バートランド・ラッセル(著),勝部真長(訳)『ヒューマン・ソサエティ-倫理学から政治学へ』第ニ部第2章ー政治的に重要な欲望 n.1
* 出典:ラッセル『ヒューマン・ソサエティ-倫理学から政治学へ』(勝部真長・長谷川鑛平・共訳)(玉川大学出版部,1981年7月刊。268+x pp.)* 原著:Human Society in Ethics and Politics, 1954
第二部 第2章 政治的に重要な欲望 n.1 松下訳にさしかえ |
Part II, Chap. 2: Politically Important Desires | |||
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Vanity is a motive of immense potency. Anyone who has much to do with children knows how they are constantly performing some antic, and saying "Look at me". "Look at me" is one of the most fundamental desires of the human heart. It can take innumerable forms, from buffoonery to the pursuit of posthumous fame. There was a Renaissance Italian princeling who was asked by the priest on his deathbed if he had anything to repent of. "Yes", he said, "there is one thing. On one occasion I had a visit from the Emperor and the Pope simultaneously. I took them to the top of my tower to see the view, and I neglected the opportunity to throw them both down, which would have given me immortal fame". History does not relate whether the priest gave him absolution. One of the troubles about vanity is that it grows with what it feeds on. The more you are talked about, the more you will wish to be talked about. The condemned murderer who is allowed to see the account of his trial in the press is indignant if he finds a newspaper which has reported it inadequately. And the more he finds about himself in other newspapers, the more indignant he will be with the one whose reports are meagre. Politicians and literary men are in the same case. And the more famous they become, the more difficult the press-cutting agency finds it to satisfy them. It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the influence of vanity throughout the range of human life, from the child of three to the potentate at whose frown the world trembles. Mankind have even committed the impiety of attributing similar desires to the Deity, whom they imagine avid for continual praise. |