
競争の哲学によって毒されているのは仕事(労働)だけではない。余暇も同じように毒されている。静かで神経(の疲労)を回復してくれるような余暇は、退屈なものと感じられる。競争は絶えず加速される運命にあるため、その当然の結末は,薬物(への依存)であり、衰弱(気力の喪失)である。
It is not only work that is poisoned by the philosophy of competition; leisure is poisoned just as much. The kind of leisure which is quiet and restoring to the nerves comes to be felt boring. There is bound to be a continual acceleration of which the natural termination would be drugs and collapse.
Source: The Conquest of Happiness, 1930, chap. 3.
More info.: https://russell-j.com/beginner/HA13-060.HTM
<寸言>
今から20年ほど前ですが、『世界がもし100人の村だったら』という本が話題になりました。私は実際には読んではいませんが、世界がもし100人の村であったなら「協力の美徳」が重視され、競争が奨励される場面はあまり多くはないのではないかと思います。
しかし、社会集団が大規模になり、利害関係が複雑になるにつれて、人は自分に近い集団が力を持ち、自分に利益をもたらすことを望むのは自然な成り行きです。現代の人類は、主に国家単位にグループ化され、経済力や軍事力の規模によって、アメリカと中国という二大国が最も影響力を持っています。他の多くの国々は、米中のどちらかに対して相対的に「協力的」な姿勢をとる傾向があります。
権力者にとって、自分の影響下にある集団が混乱するのは避けたい事態ですが、そうでない限り、むしろ競争に励んでもらい、自国や自分の利益になることを望みます。
こうして、あらゆる側面で競争が最も激しいアメリカにおいては、ラッセルの言葉が現実のものとなっています。つまり、
「静かで、神経の疲労を回復してくれるような余暇は、退屈なものと感じられる。競争は絶えず加速される運命にあるため、その当然の結末は、薬物(への依存)であり、衰弱(気力の喪失)である。」
(The kind of leisure which is quiet and restoring to the nerves comes to be felt boring. There is bound to be a continual acceleration of which the natural termination would be drugs and collapse.)
経済的及び社会的に恵まれた人ほど競争を好み、そうでない人ほど協力を重視する傾向がある」言ってよいでしょうか?
あなたは、どちらに属していると思いますか?
About twenty years ago, a book titled If the World Were a Village of 100 People became a topic of much discussion. I haven't actually read it, but I imagine that if the world really were a village of just 100 people, the "virtue of cooperation" would be emphasized, and opportunities to encourage competition would be relatively rare.
However, as social groups grow larger and their interests more complex, it is only natural for people to wish that the groups closest to them become powerful and bring them benefits. In the modern world, humanity is largely grouped by nation-states, and based on economic and military power, the United States and China are the two dominant global powers. Many other countries tend to adopt a relatively cooperative stance toward one or the other of these two giants.
For those in power, the last thing they want is disorder among groups under their influence. But as long as order is maintained, they are often more than happy to see others engage in fierce competition, so long as it brings advantage to themselves or their nations.
Thus, in the United States, where competition is perhaps the most intense in every aspect of life, the words of Bertrand Russell have become a lived reality. That is:
"The kind of leisure which is quiet and restoring to the nerves comes to be felt boring. There is bound to be a continual acceleration of which the natural termination would be drugs and collapse."Can we say, then, that people who are economically and socially privileged tend to favor competition, while those who are less privileged tend to place greater value on cooperation?
Which of the two groups do you think you belong to?