》中，他展現出極端的聰明，

— but also as constantly modest and keen to debunk the pretensions of learning. Not least, he's extremely funny,

但也同時保持謙遜，並熱切地揭穿學習的虛偽。

reminding his readers: 'to learn that we have said or done a stupid thing is nothing, we must learn a more

除此之外，他非常逗趣，提醒讀者：

ample and important lesson: that we are but blockheads... (or, as he put it) On the highest throne in the world,

「知道自己說過或做過什麼蠢事實在沒什麼大不了，

we are seated, still, upon our arses.'

我們還必須學習更廣泛、更重要的一課 -- 我們不過是個蠢蛋。」

Montaigne was a child of the Renaissance and the ancient philosophers popular in Montaigne's day

或者就像他說的：「即使在世界上最位高權重的王位， 我們依然只是坐在自己的屁股上。」

believed that our powers of reason could afford us a happiness and greatness denied to other creatures.

蒙田身在文藝復興時代， 而在蒙田那時代受到歡迎的古典哲學家

Reason was a sophisticated, almost divine, tool offering us mastery over the world and ourselves.

普遍相信人類的理性力量能使我們快樂、偉大， 這是其他的生物無法企及的

That was the line taken by philosophers like Cicero.

「理性」是最精緻、甚至神聖的力量， 讓我們得以主導世界、主導自己 --

But this characterization of human reason enraged Montaigne. After hanging out with academics and philosophers, he wrote,

-- 這是像西賽羅那樣的哲學家的觀點。

"In practice, thousands of little women in their villages have lived more gentle, more equable and more constant lives than [Cicero].

然而，這種對人類理性的描述激怒了蒙田

His point wasn't that human beings can't reason at all,

在接觸過非常多學術界人士和哲學家之後，他寫道：

simply that they tend to be far too arrogant about the limits of their brains. As he wrote,

「事實上，成千上萬生活在村莊裡的小婦人 都比西賽羅過得還祥和、平靜、而忠誠。」

"Our life consists partly in madness, partly in wisdom. Whoever writes about it merely respectfully and by rule leaves more than half of it behind."

他並不是完全否定人類的理性， 而是人類太過傲慢而未能認清大腦的侷限

Perhaps the most obvious example of our madness is the struggle of living within a human body.

就如同他寫的： 「我們的生命一半是瘋狂，一半是智慧；

Our bodies smell, ache, sag, pulse, throb and age (whatever the desires of our minds).

任何人若只是帶著敬意描述它， 即是將一半以上的生命略去不談。」

Montaigne was the world's first and possibly only philosopher

也許我們的瘋狂最明顯的例子， 就是活在人類肉體內的各種掙扎，

to talk at length about impotence, which seemed to him a prime example of how crazy and fragile our minds are.

無論我們的大腦希望如何， 我們的肉體仍會有氣味、會疼痛、下垂、脈動、老去。

Montaigne had a friend

蒙田是有史以來第一個、也許是唯一一個 討論「性無能」的哲學家 --

who'd grown impotent with a woman he particularly liked.

-- 對他而言，這是顯示出我們的大腦 有多瘋狂和脆弱的主要例子

Montaigne didn't blame the penis. The problem was the mind, the oppressive notion that we had complete control over our bodies, and the horror of

蒙田的一位朋友在他特別心愛的女人面前不舉，

departing from this theoretical normality. The solution, Montaigne said, was to redraw our sense of what's normal.

蒙田認為這不是陰莖的錯；問題出在大腦 --

By accepting a loss of command over the penis as a harmless common possibility in lovemaking

-- 在於那個壓迫性的認知， 認為我們可以完全掌控自己的肉體，

one could preempt its occurrence — as the stricken man eventually discovered. In bed with a woman, he learnt to,

並且恐懼於自己偏離這個理論上的「正常」。

"Admit beforehand that he was subject to this infirmity and spoke openly about it,

而解決的辦法，蒙田表示，是重新界定何謂「正常」

so relieving the tensions within his soul. By bearing the malady as something to be expected,

如果放棄對陰莖的控制，並接受不舉是 做愛時一個正常的可能，就能預測它的發生，

his sense of constriction grew less and weighed less heavily upon him."

就像那位大受打擊的朋友終於發現的。

Montaigne's frankness allows the tensions in the reader's own soul to be relieved.

當和女人上床時，他學會事先承認自己的缺陷，

A man who failed with his girlfriend could regain his forces

並且坦誠地討論此事，因而舒緩了他靈魂深處的壓力。

and soothe the anxieties of his beloved by accepting that his impotence belonged to a broad realm of sexual mishaps, neither very rare nor very peculiar.

一旦承認這個缺陷是可能發生的， 這件事的束縛感就會減輕。

Montaigne was equally frank about limitations of his intellect (and of its usefulness).

蒙田坦然的態度讓讀者靈魂深處的緊張得以舒緩，

Academia was deeply prestigious in Montaigne's day, as in our own.

當男人無法滿足女友，可以從這樣的說法中重獲力量， 並以此舒緩他的愛人的焦慮，

Yet, although Montaigne was an excellent scholar, he hated pedantry in academia.

