法的制度としての結婚
これらの専門家の話を信じてよいなら、こういった幸福な動物は、人間社会につきまとう諸問題に直面しないらしい。というのも、オスは、ひとたび結婚すると(つがいになると)、他のどのメスにも惹かれなくなるし、メスはメスで、ひとたび結婚すると、他のどのオスにとっても魅力的でなくなるからである。それゆえ、類人猿の間では、宗教の助けはないけれども、罪(という観念)は知られていない。本能だけで十分に貞操を全うできるからだ。最も低級な未閑人種の間にも、似たような状態が存在するという証拠がいくらかある。ブッシュマン族は、厳格に一夫一婦制だと言われているし、また、タスマニア人(いまは絶滅している)は、妻に対してつねに貞節であったと聞いている(理解している)。 文明人においてさえ、一夫一婦制の本能のかすかな痕跡をときどき認めることができる。習慣が行動に及ぼす影響(の大きさ)を考えれば、一夫一婦制の本能に及ぼす支配(力)が,現状よりも強くならないのは、もしかすると(perhaps)驚くべきことかもしれない。けれども、これは、人間の精神的特性の一例であり、そこから、人間の悪徳と知能(知性)の両方が すなわち、習慣を打破して、新しい行動方針を始める想像力が生まれるのである。 |
Chapter X: Marriage, n.1In this chapter I propose to discuss marriage without reference to children, merely as a relation between men and women. Marriage differs, of course, from other sex relations by the fact that it is a legal institution. It is also in most communities a religious institution, but it is the legal aspect which is essential. The legal institution merely embodies a practice which exists not only among primitive men but among apes and various other animals. Animals practise what is virtually marriage, wherever the co-operation of the male is necessary to the rearing of the young. As a rule, animal marriages are monogamic, and according to some authorities this is the case in particular amongst the anthropoid apes. It seems, if these authorities are to be believed, that these fortunate animals are not faced with the problems that beset human communities, since the male, once married, ceases to be attracted to any other female, and the female, once married, ceases to be attractive to any other male. Among the anthropoid apes, therefore, although they do not have the assistance of religion, sin is unknown, since instinct suffices to produce virtue. There is some evidence that among the lowest races of savages a similar state of affairs exists. Bushmen are said to be strictly monogamous, and I understand that the Tasmanians (now extinct) were invariably faithful to their wives. Even in civilized mankind faint traces of a monogamic instinct can sometimes be perceived. Considering the influence of habit over behaviour, it is perhaps surprising that the hold of monogamy on instinct is not stronger than it is. This, however, is an example of the mental peculiarity of human beings, from which spring both their vices and their intelligence, namely the power of imagination to break up habits and initiate new lines of conduct. |