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リチャード・ウィーバー

出典: フリー百科事典『ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』

リチャード・マルコム・ウィーバー・ジュニア英語: Richard Malcolm Weaver, Jr1910年3月3日 - 1963年4月1日)は、アメリカ合衆国学者シカゴ大学教員。

主に精神史家(インテレクチュアル・ヒストリアン)、政治哲学者、20世紀半ばの保守主義者、近代修辞学の権威として知られる。青年期に一時社会主義者となり、左翼知識人(大学院時代には保守派)、ライティング教師、プラトン主義哲学者、文化評論家、人間性・社会に関する理論家でもあった。

伝記作家のフレッド・ヤングに「ラディカルで独創的な思想家("radical and original thinker")」[1]と評されたウィーバーの『Ideas Have Consequences』と『The Ethics of Rhetoric』は、アメリカ南部の保守派の理論家や研究者の間で今も影響力を持ち続けている。また、ウィーバーは、1940年代から1950年代にかけて、伝統保守主義派のグループにも属していた。

生涯

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ウィーバーは、ノースカロライナ州アシュビル南部の中流家庭の4人兄弟の長男である。父親のリチャード・シニアは、家畜小屋を経営していた。1915年に夫を亡くした後、母キャロライン・エンブリー・ウィーバーは、生まれ故郷のケンタッキー州レキシントンにある実家のデパートで働き、子どもたちを支えた。レキシントンは、ケンタッキー大学と2つの私立大学の所在地である。

父の死後、一家は苦境に立たされたが、リチャード・ジュニアは私立の寄宿学校とケンタッキー大学に進学した。1932年に英語学のA.B.(Bachelor of Arts)を取得した。ケンタッキー大学で最も影響を受けた教師は、フランシス・ギャロウェイであった。ケンタッキー大学で1年学んだ後、ヴァンダービルト大学で英語の修士号を取得した。この論文は、アーヴィング・バビット(Irving Babbitt)とポール・エルマー・モア(Paul Elmer More)の人文主義を批判したもので、「人文主義に対する反乱(The Revolt against Humanism)」という題で、ジョン・クロウ・ランサムが指導にあたった。その後、オーバーン大学で1年、テキサスA&M大学で3年教壇に立った。

1940年、ルイジアナ州立大学英語学Ph.D.課程入学。ルイジアナ州立大学には、修辞学者で評論家のクリアンス・ブルックス(Cleanth Brooks)やロバート・ペン・ウォーレン、保守派の政治哲学者エリック・ヴォーゲリン(Eric Voegelin)らが在籍していた。ルイジアナ州立大学在学中、ウィーバーはハーバード大学バージニア大学パリ大学に夏期留学をした。1943年、アーリン・ターナー(Arlin Turner)、クリーンス・ブルックス(Cleanth Brooks)の指導のもと、「The Confederate South, 1865-1910: A Study in the Survival of a Mind and a Culture」と題する論文で、1943年にPh.D.を取得した。この論文は、死後1968年に『The Southern Tradition at Bay』というタイトルで出版された。

ノースカロライナ州立大学で1年間教壇に立った後、シカゴ大学英語学科に移り、そこで生涯を過ごし[2]、1949年にはその優れた教育の功績によってシカゴ大学クアントレル賞(Quantrell Award)を受賞した。1957年には、ラッセル・カークの『モダン・エイジ』創刊号で最初の論文を発表した。

ウィーバーは、夏の休暇(academic summer)を、先祖代々の土地であるノースカロライナ州アシュビル郊外のウィーバービルに購入した家で過ごした。未亡人となった母親は、一年中そこに住んでいた。シカゴとアシュビルの間は、列車で移動した。ウィーバービルの家庭菜園をラバで耕すことにこだわり、伝統的な農民の生活を実践した。毎年8月には、ウィーバー家は親睦会を開き、リチャードも出席して挨拶をすることがあった。

ウィーバーは、幼い頃から早熟かつ読書家で、「この時代で最も教養のある知識人の一人("one of the most well-educated intellectuals of his era")」に成長した[3]。自給自足と独立心が強く、「孤独で人里離れた("solitary and remote")」[4]、「内気で小さなブルドッグのような男("shy little bulldog of a man")」[5]と評されることもある。親しい友人もなく、生涯の手紙のやりとりも、ヴァンダービルト大学教員で同じ農本主義者のドナルド・デイヴィッドソン以外にほとんどなかったため、ウィーバーは学術活動に集中することができた。