接受他的性無能是一種廣泛發生的性缺陷， 既不罕見、也並非異常。

He only wanted to learn things that were useful and relentlessly attacked academics for being out of touch.

蒙田對於智識的侷限也同樣坦率， 並且懷疑智識是否有用

"If man were wise, he would gauge the true worth of anything by its usefulness and appropriateness to his life," he said.

蒙田那時代的學術界充滿優越感 -- 我們這時代亦然

Only that which makes us feel better maybe worth understanding.

然而，儘管蒙田是個傑出的學者， 他非常厭惡學術圈的學究氣息

In this vein, Montaigne mocked books that were difficult to read.

他只想學習有用的事物， 並無情地抨擊學術圈的不切實際。

He admitted to his readers that he found Plato more than a little boring — and that he just wanted to have fun with books:

蒙田認為：「一個人如果聰明，就會根據事物對其 人生的用處和適切性來衡量其真正價值。」

"I'm not prepared to bash my brains out for anything, not even for learning's sake however precious it may be.

只有那些能讓我們感覺更良好的事物值得了解。

From books all I seek is to get myself some pleasure by an honorable pastime...

在這個脈絡下，蒙田嘲笑那些難以閱讀的書籍，

If I come across some difficult passages in my reading

他向讀者承認，他覺得閱讀柏拉圖有點無聊； 他只想要從書中尋找樂趣。

I don't bite my nails over them: after making a charge or two I let them be... If one book tires me

「我不打算為任何事物絞盡腦汁， 即使是為了學習，無論它有多珍貴。

I just take up another." He could be pretty caustic about incomprehensible philosophers.

我想從書本中尋求的，僅只是 擁有一段美好時光讓自己愉快；

"Difficulty is a coin which the learned conjure with so as not to reveal the vanity of their studies

如果在閱讀時遇到困難的段落， 我不會為此鑽牛角尖，

and which human stupidity is keen to accept in payment."

在嘗試了一兩次之後，我就讓它去了； 如果有本書讓我覺得疲憊，我就換另外一本。」

Montaigne observed how an intimidating scholarly culture

他對於那些令人難以理解的哲學家非常尖酸刻薄，

has made all of us study other people's books way before we study our own minds. And yet, as he put it:

「艱澀是學者用來變把戲的銅板，目的是 為了避免洩漏他們徒勞無功的研究，

"We are richer than we think, each one of us."

而人類的愚蠢則對它熱切地照單全收。」

Montaigne is refreshing because he describes a life

蒙田觀察到，恫嚇式的學術文化，如何讓我們在 學習自己的思想以前，急於學習他人的書，

which is recognizably like our own and yet inspiring still — he is a very human ideal.

然而就如同他說的：「我們比自己以為的 還要更豐富，每一個人都是如此。」

We may all arrived at wise ideas if we cease to think of ourselves

蒙田讓人耳目一新，因為他所描述的生活， 我們能認得這就像是我們真正的生活，

as unsuited to the task just because we aren't two thousand years old, or aren't interested in the topics of Plato's dialogues or have a so-called ordinary life.

但仍然充滿洞見、鼓舞人心 -- 他是個非常人性化的理想型。

Montaigne reassures us: "You can attach the whole of moral philosophy to a commonplace private life

我們都可能擁有充滿智慧的思想， 只要我們不再認為自己無法這麼做 --

just as well as to one with richer stuff."

-- 只因為我們不是兩千歲，或對柏拉圖對話錄中 的主題不感興趣，或只擁有所謂的平凡生活

In Montaigne's redrawn portrait of the adequate, semi-rational human being, it's possible to speak no Greek

蒙田向我們保證：「你可以將整套道德哲學應用 在平凡的私人生活中，就如同應用在不平凡的生活。」

change one's mind after a meal, get bored with a book, be impotent and know pretty much none of the Ancient philosophers.

蒙田重新描述的貼切的、半理性人類的樣貌，

A virtuous ordinary life, striving for wisdom but never far from folly, is achievement enough.

可以不談論古希臘、在一頓飯的時間內改變主意、 覺得書本很無聊、性無能、不太了解古典哲學家 --

Montaigne remains the great, readable intellectual with whom we can laugh at intellectuals

有德性的平凡生活、追求智慧、但未曾遠離蠢事， 已經是足夠了不起的成就。

and pretensions of many kinds. He was a breath of fresh air in the cloistered, unworldly,

蒙田是位偉大、簡單易讀的知識份子， 我們可以跟他一起嘲笑知識份子和各種虛偽。

snobbish corridors of the academia of the 16th century — and because academia has, sadly,

在16世紀學術圈那不切實際又充滿勢利眼的象牙塔裡， 蒙田是一股清流，

not changed very much, he continues to be an inspiration and a solace to all of us who feel routinely

而因為學術圈 -- 可悲的-- 至今並未有太多轉變， 蒙田持續地成為我們的鼓舞和慰藉

oppressed and patronized by the pedantry and arrogance of so-called clever people.

-- 對於所有覺得自己日復一日地被那些充滿學究氣的、 傲慢的、所謂的「聰明人」壓迫和指導的人們而言。