On the Method of Zadig: Essay #1 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition" — Page 10
From freshly broken twigs, crushed leaves, disturbed pebbles, and imprints hardly discernible by the untrained eye, such graduates in the University of Nature will divine, not only the fact that a party has passed that way, but its strength, its composition, the course it took, and the number of hours or days which have elapsed since it passed.
折りたたまれたばかりの小枝、踏み潰された葉、乱された小石、そして未熟な目にはほとんど見分けのつかない足跡から、自然という大学の卒業生たちは、一行がそこを通過したという事実だけでなく、その人数、その構成、たどった経路、そして通過してから経過した時間や日数をも見抜くのである。
But they are able to do this because, like Zadig, they perceive endless minute differences where untrained eyes discern nothing; and because the unconscious logic of common sense compels them to account for these effects by the causes which they know to be competent to produce them.
しかし彼らがそれを成し得るのは、ザディグのように、未熟な目には何も見えないところに無数の微細な差異を見出すからであり、また常識の無意識的な論理が、それらの結果をそれらを生み出すに足ると知られている原因によって説明するよう彼らに強いるからである。
And such mere methodised savagery was to discover the hidden things of nature better than _a priori_ deductions from the nature of Ormuzd--perhaps to give a history of the past, in which Oannes would be altogether ignored!
そしてそのような単なる系統立てられた野蛮さが、オルムズドの本質からのア・プリオリな演繹よりも自然の隠された事物をよりよく発見しようとしていた――おそらく、オアンネスがまったく無視されるような過去の歴史を与えようとしていたのだ！
Decidedly it were better to burn this man at once.
断じて、この男はすぐに火炙りにした方がよい。
If instinct, or an unwonted use of reason, led Moabdar's magi to this conclusion two or three thousand years ago, all that can be said is that subsequent history has fully justified them.
もし本能、あるいは理性の異例な使用が、二千年ないし三千年前にモアブダルの魔術師たちをこの結論へと導いたのであれば、言えることはただ一つ、その後の歴史が彼らを完全に正当化したということである。
For the rigorous application of Zadig's logic to the results of accurate and long-continued observation has founded all those sciences which have been termed historical or palaetiological, because they are retrospectively prophetic and strive towards the reconstruction in human imagination of events which have vanished and ceased to be.
なぜなら、正確かつ長期にわたる観察の結果にザディグの論理を厳密に適用することが、歴史的あるいは古因論的と称されるすべての科学を打ち立てたからであり、それらの科学が遡及的に予言的であり、消滅して存在しなくなった出来事を人間の想像力の中で再構築しようと努めるからである。
Vocabulary
- 折り
- ori — Fold; crease or bend in something.
- ばかりの
- bakari no — Just; only; mere or simple.
- 小枝
- koeda — Small twig or branch of a tree.
- 小石
- koishi — Small stone or pebble.
- そして
- soshite — And; and then; conjunction joining clauses.
- 未熟な
- mijukuna — Immature; unripe; underdeveloped or inexperienced.
- には
- niwa — Particle indicating target or destination.
- ほとんど
- hotondo — Almost; nearly; practically or hardly.
- 見分け
- miwake — Distinguish; discern or tell apart things.
- つかない
- tsukanai — Cannot find; cannot grasp or understand.
- 足跡
- ashiato — Footprint; footstep or track left behind.
- から
- kara — From; since; because; particle indicating origin.
- 自然
- shizen — Nature; natural; spontaneous or automatic.
- という
- toiu — Called; named; that is to say.
- 大学
- daigaku — University; institution of higher education.
- 卒業生
- sotsugyosei — Graduate; person who completed university.
- たち
- tachi — Plural marker for people; group indicator.
- 一行
- ichigyo — A line of text; a group or party.
- そこ
- soko — There; that place; that spot.
- 通過
- tsuka — Pass through; transit or passage.
- した
- shita — Did; past tense auxiliary verb.
- 事実
- jijitsu — Fact; reality; actual situation or event.
- だけ
- dake — Only; just; merely or solely.
- なく
- naku — Not; negation; particle indicating lack.
- その
- sono — That; those; the (demonstrative adjective).
- 人数
- ninzu — Number of people; headcount or total.
- 構成
- kosei — Composition; structure or makeup.
- たどった
- tadotta — Traced; followed a path or route.
- 経路
- keiro — Route; path; way or course taken.
- して
- shite — And; as; doing; conjunctive particle.
- 経過
- keika — Passage of time; progress or elapsed time.
- 時間
- jikan — Time; hours; duration or period.
- 日数
- nissu — Number of days; daily count or duration.
- 見抜く
- minuku — See through; perceive or detect truth.
- ある
- aru — Exist; be; have; auxiliary verb.
- しかし
- shikashi — But; however; yet; conjunction.
- 彼ら
- karera — They; them; those people (plural).
- それ
- sore — That; it; that thing (demonstrative).
- よう
- you — Like; similar to; manner or way.
- 見えない
- mienai — Cannot see; invisible; out of sight.
- ところ
- tokoro — Place; spot; situation or aspect.
- 無数
- musu — Countless; innumerable; very many.
- 微細な
- bisaina — Minute; subtle; delicate or fine details.
- 差異
- saI — Difference; distinction or variation.
- 見出す
- miidasu — Find; discover; detect or perceive.
- あり
- ari — Exist; be; is or there is.
- また
- mata — Also; again; furthermore or moreover.
- 常識
- joshiki — Common sense; general knowledge or reasoning.
- 無意識的な
- muishikiteki na — Unconscious; unaware; done without awareness.
- 論理
- ronri — Logic; reasoning; rational argument or theory.
- それら
- sorera — Those; them; those things (plural).
- 結果
- kekka — Result; outcome; consequence or effect.
- 生み出す
- umidasu — Produce; create; generate or bring forth.
- 知られて
- shirarete — Known; recognized; understood (passive form).
- いる
- iru — Is; are; exist; auxiliary verb.
- 原因
- genin — Cause; reason; origin or source.
- よって
- yotte — By; through; thereby or consequently.
- 説明
- setsumeI — Explanation; description or account.
- する
- suru — Do; make; perform; auxiliary verb.
- 強いる
- shiiru — Force; compel; coerce or demand.
- そのような
- sonoyouna — Such; that kind of; like that.
- 単なる
- tannaru — Mere; simple; only or just.
- られた
- rareta — Was; past passive auxiliary ending.
- 野蛮さ
- yabanasa — Barbarism; savagery; brutality or rudeness.
- 本質
- honshitsu — Essence; nature; fundamental or intrinsic quality.
- 演繹
- eneki — Deduction; logical inference from premises.
- より
- yori — Than; from; by; particle.
- 隠された
- kakusareta — Hidden; concealed; obscured or secret.
- 事物
- jibutsu — Things; matters; objects or affairs.
- よく
- yoku — Well; carefully; often or frequently.
- 発見
- hakken — Discovery; finding; uncovering or invention.
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