《论自由·第三章·个性·论幸福的要素之一》第8节
In some such insidious form there is at present a strong tendency to this narrow theory of life, and to the pinched and hidebound type of human character which it patronises. Many persons, no doubt, sincerely think that human beings thus cramped and dwarfed, are as their Maker designed them to be; just as many have thought that trees are a much finer thing when clipped into pollards, or cut out into figures of animals, than as nature made them. But if it be any part of religion to believe that man was made by a good being, it is more consistent with that faith to believe, that this Being gave all human faculties that they might be cultivated and unfolded, not rooted out and consumed, and that he takes delight in every nearer approach made by his creatures to the ideal conception embodied in them, every increase in any of their capabilities of comprehension, of action, or of enjoyment. There is a different type of human excellence from the Calvinistic; a conception of humanity as having its nature bestowed on it for other purposes than merely to be abnegated. "Pagan self-assertion" is one of the elements of human worth, as well as "Christian self-denial." There is a Greek ideal of self-development, which the Platonic and Christian ideal of self-government blends with, but does not supersede. It may be better to be a John Knox than an Alcibiades, but it is better to be a Pericles than either; nor would a Pericles, if we had one in these days, be without anything good which belonged to John Knox.
注释摘要
这一段论证处在一个关键的转折点上。密尔在前文详细分析了习俗的专制如何让人的心智和情感能力萎缩，使人丧失个性。现在，他要揭露这种“使所有人都变得千篇一律”的倾向背后，其实有一种神学人性论在提供看似崇高的依据。他的任务不是单纯否定这种神学，而是要指出它是对宗教本意的扭曲，并由此提出另一种更宽广的人性理想。 密尔把矛头首先对准了加尔文主义的人性观。按照这种极端的…