《乌合之众·第一编·群体的心理·群体的一般特征·心理统一律》第5节
Contrary to an opinion which one is astonished to find coming from the pen of so acute a philosopher as Herbert Spencer, in the aggregate which constitutes a crowd there is in no sort a summing-up of or an average struck between its elements. What really takes place is a combination followed by the creation of new characteristics, just as in chemistry certain elements, when brought into contact--bases and acids, for example--combine to form a new body possessing properties quite different from those of the bodies that have served to form it. It is easy to prove how much the individual forming part of a crowd differs from the isolated individual, but it is less easy to discover the causes of this difference. To obtain at any rate a glimpse of them it is necessary in the first place to call to mind the truth established by modern psychology, that unconscious phenomena play an altogether preponderating part not only in organic life, but also in the operations of the intelligence. The conscious life of the mind is of small importance in comparison with its unconscious life. The most subtle analyst, the most acute observer, is scarcely successful in discovering more than a very small number of the unconscious motives that determine his conduct. Our conscious acts are the outcome of an unconscious substratum created in the mind in the main by hereditary influences. This substratum consists of the innumerable common characteristics handed down from generation to generation, which constitute the genius of a race. Behind the avowed causes of our acts there undoubtedly lie secret causes that we do not avow, but behind these secret causes there are many others more secret still which we ourselves ignore. The greater part of our daily actions are the result of hidden motives which escape our observation.
注释摘要
在这里，勒庞要回应的是一位他既敬重又必须反驳的对手——赫伯特·斯宾塞。斯宾塞是十九世纪英国最负盛名的进化论哲学家，他的社会学主张里有一条很要紧的预设：社会是由个体聚合而成的，整体的性质大体上是各个体性质的总和，或者说是一种平均。勒庞认为这个说法根本不对。他搬出一个化学比喻来说自己的道理：酸和碱各自有自己的性质，可是一旦碰到一起，它们不是简单地彼此中和、拉平…