1962年、ヤング・アメリカンズ・フォー・フリーダムは、「教育と自由社会の哲学への貢献("service to education and the philosophy of a free society")」を理由にウィーバーに賞を贈った[6]。シカゴで急死する直前、ウィーバーはヴァンダービルト大学への赴任を受諾した。1963年4月1日、ウィーバー博士は亡くなった。妹の話によると、死因は脳出血であった[7]。1964年、Intercollegiate Studies Institute[8]は、博士を記念して大学院のフェローシップを創設した[9]。1983年にロックフォード研究所リチャード・M・ウィーバー賞(Richard M. Weaver Award for Scholarly Letters)を創始し、以後毎年授与されている。

思想

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ウィーバーへの影響

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ウィーバーは、反消費主義(anti-consumerism)や騎士道精神といったアメリカ南部の伝統的なプリンシパルを守り抜くことを強く信条とし[10]、これらの原則は、ウィーバーの教育、執筆、講演の基礎となっていた。

強固な道徳観を持って育ったウィーバーは、宗教を家庭と文明の基盤と考えていた[11]。このことは、大学在学時のクリスチャン・エンデバー・ソサエティでの演説や、その後の著作に表れている[12]

ウィーバーが影響を受けたケンタッキー大学の教授陣は、殆どが中西部の出身で、社会民主主義的傾向を持っており、また世界恐慌の危機にも影響を受けたウィーバーは、産業資本主義がアメリカの道徳、経済、知的な全般的失敗を引き起こしたと信じていた。当初は、社会主義が産業主義文化に代わる選択肢になると考え[13]アメリカ社会党のケンタッキー州支部に参加した。1932年には、社会党の旗手であるノーマン・トーマスの選挙に積極的に参加した。その数年後、彼はスペイン内戦で王党派に資金を提供した。その後、トリシア・マクミラン博士のような知識人との出会いが、彼の社会主義に対する考えを揺るがすことになる。

ヴァンダービルト大学で英語の修士論文を完成させつつあったウィーバーは、そこで南部農本主義者(Southern Agrarians)に関連する思想を発見する[14]。次第に社会主義を否定し、伝統を受け入れるようになったが、ウィーバーは社会主義を愛していた。ウィーバーは、指導教官である「文化博士("Doctor of Culture")」ジョン・クロウ・ランサムに憧れ、見習おうとしていた[15]

農本主義者は、共同体や旧南部の伝統的な価値観について情熱的に著作を綴った。1930年、ランサムを中心とするヴァンダービルト大学の教授陣とその学生たちは、『I'll Take My Stand』と題する農本主義の宣言書を書いた[16]。ウィーバーは、南北戦争後の南部の工業化に対するこのグループの疑念に同意した[17]。社会主義の平等主義的な福祉国家への「ロマン」よりも、伝統主義や地域文化を重視する農本主義の方が、より親和的であると考えたのである[18]。ウィーバーが社会主義を捨てて農本主義を選んだのは、何年もかけて少しずつのことで、1934年時点の修士論文の考え方は農本主義的ではなかった[19]

オールド・サウスに対するウィーバー

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The Southern Tradition at Bay, the title under which Weaver's 1943 doctoral dissertation was published in 1968 after his death, surveyed the post-Appomattox literature of the states that were part of the Confederacy. He revealed what he considered its continuities with the antebellum era. Weaver also discussed certain Southerners who dissented from this tradition, such as Walter Hines Page, George Washington Cable, and Henry W. Grady, whom he termed "Southern liberals."

