(单词翻译:单击)
This is one of the core conservative principles: epistemological modesty, or humility in the face of what we don’t know about a complex world, and a conviction that social change should be steady but cautious and incremental.
这是保守主义的核心原则之一:认识论上的谦虚，或者是面对我们对复杂世界所不了解时的谦逊，以及坚信社会变革应该是稳定的、谨慎的、渐进的。
Down the centuries, conservatives have always stood against the arrogance of those who believe they have the ability to plan history:
几个世纪以来，保守派一直反对那些自认为有能力规划历史的人的傲慢:
the French revolutionaries who thought they could destroy a society and rebuild it from scratch, but who ended up with the guillotine;
法国革命者认为他们可以摧毁一个社会，然后从零开始重建，但最后却被送上了断头台;
the Western government planners who thought they could fine-tune an economy from the top, but who ended up with stagflation and sclerosis;
西方政府的规划者们认为他们可以从顶层对经济进行微调，但最终却以滞胀和僵化告终;
the European elites who thought they could unify their continent by administrative fiat and arrogate power to unelected technocrats in Brussels, but who ended up with a monetary crisis and populist backlash.
欧洲的精英们认为，他们可以通过行政命令将欧洲大陆统一起来，并在布鲁塞尔将权力交给未经选举的技术官僚，但最终却引发了货币危机和民粹主义反弹。
If conservatives don’t think reason is strong enough to order a civilization, what human faculty do they trust enough to do the job?
如果保守派认为理性不够强大，不足以统治一个文明，那么他们相信什么样的人类才能胜任这项工作呢？
Here we have to resort to a classic 18th-century concept—the “sentiments.”
这里我们不得不求助于18世纪的一个经典概念——“情绪”。
An early book of Burke’s was on aesthetics.
伯克早期的一本著作是关于美学的。
When you look at a painting, you don’t have to rationally calculate its beauty or its power, the sadness or the joy it inspires.
当你看一幅画时，你不必理性地计算它的美或它的力量，它所激发的悲伤或喜悦。
Sentiments are automatic aesthetic and emotional judgments about things.
情感是对事物的自动审美和情感判断。
They assign value.
它们分配价值。
They tell you what is beautiful and what is ugly, what to want and what is worth wanting, where to go and what to aim for.
它们告诉你什么是美，什么是丑，想要什么，值得想要什么，去哪里，追求什么。
Rationalists put a lot of faith in “I think therefore I am”—the autonomous individual deconstructing problems step by logical step.
理性主义者对“我思故我在”充满信心——这是一种独立的个体，它通过逻辑的步骤来解构问题。
Conservatives put a lot of faith in the latent wisdom that is passed down by generations, cultures, families, and institutions, and that shows up as a set of quick and ready intuitions about what to do in any situation.
保守主义者对代代相传、文化传承、家庭传承和制度传承的潜在智慧充满信心，这些智慧表现为在任何情况下都能迅速而现成地做出判断。
Brits don’t have to think about what to do at a crowded bus stop.
英国人在拥挤的公交车站不需要思考该做什么。
They form a queue, guided by the cultural practices they have inherited.
他们在继承下来的文化习俗的指引下排成了一队。
The most important sentiments are moral sentiments.
最重要的情感是道德情感。
Conservatism certainly has an acute awareness of sin—selfishness, greed, lust.
保守主义当然对罪恶有着敏锐的意识——自私、贪婪、淫欲。
But conservatives also believe that in the right circumstances, people are motivated by the positive moral emotions—especially sympathy and benevolence, but also admiration, patriotism, charity, and loyalty.
但保守派也相信，在适当的情况下，人们会被积极的道德情感所激励——尤其是同情和仁慈，但也有钦佩、爱国、慈善和忠诚。
