《乌合之众·第一编·群体的心理·群体的情感与道德》第23节
Taking the word "morality" to mean constant respect for certain social conventions, and the permanent repression of selfish impulses, it is quite evident that crowds are too impulsive and too mobile to be moral. If, however, we include in the term morality the transitory display of certain qualities such as abnegation, self-sacrifice, disinterestedness, devotion, and the need of equity, we may say, on the contrary, that crowds may exhibit at times a very lofty morality. The few psychologists who have studied crowds have only considered them from the point of view of their criminal acts, and noticing how frequent these acts are, they have come to the conclusion that the moral standard of crowds is very low. Doubtless this is often the case; but why? Simply because our savage, destructive instincts are the inheritance left dormant in all of us from the primitive ages. In the life of the isolated individual it would be dangerous for him to gratify these instincts, while his absorption in an irresponsible crowd, in which in consequence he is assured of impunity, gives him entire liberty to follow them. Being unable, in the ordinary course of events, to exercise these destructive instincts on our fellow- men, we confine ourselves to exercising them on animals. The passion, so widespread, for the chase and the acts of ferocity of crowds proceed from one and the same source. A crowd which slowly slaughters a defenceless victim displays a very cowardly ferocity; but for the philosopher this ferocity is very closely related to that of the huntsmen who gather in dozens for the pleasure of taking part in the pursuit and killing of a luckless stag by their hounds.
注释摘要
勒庞在这一段里其实是在小心翼翼地重新界定“道德”这个词。他一上来就劈开了两种“道德”的标准。如果说道德意味着一个人时时刻刻克制自私冲动、尊重社会既有规范，那么群体显然不道德，因为他们太冲动、太善变，根本做不到这种恒常的自我约束。但勒庞立刻换了一个视角：如果道德也包括那种短暂却极强烈的忘我、牺牲、对公正的渴求，那么群体不但有道德，而且可以拥有比孤立的个人更高…