梅棹忠夫著「文明の生態史観」を私訳してみた

文明の生態史観 (中公文庫)

先日訃報が届いた梅棹忠夫先生の「文明の生態史観」が到着した。なんだお前、まだ読んでいなかったのか、人類学を専攻するつもりのくせに、という感じだが、べつにわざと避けてきたわけではない。ただ、うまい付き合い方がいまいち分からなかったのだ。この本、たしかに名著なのだろうが、安易に食べてしまうと毒になりそうだ。どう食おうか、と思いながら睨みつけているうちに、大学を卒業してしまったというわけ。

本人も亡くなってしまったし、そろそろ読まねばなるまい、と思ってアマゾンで注文してみたら、中々に面白い…が、やっぱりどのような学的潮流にも位置づけがたい論であるのは間違いない。英語でも、Umesao Tadao の項目は Wikipedia にはないようだ。もっとメジャーになってもいいのに、と思い、英語の勉強もかねて、飛行機の中で適当に本文をすこし英訳してみた。梅棹の独特の言い回しを尊重しながらなので、多少へんな英語になってしまったが、とりあえずは第一節。調子が良さそうであれば、全訳をめざしたい。

"Ecological History of Civilizations"

One: Challenge, and Response

A man called Toynbee has come. A very renowned historian, they say. I have also read two of his translated works; the simplified version of "A Study of History" and "Civilization on Trial". Both were very intriguing; I felt the scent of a great scientific discourse.
However I am not entirely persuaded. I had already had my own ideas; while I was quite impressed by Professor Toynbee's theory, it did not change my mind.
Many of my complaints concern the treatment of Japan. When a Westerner tries to talk of World History, he usually does not take into account the significance of Japan. This neglect is a product of mere ignorance and self-righteousness. Toynbee's theory, compared to such oft-annoying neglect, is much better in it that it treats Japan as an independent civilization, even though he understands Korea in the same grid: spinoff the Far Eastern civilization. He argues that five of the six remaining civilizations are in the slow going process of wane. Japan is one of those waning civilizations, and the only healthy civilization left in the world is the Western one. Fine, I say, for it does not mean that the Japanese civilization will be diminished immediately; but this is not a very cheering conclusion.
One aspect of Mr Toynbee's theory is its Brobdingnagian scale. By this I mean that both the target and the unit of his analysis is immense. Compared to the long history of earth and life, he would argue, a gap of few thousand years can be understood as being almost contemporary. Based on this sense of time he argues that the Japanese civilization is in the process of decline since the twelfth century.
This type of discourse baffles us. Contemporary astronomy reveals that the universe is rapidly expanding, but this knowledge does not help us very much; it may be true but has no significance on action. The same can be said about Mr Toynbee's theory of history. The course of one or two years may not be so important, but it would be helpful to use more human standards to understand the world and history, rather than the cosmological one.
I have no intentions to criticize Mr Toynbee's theory. Many critics have done so already, from their own standpoints and perspectives. Rather I am willing to sketch out one understanding of the world I have had for some time.
Although I started out with Mr Toynbee, this essay is entirely unrelated to him. It is just that his thoughts sound very Western. If an Easterner, a Japanese, would contemplate on the same topic, things would be different.
What I have written in this essay is actually a child of premature birth. Knowing its being pronatus, I felt it would be meaningful to write it anyway, partly because of Mr Toynbee's visit to Japan. I have taken his visit and theory to be a challenge in the field of the study of civilizations from the part of Westerners. I am willing to respond, even when the results may be unfruitful.