バートランド・ラッセル『人類に未来はあるか』(邦訳書)第１章 - 冒頭
* 出典：バートランド・ラッセル(著),日高一輝(訳)『人類に未来はあるか』(理想社,1962年６月. 188pp.)* 原著：Has Man a Future?, 1960
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第１章 プロローグあるいはエピローグ |
Chap. 1 Prologue or Epilogue*1 | |||
「人間,別名'ホモ・サピエンス(知性あるもの)',―これは人間が自らをいくらか尊大ぶって呼んだものであるが―は,この地球上の動物類のうちで最も興味があり,またもっともしゃくにさわる存在である。」
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'Man, or homo sapiens, as he somewhat arrogantly calls himself, is the most interesting, and also the most irritating, of animal species on the planet Earth.' This might be the first sentence of the last chapter of a report on our flora and fauna by a philosophic Martian biologist. For us, deeply involved, as we all are, both emotionally and instinctively, it is difficult to achieve the impartiality and the breadth of outlook which would be natural to a visitor from another world. But it is useful, from time to time, to attempt such a contemplation as that of our supposed Martian, and in the light of this contemplation to assess the past, the present, and the future (if any) of our species, and the value, for good or evil, of what Man has done, is doing, and may do hereafter, to life on earth, and perhaps, in the future, to life elsewhere. In this kind of survey, temporary passions lose their importance, as small hills look flat from an aeroplane, whereas what is of permanent importance stands out more boldly than in a more restricted view. *1 Further treatment of a theme that I have dealt with under the same title in Human society in Ethics and Politics. (London: George Auen & Unwin Ltd.) |
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