* 右上イラスト出典:B. Russell's The Good Citizen's Alphabet, 1953.良い資質についての必要な区別
詩人は,夜明けから黄昏までこのような習慣は,詩人の場合は賞賛すべきものであるが,たとえば,郵便配達人の場合はそうではない。それゆえ,私たちは,すべての人々に詩人の気質を与えることを目的として教育を構想することはできない。しかし,ある種の特質は,普遍的に(誰にとっても)望ましい。現段階では,そういった特質のみ考察する。 私は,男性の長所と女性の長所とをまったく区別しない。赤ん坊の世話をする女性にとって,ある程度の職業的な訓練は望ましいが,その相違は,農夫と粉屋の間にある相違と同種のものである。そのような相違は,まったく根本的なものではないので,現段階で考察する必要はない。 |
Chap. 2 The Aims of Education(OE02-100)But it is not enough that the educator should love the young; it is necessary also that he should have a right conception of human excellence. Cats teach their kittens to catch mice and play with them; militarists do likewise with the human young. The cat loves the kitten, but not the mouse; the militarist may love his own son, but not the sons of his country's enemies. Even those who love all mankind may err through a wrong conception of the good life. I shall try, therefore, before going any further, to give an idea of what I consider excellent in men and women, quite without regard to practicality, or to the educational methods by which it might be brought into being. Such a picture will help us afterwards, when we come to consider the details of education; we shall know the direction in which we wish to move. We must first make a distinction: some qualities are desirable in a certain proportion of mankind, others are desirable universally. We want artists, but we also want men of science. We want great administrators, but we also want ploughmen and millers and bakers. The qualities which produce a man of great eminence in some one direction are often such as might be undesirable if they were universal. Shelley describes the day's work of a poet as follows: He will watch from dawn to gloomThese habits are praiseworthy in a poet, but not - shall we say - in a postman. We cannot therefore frame our education with a view to giving every one the temperament of a poet. But some characteristics are universally desirable, and it is these alone that I shall consider at this stage. I make no distinction whatever between male and female excellence. A certain amount of occupational training is desirable for a woman who is to have the care of babies, but that only involves the same sort of difference as there is between a farmer and a miller. It is in no degree fundamental, and does not demand consideration at our present level. |
(掲載日:2006.12.17 更新日:)