《论美国的民主·卷二·一部·第二章·民主国家信念的主要来源》第1节
At different periods dogmatical belief is more or less abundant. It arises in different ways, and it may change its object or its form; but under no circumstances will dogmatical belief cease to exist, or, in other words, men will never cease to entertain some implicit opinions without trying them by actual discussion. If everyone undertook to form his own opinions and to seek for truth by isolated paths struck out by himself alone, it is not to be supposed that any considerable number of men would ever unite in any common belief. But obviously without such common belief no society can prosper--say rather no society can subsist; for without ideas held in common, there is no common action, and without common action, there may still be men, but there is no social body. In order that society should exist, and, a fortiori, that a society should prosper, it is required that all the minds of the citizens should be rallied and held together by certain predominant ideas; and this cannot be the case, unless each of them sometimes draws his opinions from the common source, and consents to accept certain matters of belief at the hands of the community.
注释摘要
托克维尔在这一段里做的是地基性的工作。他要论证的不是民主好还是坏，甚至不是民主社会里信念的具体内容，而是一个更根本的前提：任何社会，只要它还想作为一个社会而存在，就必须有某种不经讨论就被共同接受的信念。他不是在提倡盲从，而是在描述一个人类处境的基本事实。 这里的 dogmatical belief 需要仔细理解。在十九世纪的语言里，dogma 并不一定是个…