Weaver identified four traditional Southern characteristics: "a feudal theory of society, a code of chivalry, the ancient concept of the gentleman, and a noncreedal faith".[20] According to him, the Southern feudal system was centered on the legitimate pride a family line derived from linking its name to a piece of land.[21] For Weaver, land ownership gave the individual a much needed "stability, responsibility, dignity, and sentiment".[22]

However, in his Ideas Have Consequences, Weaver downplayed the materialistic notion of ownership. He asserted that private property was "the last metaphysical right" of the individual.[23] Southern chivalry and gentlemen's behavior, on the other hand, emphasized a paternalistic personal honor, and decorum over competition and cleverness.[24] Weaver claimed that women preferred the romanticized soldier to the materialistic businessman.[25]

The noncreedal faith that Weaver advocated (he was a nonpracticing Protestant) grew out of what he termed the South's "older religiousness."[26] The "religion" emphasized a respect for tradition and nature and for the Anglican/Episcopal church,[27] the established church in Virginia and south during the colonial era. Weaver agreed with the traditional Christian notion that external science and technology could not save man, who was born a sinner and in need of redemption.[28]

Weaver believed that the South was the "last non-materialist civilization in the Western World."[29] Weaver came to advocate a revival of southern traditions as the only cure for a commodity-based capitalism. He believed it was a way to combat the social degradation that he witnessed while he lived in Chicago.

理論の始まり

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Weaver gradually came to see himself as the "cultural doctor of the South" although he made his career in Chicago.[15] More specifically, he sought to resist what he saw as America's growing barbarism by teaching his students of the correct way to write, use, and understand language, which connected Weaver with Platonist ideals. Following the tradition of the Socratic dialogues, Weaver taught that misuse of language caused social corruption. That belief led him to criticize jazz as a medium that promoted "barbaric impulses" because he perceived the idiom as lacking form and rules.[30][31]

Weaver's study of American literature emphasized the past, such as the 19th-century culture of New England and the South and the Lincoln-Douglas debates.[32] Attempting a true understanding of language, Weaver concentrated on a culture's fundamental beliefs; that is, beliefs that strengthened and educated citizens into a course of action.[33] By teaching and studying language, he endeavored to generate a healthier culture that would no longer use language as a tool of lies and persuasion in a "prostitution of words."[33] Moreover, in a capitalist society, applied science was the "sterile opposite" of what he saw as redemption, the "poetic and ethical vision of life".[34]

Weaver condemned modern media and modern journalism as tools for exploiting the passive viewer. Convinced that ideas, not machines, compelled humanity towards a better future, he gave words precedence over technology.[35] Influenced by the Agrarians' emphasis of poetry, he began writing poetry.[36] In a civilized society, poetry allowed one to express personal beliefs that science and technology could not overrule. In Weaver's words, "We can will our world."[37] That is, human beings, not mechanical or social forces, can make positive decisions by language that will change their existence.

共同体主義的個人主義

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In a short speech delivered to the 1950 reunion of the Weaver clan, Weaver criticized urban life in Chicago as follows: "the more closely people are crowded together, the less they know one another".[38] In a comparative study of Randolph of Roanoke and Thoreau, Weaver defined "individualism" in two ways: 1) "studied withdrawal from society" (i.e. Thoreau) and 2) "political action at the social level" (i.e. Randolph).[39] Thoreau (according to Weaver) rejected society while Randolph embraced social bonds through politics.

Personally opposed to America's centralized political power, Weaver, like Randolph, preferred an individualism that included community.[40] "Community" here refers to a shared identity of values tied to a geographical and spatial location – in Weaver's case, the Old South. He concluded that individualism that is founded on community enabled a citizen "to know who he was and what he was about".[40] Without this intimate foundation, citizens seeking individualism would be unable to reach a true, personal identity. More importantly, he believed that people should grant priority to a living community and its well-being, not to individual fulfillment.[41]

反唯名論

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In Ideas Have Consequences, Weaver analyzed William of Occam's 14th century notions of nominalist philosophy. In broad terms, nominalism is the idea that "universals are not real, only particulars".[42] Nominalism deprives people of a measure of universal truth, so that each man becomes his own "priest and ethics professor".[43] Weaver deplored this relativism, and believed that modern men were "moral idiots, ... incapable of distinguishing between better and worse".[44]

Weaver viewed America's moral degradation and turn toward commodity-culture as the unwitting consequences of its belief in nominalism. That is, a civilization that no longer believed in universal transcendental values had no moral ambition to understand a higher truth outside of man.[44] The result was a "shattered world",[45] in which truth was unattainable, and freedom only an illusion. Moreover, without a focus on the sort of higher truth that can be found in organized religions, people turned to the more tangible idols of science and materialism.

