雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第3章:思考什麼是思考(19)

NATURE OF SPIRIT

靈魂的本質

It used to be supposed in Science that if everything was known about the Universe at any particular moment then we can predict what it will be through all the future. This idea was really due to the great success of astronomical prediction. More modern science however has come to the conclusion that when we are dealing with atoms and electrons we are quite unable to know the exact state of them; our instruments being made of atoms and electrons themselves. The conception then of being able to know the exact state of the universe then really must break down on the small scale. This means then that the theory which held that as eclipses etc. are predestined so were all our actions breaks down too. We have a will which is able to determine the action of the atoms probably in a small portion of the brain, or possibly all over it. The rest of the body acts so as to amplify this. There is now the question which must be answered as to how the action of the other atoms of the universe are regulated. Probably by the same law and simply by the remote effects of spirit but since they have no amplifying apparatus they seem to be regulated by pure chance. The apparent non-predestination of physics is almost a combination of chances.

在過去，科學界往往認爲，我們瞭解了某一時刻的宇宙，就能預測將來會發生什麼。這個觀點，是基於天文預測方面的成功。然而，現代科學得出的結論是：當我們和原子、電子打交道時，我們無法知道它們確切的情況，因爲我們的測量工具本身就是原子和電子。預測宇宙這種想法被推翻了，“我們所有的行爲都是預先確定的”這個理論，也因此而垮掉了。我們有某種意識，在控制着一部分、或者整個大腦的原子的運動，身體的其他行爲，則是爲了增強這種運動。現在必須解決的問題是，宇宙中其它原子的運動是如何控制的。也許是一樣的原理，還有靈魂的遠程作用，但因爲沒有東西來增強這種運動，所以它看起來好像是純粹被概率控制的。很顯然，物理沒有預先確定，幾乎就是很多概率的組合。

As McTaggart shews matter is meaningless in the absence of spirit (throughout I do not mean by matter that which can be a solid a liquid or a gas so much as that which is dealt with by physics e.g. light and gravitation as well, i.e. that which forms the universe). Personally I think that spirit is really eternally connected with matter but certainly not always by the same kind of body. I did believe it possible for a spirit at death to go to a universe entirely separate from our own, but I now consider that matter and spirit are so connected that this would be a contradiction in terms. It is possible however but unlikely that such universes may exist.

正如麥克塔伽所說，缺少靈魂的實體是無意義的（自始至終，我說的實體，不光是指物理上的固體、液體或氣體，還包括光和引力，也就是組成宇宙的全部實體）。我個人認爲，靈魂會永恆地與實體發生相互作用，但不一定總是表現爲同樣的形態。我相信在我們死後，靈魂會到達一個與我們完全隔絕的宇宙，但我現在考慮到，實體和靈魂緊密聯繫，這在形態上可能會自相矛盾。這有可能是對的，但那些宇宙又不太像是存在的。

Then as regards the actual connection between spirit and body I consider that the body by reason of being a living body can 'attract' and hold on to a 'spirit', whilst the body is alive and awake the two are firmly connected. When the body is asleep I cannot guess what happens but when the body dies the 'mechanism' of the body, holding the spirit is gone and the spirit finds a new body sooner or later perhaps immediately.

至於靈魂和身體的真正關係，我認爲，當身體活着時，可以吸引並抓住靈魂，使其緊緊地聯繫在一起。當身體睡着時，我猜不出會發生什麼，但當抓着靈魂的身體死亡時，它就會“失靈”，然後靈魂會去尋找一個新的身體。