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心の環境ホルモン
心の環境ホルモン
ホルモン(内分泌物質)の代わりに体に入り込み、
恐ろしい結果を招く環境ホルモンの影響が
懸念されているが、ある日、筆者は
心に入り込む知的環境ホルモンが
あるということに気付いた…。
Environmental Hormones of the Mind
By DOUGLAS LUMMIS
In my amateur understanding, "environmental hormones" are not real hormones, but chemical substances that resemble hormones. Or rather, they have the ability to fool the body into thinking that they are. They enter the body, deceive it
into accepting them as hormones, and begin to function in the place of hormones, with terrible consequences.
It occurred to me recently that there are also such things as "intellectual environmental hormones." These are
pseudoideas that have as destructive an effect on the mind as the pseudohormones have on the body.
Two striking examples are "modernization" (as in such expressions as "modernization of society") and
"development" (as in "development economics" or "development aid").
Both of these closely resemble ideas and have the ability to deceive the mind into accepting them as ideas. When they
enter your head, they give you the illusion that you have gained some knowledge.
When you bring them up in your consciousness, they give you the illusion that you are thinking. When you use them in
sentences, they give you the illusion that you are saying something. When you use them as a lens through which to look at
the world, they give you the impression that you are seeing something real.
And just like real ideas, they lead to conclusions and generate action. They are environmental hormones of the mind,
for while they give you the illusion that they help you to see and think, in fact they obstruct vision and impair
thought.
Whenever you describe a process as modernization, you relieve yourself of the responsibility of observing what,
exactly, is changing. Whenever the term development is used, it becomes a substitute for attentive observation and
careful description.
These pseudoideas — especially the pseudoidea of development — have the power to render a big part of the world — a big
part of what is happening in the world — invisible.
There is one thing, however, that the pseudoidea development does have the power to make visible: the pseudophenomenon
development.
Once you are persuaded that development is a real idea, you see it everywhere. Or you see its opposite,
"underdevelopment," or some stage between the two. Like King Midas' golden touch (or like cancer cells) development
has the power to transform everything into some version of itself.
This ability to obstruct vision and stop thought serves an important function. The pseudoidea development hides from us
the environmental and cultural destruction, the systematic exploitation and the impoverishment that are being carried
out in its name. To put it the other way around, it persuades us that these things are not a massive historical
catastrophe, but rather are development.
And it is impossible to be critical of development. Why? Because it is impossible to think about it. Thought stopped
when we accepted it as an idea in the first place.
In my amateur understanding, "environmental hormones" are not real hormones, but chemical substances that resemble hormones. Or rather, they have the ability to fool the body into thinking that they are. They enter the body, deceive it
into accepting them as hormones, and begin to function in the place of hormones, with terrible consequences.
It occurred to me recently that there are also such things as "intellectual environmental hormones." These are
pseudoideas that have as destructive an effect on the mind as the pseudohormones have on the body.
Two striking examples are "modernization" (as in such expressions as "modernization of society") and
"development" (as in "development economics" or "development aid").
Both of these closely resemble ideas and have the ability to deceive the mind into accepting them as ideas. When they
enter your head, they give you the illusion that you have gained some knowledge.
When you bring them up in your consciousness, they give you the illusion that you are thinking. When you use them in
sentences, they give you the illusion that you are saying something. When you use them as a lens through which to look at
the world, they give you the impression that you are seeing something real.
And just like real ideas, they lead to conclusions and generate action. They are environmental hormones of the mind,
for while they give you the illusion that they help you to see and think, in fact they obstruct vision and impair
thought.
Whenever you describe a process as modernization, you relieve yourself of the responsibility of observing what,
exactly, is changing. Whenever the term development is used, it becomes a substitute for attentive observation and
careful description.
These pseudoideas — especially the pseudoidea of development — have the power to render a big part of the world — a big
part of what is happening in the world — invisible.
There is one thing, however, that the pseudoidea development does have the power to make visible: the pseudophenomenon
development.
Once you are persuaded that development is a real idea, you see it everywhere. Or you see its opposite,
"underdevelopment," or some stage between the two. Like King Midas' golden touch (or like cancer cells) development
has the power to transform everything into some version of itself.
This ability to obstruct vision and stop thought serves an important function. The pseudoidea development hides from us
the environmental and cultural destruction, the systematic exploitation and the impoverishment that are being carried
out in its name. To put it the other way around, it persuades us that these things are not a massive historical
catastrophe, but rather are development.
And it is impossible to be critical of development. Why? Because it is impossible to think about it. Thought stopped
when we accepted it as an idea in the first place.
Shukan ST: July 9, 1999
(C) All rights reserved
- amateur
- しろうとの
- chemical substances
- 化学物質
- resemble 〜
- 〜 に似ている
- fool
- だます
- deceive it into accepting them as 〜
- 体をだまして化学物質を 〜 として受け入れさせる
- function
- 機能する
- in the place of 〜
- 〜 の代わりに
- with terrible consequences
- 恐ろしい結果を招いて
- It occured to me recently that 〜
- 最近、 〜 だということに気付いた
- "intellectual environmental hormones"
- 知的環境ホルモン
- pseudoideas
- 思想もどきのもの
- destructive
- 破壊的な
- pseudohormones
- ホルモンもどきのもの
- striking
- 目立つ
- "modernization"
- 「近代化」
- "development economics"
- 開発経済学
- "development aid"
- 開発援助
- illusion
- 錯覚
- bring them up in your consciousness
- それらの言葉を意識にのぼらせる
- generate
- 生む
- obstruct vision
- 視野をさえぎる
- impair thoughts
- 考える力を弱める
- relieve yourself of 〜
- 〜 から自分を解放する
- term
- 言葉
- substitute
- 代わりのもの
- attentive observation
- 注意深い観察
- description
- 描写
- render a big part of 〜 invisible
- 〜 の大部分を見えなくさせる
- pseudophenomenon
- 現象もどきのもの
- are persuaded
- 確信させられる
- King Midas' golden touch
- (ギリシャ神話に出てくる)ミダース王の、手に触れるものをことごとく黄金と化してしまう力
- cancer cells
- がん細胞
- transform 〜 into 〜
- 〜 を〜 に変える
- some version of itself
- それ(開発)の変形
- systematic exploitation
- 系統だった搾取
- impoverishment
- 貧困
- are being carried out in its name
- 開発という名の元に行なわれている
- To put it the other way around
- 違う言い方をすれば
- massive historical catastrophe
- 大規模で歴史的な大惨事
- be critical of 〜
- 〜 に対して批判的になる