英文解釈教室の出典を探る(78)

Chapter 13 比較の特殊問題

例題 13.2.2

「沖仲仕の哲学者」エリック・ホッファーの文章

In the study of nature, an explanation must be not only consistent with the facts but also as simple and direct as possible. Where several explanations are advanced, the rule is followed that the one which is more simple is also more nearly correct. To choose the more complex explanation, says a recent writer on the nature of science, would be as sensible "as traveling eastward around the world to reach your neighbor's house which is next door to the west".

In human affairs the sensibleness of the direct, simple approach is by no means self-evident. Here it is often true that the simplest ends are reached only by the most roundabout and extravagant means. Even the predictable comes here to pass in unpredictable ways. To forget that man is a fantastic creature is to ignore his most crucial trait, and when contemplating human nature the wildest guesses and hunches are legitimate.

出典：Eric Hoffer, "The Ordeal of Change", 1952

（補注）

解釈教室の例題は前半のみですが、実際に彼が言いたいことは後半だと思われますので、文章を追加してあります。つまり本当は、科学の場合は、直截的なアプローチが最適であるが、人間の場合はそう単純にはいかない、という趣旨の文章だったのです。

（参考）かなり変わった経歴の人です。