"人權之法理基礎" 再述(三)

尋找造物主( The Creator )

 一個定律( an axiom )---- 無不生有，有則不滅( II )

Xenophanes的唯一神論(Monotheism) ，乃源自"無不生有，有則不滅"，此一定律。

"無不生有，有則不滅"，即謂"無不生有，既是有，就不會真正消逝"。(that nothing can come out of nothing and that nothing that is can really vanish. See, Britannica Encyclopaedia, 15th edition, Macropaedia, vol. 25, p.745)

此一不變定律，係由古希臘Thales, Anaximander 和Anaximenes最早三位哲學家，師徒一脈相傳的宇宙一元論所開創。

Thales of Miletus( flourished in the first half of the 6th century BC ) 認為太一( arche ; beginning )，即秩序井然的宇宙，其起源和形成 (the origin and the development of the ordered world or the cosmos )，是個實體( substance ) ，無論經由任何轉化( transmutation ) ，自始不變。(Ibid.)

爾後，這實體自始不變的概念，演成原理不變的定律( an axiom ) ----無不生有，有則不滅。

Thales of Miletus 認為太一(arche)，即萬有的起源，beginning ，稱第一原理、第一元素，是個原理，也是個不變原理。就此而言，對於Thales僅是個起源，竟然演變成一基本原理，經由任何轉化仍維持原本。( What to Thales had been merely a beginning became a fundamental principle that remained essentially the same through all of its transmutations.) (Ibid.)

因此，arche, beginning這用語、這原理，獲得了新意涵，此一用語( the term ; a term)，迄今在哲學上扮演分量重大的角色。(The term arche, beginning acquired the new meaning of principle, a term that henceforth played an enormous role in philosophy down to the present. Ibid.)

Alex Pan TheWalker  

(取材自Alex Pan's Digest)