Weaver's ideal society was that of the European Middle Ages, when the Roman Catholic Church gave to all an accurate picture of reality and truth.[46] Nominalism emerged in the late Middle Ages and quickly came to dominate Western thinking. More generally, Weaver felt that the shift from universal truth and transcendental order to individual opinion and industrialism adversely affected the moral health of Americans.

Nominalism also undermines the concept of hierarchy, which depends entirely on fundamental truths about people. Weaver, in contrast, believed that hierarchies are necessary. He argued that social, gender, and age-related equality actually undermine stability and order. Believing in "natural social groupings".[47] he claimed that it should be possible to sort people into suitable categories without the envy of equality. Using the hierarchical structure of a family as an example, he thought that family members accept various duties grounded in "sentiment" and "fraternity," not equality and rights.[45] Continuing in this direction, he claimed not to understand the feminist movement, which led women to abandon their stronger connection to nature and intuition for a superficial political and economic equality with men.[48]

Weaver maintained that egalitarianism only promoted "[s]uspicion, hostility, and lack of trust and loyalty".[49] Instead, he believed that there must be a center, a transcendent truth on which people could focus and structure their lives. Contrary to what nominalism would suggest, language can be pinned down, can serve as a foundation through which one can "find real meaning".[50] So, those who do not understand language can never find real meaning, which is inordinately tragic. In Weaver's words, "a world without generalization would be a world without knowledge".[51] Thus universals allow true knowledge.

ウィーバーの修辞学

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In The Ethics of Rhetoric, Weaver evaluates the ability of rhetoric to persuade. Similarly to ancient philosophers, Weaver found that language has the power to move people to do good, to do evil, or to do nothing at all.[52] In his defense of orthodoxy, Weaver set down a number of rhetorical principles. He grounded his definition of "noble rhetoric" in the work of Plato; such rhetoric aimed to improve intellect by presenting men with "better versions of themselves".[53] He also agreed with Plato's notions of the realities of transcendentals (recall Weaver's hostility to nominalism) and the connection between form and substance.[54] For instance, Weaver admired the connection between the forms of poetry and rhetoric. Like poetry, rhetoric relies on the connotation of words as well as their denotation. Good rhetoricians, he asserted, use poetic analogies to relate abstract ideas directly to the listeners.[55] Specifically emphasizing metaphor, he found that comparison should be an essential part of the rhetorical process.[56] However, arguments from definition—that is, from the very nature of things (justice, beauty, the nature of man) -- had an even higher ethical status, because they were grounded in essences rather than similarities. Arguments grounded in mere circumstance ("I have to quit school because I cannot afford the tuition") Weaver viewed as the least ethical, because they grant the immediate facts a higher status than principle. Finally, Weaver pointed out that arguments from authority are only as good as the authority itself.[57]

In Language is Sermonic, Weaver pointed to rhetoric as a presentation of values. Sermonic language seeks to persuade the listener, and is inherent in all communication. Indeed, the very choice to present arguments from definition instead of from consequence implies that one of the modes of reason carries greater value. He also considered rhetoric and the multiplicity of man. That is, he acknowledged that logic alone was not enough to persuade man, who is "a pathetic being, that is, a being feeling and suffering".[58] He felt that societies that placed great value on technology often became dehumanized. Like a machine relying purely on logic, the rhetorician was in danger of becoming "a thinking robot".[59]

Weaver divided the nature of man into four categories: rational, emotional, ethical, and religious.[60] Without considering these characteristics as a whole, rhetoricians cannot hope to persuade their listeners. Moreover, when motivating the listener to adopt attitudes and actions, rhetoricians must consider the uniqueness of each audience.[61] In other words, orators should acknowledge that each audience has different needs and responses, and must formulate their arguments accordingly. Weaver also divided "argumentation" into four categories: cause-effect, definition, consequences, and circumstances.[57] The rhetorician must decide which method of argument will best persuade a given audience.

