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現代世界では,この問題の最も重要な部分は,青年時代に生じる。もしも,ある人が,いったん適切な職業に適切な環境のもとにつけば,たいていの場合,社会的迫害をまぬがれることができるが,一方,彼が若く,彼の長所がまだ証明されていない間は,'自分が何も知らないような事柄についても判断を下す力があると思いこんでいる'無知な人びと'から,いいようにあしらわれやすい。そうして,それらの人々は,世の中の経験を豊富に積んだ自分たちよりもそんな若者のほうが物をよく知っているかもしれないなどと言われると,憤慨する。ついには'無知の暴力'から逃れた人たちの多くも,激しく闘い,長いこと抑圧されてきたため,最後には,心はみじめになり,精力も損なわれてしまっている。'天才はつねに自分の道を切り開く'という,耳に心地よい説があるが,この説に力を得て,若い才能を迫害してもそれほど害にならないと,多くの人が考えている。しかし,このような説（考え方）を受け入れるいかなる根拠もない。これは,人殺しは必ず露見する,という説と同じである。明らかに,私たちの知っている殺人はすべて発見されている。しかし,まったく知られていない殺人がいったいどれくらいあったか,誰が知っているというのか（→誰も知らない）。同様に,私たちが見聞している天才は,すべて逆境にうち勝っているが,若くして挫折した天才は,（過去）非常に多数は存在しなかった,と想定すべき理由はまったくない。さらに,天才だけの問題ではなくて,才能ある人の問題でもある。才能（のある人）も,天才と同様,社会にとって必要だからである。また,なんとかして無知の暴力からのがれるだけではなく,恨みをいだかず,精力を減少させずに逃れるという問題である。以上のような理由で,若者が歩む道は,あまり険しくしすぎてはならない。 |
It is customary in these days of psycho-analysis to assume that, when any young person is out of harmony with his environment, the cause must lie in some psychological disorder. This is to my mind a complete mistake. Suppose, for example, that a young person has parents who believe the doctrine of evolution to be wicked. Nothing except intelligence is required in such a case to cause him to be out of sympathy with them. To be out of harmony with one's surroundings is, of course, a misfortune, but it is not always a misfortune to be avoided at all costs. Where the environment is stupid or prejudiced or cruel, it is a sign of merit to be out of harmony with it. And to some degree these characteristics exist in almost every environment. Galileo and Kepler had 'dangerous thoughts' (as they are called in Japan), and so have the most intelligent men of our own day. It is not desirable that the social sense should be so strongly developed as to cause such men to fear the social hostility which their opinions may provoke. What is desirable is to find ways of making this hostility as slight and as ineffective as possible. In the modern world the most important part of this problem arises in youth. If a man is once launched upon the right career and in the right surroundings, he can in most cases escape social persecution, but while he is young and his merits are still untested, he is liable to be at the mercy of ignorant people who consider themselves capable of judging in matters about which they know nothing, and who are outraged at the suggestion that so young a person may know better than they do with all their experience of the world. Many people who have ultimately escaped from the tyranny of ignorance have had so hard a fight and so long a time of repression that in the end they are embittered and their energy is impaired. There is a comfortable doctrine that genius will always make its way, and on the strength of this doctrine many people consider that the persecution of youthful talent cannot do much harm. But there is no ground whatever for accepting this doctrine. It is like the theory that murder will out. Obviously all the murders we know of have been discovered, but who knows how many there may be which have never been heard of? In like manner all the men of genius that we have ever heard of have triumphed over adverse circumstances, but that is no reason for supposing that there were not innumerable others who succumbed in youth. Moreover, it is not a question only of genius, but also of talent, which is just as necessary to the community. And it is not only a question of emerging somehow; but also of emerging unembittered and with unimpaired energy. For all these reasons the way of youth should not be made too hard. |
（掲載日：2005.11.09／更新日：2010.04.14）
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