Let us take as an illustration the law of contradiction.

让我们以矛盾律为例。

(2) The law of contradiction: 'Nothing can both be and not be'.

(2) 矛盾律：“没有什么可以既是又不是”。

But the conclusion that the law of contradiction is a law of thought is nevertheless erroneous.

但是矛盾律是思维规律的结论仍然是错误的。

The belief in the law of contradiction is a belief about things, not only about thoughts.

对矛盾律的信仰是对事物的信仰， 而不仅仅是对思想的信仰。

This belief is a subsequent result of psychological reflection, which presupposes the belief in the law of contradiction.

这种信念是心理反思的后续结果， 它预设了对矛盾律的信念。

What we believe, when we believe the law of contradiction, is not that the mind is so made that it must believe the law of contradiction.

当我们相信矛盾律时， 我们所相信的， 并不是头脑生来就必须相信矛盾律。

Now in order to know whether two propositions can both be true, we must know such truths as the law of contradiction.

现在为了知道两个命题是否都为真， 我们必须知道矛盾律这样的真理。

For example, the two propositions, 'this tree is a beech' and 'this tree is not a beech', are not coherent, because of the law of contradiction.

例如，“这棵树是山毛榉” 和“这棵树不是山毛榉” 这两个命题是不连贯的， 因为矛盾律。

Doubtless this law of contradiction was itself agreement, a restriction of personal liberty inconsistent with freedom; but the " larger synthesis" admitted a limited agreement provided it were strictly confined to the end of larger contradiction.

毫无疑问，这种矛盾法则本身就是一致的，是与自由不一致的对个人自由的限制；但是“更大的综合”承认有限的一致，前提是它严格限于更大的矛盾的末端。

Thus according to the philosophers before Kant, the law of contradiction, which asserts that nothing can at the same time have and not have a certain property, sufficed to establish the truth of all a priori knowledge.

因此，根据康德之前的哲学家，矛盾律断言任何事物都不能同时具有和不具有某种属性，足以确立所有先验知识的真实性。

But if the law of contradiction itself were subjected to the test of coherence, we should find that, if we choose to suppose it false, nothing will any longer be incoherent with anything else.

但是，如果矛盾律本身经受连贯性检验，我们就会发现，如果我们选择假定它为假，那么任何事物都将不再与其他事物不连贯。

Thus the law of contradiction is about things, and not merely about thoughts; and although belief in the law of contradiction is a thought, the law of contradiction itself is not a thought, but a fact concerning the things in the world.

因此，矛盾律是关于事物的，而不仅仅是关于思想的；尽管相信矛盾律是一种思想，但矛盾律本身并不是思想，而是关于世界事物的事实。