バートランド・ラッセル『ヒューマン・ソサエティ-倫理学から政治学へ』第2部[「情熱の葛藤」- 第2章- Human Society in Ethics and Politics, 1954, Part II, chapter 4
* 原著:Human Society in Ethics and Politics, 1954* 邦訳書:バートランド・ラッセル(著),勝部真長・長谷川鑛平(共訳)『ヒューマン・ソサエティ-倫理学から政治学へ』(玉川大学出版部,1981年7月刊。268+x pp.)
『ヒューマン・ソサエティ』第2部「情熱の葛藤」- 第4章「神話と魔力」n.12 |
Human Society in Ethics and Politics, 1954, part II: The Conflict of Passions, chapter 4: Myth and Magic, n.12 | |||
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Human imagination, by the invention of myths, has created a cosmos consonant to our preconceptions, a cosmos in which causation is passionate and is an expression of love or hate, in which there are heavenly powers to be placated by the same means that are found efficacious with earthly monarchs, in which the whole gamut of human emotions is projected upon the outer world in all its variegated confusion. We love, therefore the gods may be kind ; we hate, therefore the gods may be cruel : we wish to obey unquestionable authority, and are therefore pious; we wish to exert unquestionable authority, and therefore believe ourselves mouthpieces of God; we feel fear, and we grovel; we feel hope, and we raise our eyes to heaven. Each emotion in turn finds its embodiment in myth. Fear produces the terror of ghosts; hope produces the anticipation of heaven. If there are earthquakes, it is because we have sinned. If the crops prosper, it is because we have been pious. The whole process of causation in the outer world is along the lines of our own feelings. Not that it is all as we could wish, but that, when it is not, this is due to the anger of powerful beings. The world is like a large quarrelsome family, uncomfortable at times, but always cosy and homelike. |