World argument

It is often said, as though it were a self-evident truism, that we cannot know that anything exists which we do not know. It is inferred that whatever can in any way be relevant to our experience must be at least capable of being known by us; whence it follows that if matter were essentially something with which we could not become acquainted, matter would be something which we could not know to exist, and which could have for us no importance whatever.

It is generally also implied, for reasons which remain obscure, that what can have no importance for us cannot be real, and that therefore matter, if it is not composed of minds or of mental ideas, is impossible and a mere chimera.

通常這是不證自明的 : 我們無法知道那些存在的、我們不知道的東西。無論是什麼，只要經由推論以及與我們經驗有關、或者它至少是與我們經驗相容的，我們就能知道它。如果東西是我們無法藉由與我們經驗相關而推論獲得的，我們便不知道它的存在。而那些與我們經驗有關的，對我們而幾乎是已經習以為常了。

也就是說，理性的推論在某方面來說有些詭異，那些我們能與經驗相容的東西，對我們而言不會完全是真實的對象，因而那些我們甚至不知道它存在與否的對象，假如不是由我們心靈或是心理意向組成的，這些東西是不可能存在，而且是不真實的。

To go into this argument fully at our present stage would be impossible, since it raises points requiring a considerable preliminary discussion; but certain reasons for rejecting the argument may be noticed at once. To begin at the end: there is no reason why what cannot have any practical importance for us should not be real. It is true that, if theoretical importance is included, everything real is of some importance to us, since, as persons desirous of knowing the truth about the universe, we have some interest everything that the universe contains. But if this sort of interest is included, it is not the case that matter has no importance for us, provided it exists, even if we cannot know that it exists. We can, obviously, suspect that it may exist, and wonder whether it does; hence it is connected with our desire for knowledge, and has the importance of either satisfying or thwarting this desire.

從我們現在的世界來探討這個論證，大概是很難成功的，因為這個論證還處於剛剛起頭的討論而已，一旦有人重新檢討這個論證，它才可能再被注意。從剛才的地方開始: 並沒有甚麼好理由可以用來支持那些對我們而言不是真實的對象有任何實際上的重要性。也就是，假如理論上包含任何對我們而言是真實的對象，那就是我們對這個世界的強烈求知欲，我們企圖了解任何這個世界所包含的事物。假如這個世界包含的是對我們非真實的對象，同時我們企圖證明它存在於這個世界，那麼，即使我們不能知道它，它仍存在。我們當然能夠假想它可能存在，而且它是可能真的，因此，它與我們對知識的追求有關，而且無論它是否滿足我們對真的定義，我們都不能避免要去知道關於它的知識。