In his The Ethics of Rhetoric, Weaver coined the phrases "god terms" and "devil terms".[62] "God terms" are words particular to a certain age and are vague, but have "inherent potency" in their meanings.[63] Such words include progress and freedom – words that seem impenetrable and automatically give a phrase positive meaning. In contrast, "devil terms" are the mirror image, and include words such as Communist and Un-American.[64] Rhetoric, Weaver argued, must employ such terminology only with care. Employing ethical rhetoric is the first step towards rejecting vague terminology with propagandistic value.[57] Upon hearing a "god" or "devil" term, Weaver suggested that a listener should "hold a dialectic with himself" to consider the intention behind such persuasive words.[65] He concluded that "a society's health or declension was mirrored in how it used language".[66] If a language is pure, so too will be those who employ it.

ウィーバーの影響

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『The Southern Tradition at Bay』は、ウィーバーの最高傑作とする説がある。『Ideas Have Consequences』の方が広く知られているが、それは「戦後の知的右翼("postwar intellectual Right")」に大きな影響を与えたからである[67]。ラッセル・カーク、ウィリアム・F・バックリー・ジュニア、ウィルモア・ケンドールなど、当時の若手保守派知識人の代表格が、その批判的洞察を高く評価している[68]。出版者のヘンリー・レグナリーは、この本が現代の保守運動に強力な知的基盤を与えたと主張している[8]。1960年代のリバタリアン理論家であり、元米国共産党員であるフランク・S・マイヤーは、ウィーバーに対し、自身が右派に加わるきっかけを作ったとして公に感謝の意を表明している[69]

多くのリベラル派にとって、ウィーバーは見当違いの権威主義者であった。多くの保守派にとって、彼は伝統と自由の擁護者であり、特に伝統に重きを置いていた。南部人にとって、彼は「反近代的("antimodern")」南部の新鮮な擁護者であった[70]。また、他の人々にとっては、歴史修正主義者であった[71]。ラッセル・カークが「儀式自由主義(ritualistic liberalism)」と呼ぶものに対する彼の反論は、保守的な知識人の琴線に触れた[67]。「文化的悲観主義(cultural pessimism)」の伝統に由来する彼の名目主義批判は、どんなに驚くべきものであっても、保守派に新しい哲学的方向性を与えた[72]。彼の著作は、保守的な構造や道徳的な高潔さを否定する現代アメリカ人が増えていることを攻撃し、経験的機能主義を突きつけるものであった。1980年代には、古保守主義者たちが、彼のオールドサウスのビジョンを反モダニズムの表現に応用した[73]。ウィーバーは、アメリカの窮状を定義し、「信仰の意味を知らない時代の信仰と理性の関係("the relationship between faith and reason for an age that does not know the meaning of faith")」を見出すために保守派を鼓舞したとみなされるようになった[74]

ウィーバーの蔵書は、ミシガン州ヒルズデールヒルズデール・カレッジに保管されている[75]

著作

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  • 1948. Ideas Have Consequences. Univ. of Chicago Press.
  • 1985 (1953). The Ethics of Rhetoric. Davis CA: Hermagoras Press.
  • 1967 (1957). Rhetoric and Composition, 2nd ed. of Composition: A Course in Reading and Writing. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
  • 1995 (1964). Visions of Order: The Cultural Crisis of Our Time. Bryn Mawr PA: ISI Press.
  • 1965. Life without Prejudice and Other Essays. Chicago: Henry Regnery.
  • 1989 (1968). The Southern Tradition at Bay, Core, George, and Bradford, M.E., eds. Washington DC: Regnery Gateway.
  • 1970. Language is Sermonic: R. M. Weaver on the Nature of Rhetoric, Johannesen, R., Strickland, R., and Eubanks, R.T., eds. Louisiana State Univ. Press.
  • 1987. The Southern Essays of Richard M. Weaver, Curtis, G. M. III, and Thompson, James J. Jr., eds. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.

