第5章 魂と肉体 n.6 - 肉体の復活と現代物理学
「実体」を捨てた結果生ずる影響は肉体に関してよりも魂に関して(の影響の方が)より深刻であった。けれども,その結果は非常にゆっくりと現れた。なぜなら,多数の(多様な)古い理論(説)を欠点を減らした(attenuated 弱毒化した)形態のものが,しばらくの間,なおも擁護できるものだと考えられていたからであった。(欠点を修正したものとして)まず,神学的な意味をさけているように見えるようにするため,「魂」という言葉は「精神」という言葉に代えられた。それから,「精神」(=その言葉)は「主観」という言葉に代えられ(代替され),この(主観という)言葉は,特に「主観的」「客観的」と(想定される)対照のなかで(in the supposed contrast of),今日でもなお残っている。従って,「主観」(という言葉)について少しふれておかなくてはならない。 |
Chapter V Soul and Body, n.6Take first the body. So long as the conception of substance was retained, the resurrection of the body meant the reassembling of the actual substance which had composed it when alive on earth. The substance might have passed through many transformations, but had retained its identity. If, however, a piece of matter is nothing but the assemblage of its attributes, its identity is lost when the attributes change, and there will be no sense in saying that the heavenly body, after the resurrection, is the same "thing" that was once an earthly body. This difficulty, oddly enough, is exactly paralleled in modern physics. An atom, with its attendant electrons, is liable to sudden transformations, and the electrons which appear after a transformation cannot be identified with those that had appeared before. Each is only a way of grouping observable phenomena, and has not the sort of "reality" required for the preservation of identity through change.The results of the abandonment of "substance" were even more serious as regards the soul than as regards the body. They showed themselves, however, very gradually, because various attenuated forms of the old doctrine were, for a time, thought to be still defensible. First the word “ mind ” was substituted for the word "soul," in order to seem to avoid theological implications. Then the word "subject" was substituted, and this word still survives, particularly in the supposed contrast of "subjective" and "objective." A few words must, therefore, be said about the "subject." |