悖理不同于悖论。悖理指不符合常理(incompatible to common sense)或有悖于事理(contrary to reason)，通常是一个认识问题。翻译中所谓“逻辑悖理”除了一些(如歧义、自相矛盾、前后矛盾、冗赘、不可通约、盲从误见等）外，还包括一切不符合常理和事理（其中包括“既定事实”）的双语转换表达式。思维混乱（表现为语段组织混乱）问题我们将在下一切集中探讨，在此就各式逻辑问题举其要而讨论之。下列说的是推理问题：

[例1]

The task of genetic explanations is to set out the sequence of major events through which some earlier system has been transformed into a later one. The explanatory premises of such explantions will therefore necessarily contain a large number of singular statements about past events in the system under inquiry. Two further points about the explanatory premises of genetic explanations should be noted. The first is the obvious one that not every past event in the career of the system will be mentioned. The second is that those events which are mentioned are selected on the basis of assumptions (frequently tacit ones) as to what sorts of events are causally relevant to the development of the system. Accordingly, in addition to the singular statements the premises will also include (whether explicitly or implicitly) general assumptions about the causal dependencies of various kinds of events.

[译文]

“承续性解释旨在详尽列出早已形成的某种体系并已转变为随后的体系中的所有事件。其解释前提是此类解释必须包容大量单件说明，以便了解研究中之过往事件。（*）承继性解释的解释前提还应注意两点：不必悉数列出过往之事件，第二被选择列出之事件是以假定为基础（并常以互相默认者为主），因此只列出与该制度发展大体有关之事件。此外，列出单个说明时，前提亦包括（或明或暗）各种事件偶然依赖性之总体假定。”

此例译文质量很差，理解性谬误暂且不议。整个语段翻译以我们作的记号（*）为分界线：（*）以前的部分与（*）以后的部分前后矛盾。前面一部分强调要“详尽列出”，后面一部分又说不必悉数列出，只要注意有关事件云云。错误出在译者错漏了一个关键词“major”而将其译成“所有”。SL作者强调的只

是“major events”(主要事件），说的是“贯穿在前此发生的某种系统（体系）中的主要事件序列”。（*）以后的部分说的正是事件要择其要者而选出，以便弄明哪些事件在系统（体系）发展过程中只具有随机的相关性，哪些又是主要的。在逻辑学中“(major) premises”是“大前提”， “(general) assumption”是“小前提”，“statement”在逻辑学中称为“陈述”，“singular statement”称为“单一陈述”。翻译学术著作，随意措词就会造成逻辑悖理。

在一般性翻译中，译者不作逻辑审视造成前后矛盾的情况也很多。如：

[例2]

But when it came to teaching moral values, the modern parents seemed unwilling to pass on their revolutionary opinions to their children. Maybe they were not so sure any more of having been right. Or perhaps they wanted to prepare the youngsters for life in a society that had not really accepted the new ideas, and that was showing signs of rejecting them to come back to the traditional values.

译句中（*）记号以前与（*）以后自相矛盾：

“但是当涉及到道德准则的教育时，现代父母们似乎不愿把他们的革命主张传授给他们孩子，（*）也许他们不再认定那些看法是对的。或者是社会上没有真正接受他们的新观念，并且有迹象表明，不让他们回到传统准则上去，他们也许想为孩子们做好到这样一个社会去生活的准备。”