《乌合之众·第一编·群体的心理·群体的观念、推理与想象力》第1节
WHEN studying in a preceding work the part played by ideas in the evolution of nations, we showed that every civilisation is the outcome of a small number of fundamental ideas that are very rarely renewed. We showed how these ideas are implanted in the minds of crowds, with what difficulty the process is effected, and the power possessed by the ideas in question when once it has been accomplished. Finally we saw that great historical perturbations are the result, as a rule, of changes in these fundamental ideas. Having treated this subject at sufficient length, I shall not return to it now, but shall confine myself to saying a few words on the subject of such ideas as are accessible to crowds, and of the forms under which they conceive them. They may be divided into two classes. In one we shall place accidental and passing ideas created by the influences of the moment: infatuation for an individual or a doctrine, for instance. In the other will be classed the fundamental ideas, to which the environment, the laws of heredity and public opinion give a very great stability; such ideas are the religious beliefs of the past and the social and democratic ideas of to-day.
注释摘要
勒庞在这一段里为整个“观念”的讨论安放了一根主轴——他把进入群体的观念分成了两类，以此解释为什么有些思潮能持久撼动文明，而有些则徒有喧嚣。他所谓“基本的观念”，是那些在漫长岁月中由环境、遗传法则和舆论反复加固、极难更替的思想基底，比如过去的宗教信仰，以及他身处的十九世纪末正在高涨的社会与民主观念。与之相对的“偶然和暂时的观念”，则是个体或学说起落间那些稍纵…