ブックタイトル佐藤栄作　受賞論文集

概要

佐藤栄作　受賞論文集

regular, provident, and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent, if, like thatauthority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks on the contrary tokeep them in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the people should rejoice,provided they think of nothing but rejoicing”(Op. cit., Ch. VI). Once such powerimposes itself, Tocqueville adverted,“it would not only oppress men, but wouldeventually strip each of them of several of the highest qualities of humanity”(Op. cit.,Ch. VII).Tocqueville did not name the phenomenon he thoroughly defined; yet, he would notoppose the name‘hyperdemocracy’Ortega Y Gasset coined to describe the same fact90 years later in his famous essay.The‘psychology of the spoilt child’is deeply rooted in the mindset of each man whomakes up Tocqueville’s multitude of equal men (in perpetual childhood) and OrtegaY Gasset’s mass-men. Ortega Y Gasset characterizes such psychological frame asfollows:“(...) the common man, finding himself in a world so excellent, technically andsocially, believes that it has been produced by nature, and never thinks of the personalefforts of highly-endowed individuals which the creation of this new world presupposed.Still less will he admit the notion that all these facilities still require the supportof certain difficult human virtues, the least failure of which would cause the rapiddisappearance of the whole magnificent edifice.”(Ortega Y Gasset, Op. cit., Ch. VI).The famous verses of William Blake (1757-1827) fairly illustrate the psychology:“Know what is like to be a child...302