脚注

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  1. ^ Young 4
  2. ^ Young 3-4
  3. ^ Scotchie 4
  4. ^ Young 1
  5. ^ Nash 84
  6. ^ Scotchie x
  7. ^ Young, Fred (1995). Richard M. Weaver, 1910-1963: A Life of the Mind. University of Missouri Press. p. 176 
  8. ^ a b Nash 82
  9. ^ Archived copy”. 2006年2月6日時点のオリジナルよりアーカイブ。2006年2月7日閲覧。
  10. ^ Young 8
  11. ^ Young 21
  12. ^ Young 22
  13. ^ Young 3
  14. ^ Young 69
  15. ^ a b Young 5
  16. ^ Young 38
  17. ^ Young 47
  18. ^ Scotchie 12
  19. ^ Young 58
  20. ^ Young 78
  21. ^ Young 81
  22. ^ Scotchie 25
  23. ^ Nash 100
  24. ^ Young 83
  25. ^ Scotchie 36
  26. ^ Young 84
  27. ^ Young 84-85
  28. ^ Scotchie 21
  29. ^ Scotchie 17
  30. ^ Scotchie 46
  31. ^ Groothuis, Douglas (2 July 2015). “Jazz and Politics”. All About Jazz. 2 July 2015閲覧。
  32. ^ Young 6
  33. ^ a b Young 9
  34. ^ Young 62
  35. ^ Nash 96
  36. ^ Young 76
  37. ^ Nash 97
  38. ^ Address 114
  39. ^ Young 11
  40. ^ a b Young 12
  41. ^ Scotchie 3
  42. ^ Young 107
  43. ^ Scotchie 5
  44. ^ a b Nash 89
  45. ^ a b Young 113
  46. ^ Nash 94
  47. ^ Young 112
  48. ^ Young 123
  49. ^ Toledano 270
  50. ^ Young 122
  51. ^ Young 114
  52. ^ Young 129
  53. ^ Young 135
  54. ^ Johannesen 7
  55. ^ Young 132
  56. ^ Johannesen 23
  57. ^ a b c Johannesen 27
  58. ^ Weaver 1352
  59. ^ Weaver 1353
  60. ^ Johannesen 13
  61. ^ Weaver 1351
  62. ^ Young 147-49
  63. ^ Young 147
  64. ^ Weaver 222-23
  65. ^ Weaver 232
  66. ^ Young 151
  67. ^ a b Nash 87
  68. ^ Young 179
  69. ^ Nash 88
  70. ^ Nash 108
  71. ^ Bailey, Jeremy David (September 22, 2004). “Richard Weaver's untraditional case for federalism.”. Publius. February 2, 2014時点のオリジナルよりアーカイブ。13 February 2013閲覧。
  72. ^ Nash 92
  73. ^ Nash 109
  74. ^ Toledano 259
  75. ^ "Mossey Library Collections" Retrieved 2019-04-15

参考文献

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  • Drumm, Robert J. Richard M. Weaver's Approach to Criticism. A thesis In Communication Studies Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master OF Arts.
  • Duffy, Bernard K. and Martin Jacobi, 1993. The Politics of Rhetoric: Richard Weaver and the Conservative Tradition. Greenwood Press.
  • Johannesen, Richard L. ″Some Pedagogical Implications of Richard M. Weaver's Views on Rhetoric″. College Composition and Communication, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Oct., 1978), pp. 272–279.
  • Johannesen, Richard L., Rennard Strickland, and Ralph T. Eubanks, 1970. Richard M. Weaver on the Nature of Rhetoric: An Interpretation in Weaver, R. M., Language is Sermonic. Louisiana State University Press: 7-30.
  • Nash, George H., 1998, "The Influence of Ideas Have Consequences on the Conservative Intellectual Movement in America," in Smith (1998): 81-124.
  • Scotchie, Joseph, ed., 1995. The Vision of Richard Weaver. New Brunswick NJ: Transaction Publishers.
  • -------, 1997. Barbarians in the Saddle: An Intellectual Biography of Richard M. Weaver. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.
  • Smith, Ted J. III et al., eds., 1998. Steps Toward Restoration: The Consequences of Richard Weaver's Ideas. Wilmington DL: Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
  • Toledano, Ben C., 1998. "The Ideas of Richard Weaver," in Smith (1998): 256-286.
  • Young, Fred Douglas, 1995. Richard Weaver: A Life of the Mind. University of Missouri Press.

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記事・研究
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  • Beginning of Ideas Have Consequences
  • "Up from Liberalism” (pdf) as it first appeared in the Winter 1958-1959 issue (Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 21–32) of Modern Age.