第1章 概観 n.4 - 精神と物質の関係の諸問題解決
私の直近の研究(My most resent work)は、非論証的推論(non-demonstrative inference)の諸問題に関連を持ってきた。そういった推論は,経験主義者たちによって常に,帰納法に依拠すると想定されていた。しかし不幸なことに、単純枚挙による帰納は、もし常識に配慮することなく行われるならば、それは真理に導くよりも誤謬に導く場合の方がはるかに多いということが証明可能である。そして,もしひとつの原理が、安全に用いられるためには,その前に(その前提として)常識が必要であるとするのであれば、そういった原理は論理学者を満足させうるものではない。それゆえ(従って),我々が科学及び常識 -ただし論駁できない限りでの常識- を大筋において真として受け入れようとするならば、我々は帰納法以外の原理を探さねばならない。これは大変広範囲にわたる問題であり、私としてはその解決策を探し求める方向性を示す以上のことをしたふりをすることはできない。 カント及びヘーゲルの哲学を捨てて以来ずっと、私は哲学的問題の解決策を分析の方法によって探し求めてきた。また,現在それ(分析哲学の手法)に反対する傾向がいくつか見出されるにもかかわらず、私はいまだ(現在でも)分析によってのみ進歩は可能であると確信している。 重要な一例をあげると、物理学と知覚とを分析することによって、精神と物質(ものとこころ)との関係の諸問題が完全に解決可能であることを,私は見出した。私が解決だと思うものをまだ誰も受けいれないということは事実であるが、それは私の理論がまだ理解されるにいたっていないという理由だけだということを、私は信じかつ望んでいる。 |
Chapter 1: Introductory Outline, n.4There was another problem which began to interest me at about the same time - that is to say, about 1917. This was the problem of the relation of language to facts. This problem has two departments: the first concerned with vocabulary; the second, with syntax. The problem had been dealt with by various people before I became interested in it. Lady Welby wrote a book about it and F. C. S. Schiller was always urging its importance. But I had thought of language as transparent - that is to say, as a medium which could be employed without paying attention to it. As regards syntax, the inadequacy of this view was forced upon me by the contradictions arising in mathematical logic. As regards vocabulary, linguistic problems arose for me in investigating the extent to which a behaviouristic account of knowledge is possible. For these two reasons, I was led to place much more emphasis than I had previously done on the linguistic aspects of epistemology. But I have never been able to feel any sympathy with those who treat language as an autonomous province. The essential thing about language is that it has meaning - i.e. that it is related to something other than itself, which is, in general, non-linguistic.My most recent work has been connected with the problem of non-demonstrative inference. It used to be supposed by empiricists that the justification of such inference rests upon induction. Unfortunately, it can be proved that induction by simple enumeration, if conducted without regard to common sense, leads very much more often to error than to truth. And if a principle needs common sense before it can be safely used, it is not the sort of principle that can satisfy a logician. We must, therefore, look for a principle other than induction if we are to accept the broad outlines of science, and of common sense in so far as it is not refutable. This is a very large problem and I cannot pretend to have done more than indicate lines along which a solution may be sought. Ever since I abandoned the philosophy of Kant and Hegel, I have sought solutions of philosophical problems by means of analysis; and I remain firmly persuaded, in spite of some modern tendencies to the contrary, that only by analysing is progress possible. I have found, to take an important example, that by analysing physics and perception the problem of the relation of mind and matter can be completely solved. It is true that nobody has accepted what seems to me the solution, but I believe and hope that this is only because my theory has not been understood. |