《乌合之众·第二编·群体的意见与信念·群体意见的直接因素》第12节
Our century and that which preceded it will doubtless be alluded to by historians as an era of curious experiments, which in no other age have been tried in such number. The most gigantic of these experiments was the French Revolution. To find out that a society is not to be refashioned from top to bottom in accordance with the dictates of pure reason, it was necessary that several millions of men should be massacred and that Europe should be profoundly disturbed for a period of twenty years. To prove to us experimentally that dictators cost the nations who acclaim them dear, two ruinous experiences have been required in fifty years, and in spite of their clearness they do not seem to have been sufficiently convincing. The first, nevertheless, cost three millions of men and an invasion, the second involved a loss of territory, and carried in its wake the necessity for permanent armies. A third was almost attempted not long since, and will assuredly be attempted one day. To bring an entire nation to admit that the huge German army was not, as was currently alleged thirty years ago, a sort of harmless national guard,[15] the terrible war which cost us so dear had to take place. To bring about the recognition that Protection ruins the nations who adopt it, at least twenty years of disastrous experience will be needful. These examples might be indefinitely multiplied.
注释摘要
勒庞在这一段想要论证的核心命题是：群体的信念无法被纯粹的理性说理撼动，唯一能使其改变或确立真理的，是惨烈而大规模的经验。他用一连串十九世纪法国人刻骨铭心的历史灾难来支撑这个判断。法国大革命被他视为一场巨大的实验，几百万人的死亡和欧洲二十年的动荡，最终只证明了一个道理——社会不能按照纯理性的蓝图从零重建。随后他暗指拿破仑一世和拿破仑三世带来的两场独裁经验：第…