How do you know you exist? - James Zucker

詹姆斯•祖克尔：你如何意识到自己的存在？

翻译人员: Kai Cui 校对人员: Zhiting Chen

How do you know you're real?

你如何意识到自己的真实存在？

It's an obvious question until you try to answer it,

这是个显而易见的问题 但回答起来不容易，

but let's take it seriously.

让我们严肃地讨论一下。

How do you really know you exist?

你如何才能真正意识到自己的存在？

In his "Meditations on First Philosophy,"

勒内•笛卡尔在他的《第一哲学 沉思集》中，试图回答这个问题，

René Descartes tried to answer that very question,

demolishing all his preconceived notions and opinions

他推翻了所有先入为主的概念， 从根源上重新思考。

to begin again from the foundations.

All his knowledge had come from his sensory perceptions of the world.

他所有的知识都来源于他的感官 对这个世界的洞察。

Same as you, right?

你也是这样，对吗？

You know you're watching this video with your eyes, hearing it with your ears.

你知道自己在用眼睛看这个 视频，用你的耳朵听声音

Your senses show you the world as it is.

你的感官告诉你 这个世界是什么样子的。

They aren't deceiving you, but sometimes they do.

感觉器官并没有欺骗你， 但有时候也会欺骗。

You might mistake a person far away for someone else,

从远处看，你或许会 把一个人当作另外一个人，

or you're sure you're about to catch a flyball,

或者你确定可以抓住飞来的棒球， 可是它却掉在地上。

and it hits the ground in front of you.

But come on, right here and now,

但是不管怎样，此时此刻， 你知道面前的一切都是真实的。

you know what's right in front of you is real.

Your eyes, your hands, your body: that's you.

你的眼睛、你的手、 你的身体，组成了你。

Only crazy people would deny that, and you know you're not crazy.

只有疯子才会不承认这个事实， 你知道自己不是疯子。

Anyone who'd doubt that must be dreaming.

对这一点持怀疑态度的人 一定是在做梦。

Oh no, what if you're dreaming?

噢对了，如果你真的是在做梦呢？

Dreams feel real.

梦给人真实的感觉。

You can believe you're swimming, flying

你觉得自己在游泳、在飞翔、 在赤手空拳地和怪物搏斗，

or fighting off monsters with your bare hands,

when your real body is lying in bed.

可你的身体依然躺在床上。

No, no, no.

不不不，你在醒过来之后 知道自己是清醒的。

When you're awake, you know you're awake.

Ah! But when you aren't, you don't know you aren't,

可是，当你睡着的时候， 你并不知道自己是睡着的，

so you can't prove you aren't dreaming.

所以你并不能证明 你现在不是在做梦。

Maybe the body you perceive yourself to have isn't really there.

或许你感知到的自己的身体， 其实并不存在。

Maybe all of reality, even its abstract concepts,

或许所有的现实， 甚至那些抽象的概念，

like time, shape, color and number are false,

包括时间、形状、颜色和数字， 都不是真实的，

all just deceptions concocted

所有的一切都是 一个邪恶天才捏造出来的。

by an evil genius!

No, seriously.

严肃地说，不是这样

Descartes asks if you can disprove the idea that an evil genius demon

笛卡尔在书中问到，你是否可以 证明的确没有一个邪恶的天才

has tricked you into believing reality is real.

欺骗你相信周围的世界是真实的。

Perhaps this diabolical deceiver has duped you.

或许这个邪恶的骗子 真的欺骗了你。

The world, your perceptions of it, your very body.

让你相信周围的世界， 相信自己的感知、自己的身体。

You can't disprove that they're all just made up,

既然无法证明这一切都不是捏造出来的，那 么你怎么能在没有这一切的环境中生存呢？

and how could you exist without them?

You couldn't! So, you don't.

你不能，所以你并不是 在这样的环境中生存的。

Life is but a dream,

生活就是一场梦，我相信你绝不是 永远兴高采烈地划着这艘船，对吗？

and I bet you aren't row, row, rowing the boat merrily at all, are you?

No, you're rowing it wearily

当然不是，你就像一个受骗的傻瓜，或者像一个你 是或不是的一个根本不存在蠢货，疲惫不堪地划船。

like the duped, nonexistent doof you are/aren't.

Do you find that convincing?

这么说有道理吗？

Are you persuaded?

你被说服了吗？

If you aren't, good; if you are, even better,

如果还没有被说服，很好， 如果已经被说服，那更好了，

because by being persuaded,

因为如果被说服了，说明 你是一个有思想的存在。

you would prove that you're a persuaded being.

You can't be nothing if you think you're something,

如果你认为自己是某种事物， 那就不能说你什么都不是。

even if you think that something is nothing

即使你认为自己是“什么都不是”

because no matter what you think, you're a thinking thing,

因为无论你怎样认为， 你都是一个有思想的个体。

or as Descartes put it, "I think, therefore I am,"

或者就像笛卡尔所说：“我思故我在。”

and so are you, really.

你也是这样，真的。

(Airplane engine)