Good news, I found three that I particularly liked.

この講演の準備にあたり

The first by Samuel Johnson, who said,

皆さんにご紹介できるような

“When making your choice in life, do not forget to live.”

名言を探しました

The second by Aeschylus, who reminded us that,

うれしいことに 良さそうなのが

“Happiness is a choice that requires effort.”

３つ見つかりました

And the third is one by Groucho Marx who said,

１つ目はサミュエル・ジョンソンの言葉です

“I wouldn’t want to choose to belong to any club that would have me as a member.”

「人生において選択をする時

Now, bad news, I didn’t know which one of these quotes to choose and share with you.

生きることを蔑ろにしてはならない」

The sweet anxiety of choice.

２つ目はアイスキュロスによる戒めです

In today’s times of post-industrial capitalism,

「幸福とは 努力を要する選択のことである」

choice, together with individual freedom and the idea of self-making,

３つ目はグルーチョ・マルクスの言葉です

has been elevated to an ideal.

「私を会員にするようなクラブに

Now, together with this, we also have a belief in endless progress.

私は入りたいと思わない」

But the underside of this ideology has been an increase of anxiety,

ただ困ったことに

feeling of guilt, feeling of being inadequate,

どの名言を皆さんに紹介するか

feeling that we are failing in our choices.

私には決められませんでした

Sadly, this ideology of individual choice has prevented us to think about social changes.

選択がもたらす甘美な不安です

It appears that this ideology was actually very efficient in pacifying us as political and social thinkers.

このポスト産業資本主義の時代において

Instead of making social critique, we are more and more engaging in self-critique,

選択というものは 個人の自由や

sometimes to the point of self-destruction.

自ら創り出すべきという考えと相まって

Now, how come that ideology of choice is still so powerful,

理想にまで持ち上げられました

even among people who have not many things to choose among?

これに加え 私たちは 進歩が永遠に続くと

How come that even people who are poor very much still identify with the idea of choice, the kind of rational idea of choice which we embrace?

信じているところがあります

Now, the ideology of choice is very successful in sort of opening for us

しかし このイデオロギーには

a space to think about some imagined future.

マイナス面もあり

Let me give you an example.

不安や罪悪感

My friend Manya, when she was a student at university in California,

自分には力が足りないという感覚や

was earning money by working for a car dealer.

選択に失敗しているという感覚を 増幅させています

Now, Manya, when she encountered the typical customer,

不幸にも この個人の選択という イデオロギーのために

would debate with him about his life style, how much he wants to spend,

私たちは社会的な変化について 考えられなくなっています

how many children he has, what does he need the car for?

どうやら このイデオロギーは

They would usually come to a good conclusion what would be a perfect car.

政治や社会について考える私たちの

Now, before Manya’s customer would go home and think things through,

牙を抜くのに非常に有効だったようです

she would say to him,

社会を批判する代わりに

“The car that you are buying now is perfect,

私たちは自己批判にどんどん力を注ぎ

but in the few year’s time, when your kids will be already out of the house,

時には自暴自棄にまで至ってしまいます

when you will have a little bit more money,

何故この選択のイデオロギーは

that other car will be ideal.

いまだに強力で

But what you are buying now is great.”

さほど選択肢を持たない人々にまで

Now, the majority of Manya’s customers who came back the next day bought that other car,

影響するのでしょうか

the car they did not need, the car that cost far too much money.

何故 貧しい人々でさえ

Now, Manya became so successful in selling cars that soon she moved on to selling airplanes.

私たちが尊重する 選択という

And knowing so much about the psychology of people

合理的とも言える概念を

prepared her well for her current job, which is that of a psychoanalyst.

かなり身近に感じるのでしょうか

Now, why were Manya’s customers so irrational?

選択のイデオロギーのお蔭で

Manya’s success was that she was able to open in their heads an image of an idealized future,

私たちは 未来を想像し

an image of themselves when they are already more successful, freer.

思いを馳せるように なってしまっています

And for them, choose that other car was as if they are coming closer to this ideal

例を挙げましょう

in which it was as if Manya already saw them.

私の友人のマーニャは

Now, we rarely make really totally rational choices.

カリフォルニアの大学時代に

Choices are influenced by our unconscious, by our community.

自動車ディーラーで働いて

We’re often choosing by guessing, what would other people think about our choice?

お金を稼いでいました

Also we are choosing by looking at what others are choosing.

マーニャの典型的な接客術は

We’re also guessing what is socially acceptable choice.

客のライフスタイルや

Now, because of this, we actually even after we have already chosen, like bought a car,

車にいくら使いたいか

endlessly read reviews about cars,

子どもは何人いるか

as if we still want to convince ourselves that we made the right choice.

車を持つ目的などを

Now, choices are anxiety-provoking.

話し合うというものでした

They are linked to risks, losses.

大抵の場合 客は最終的に

They are highly unpredictable.

どの車が最適か絞り込みます

Now, because of this, people have now more and more problems that they are not choosing anything.

マーニャは 客が家に帰って

Not long ago, I was at a wedding reception.

あれこれ検討する前に

And I met a young, beautiful woman who immediately started telling me about her anxiety over choice.

こう言っておきます

She said to me, “I needed one month to decide which dress to wear.”

「お客様が今 買おうとされている車は 完璧です

Then she said, “For weeks I was researching which hotel to stay for this one night.

ただ 数年後には

And now, I need to choose a sperm donor.”

お子様方は家を出て

I looked at this woman in shock.

経済的にも余裕ができますから

“Sperm donor? What’s the rush?”

あちらの車がピッタリになるでしょう

She said, “I’m turning 40 at the end of this year,

ですが今 買おうとなさっている車は バッチリです」

and I’ve been so bad in choosing men in my life.”

すると翌日 店に戻ってきた

Now choice, because it’s linked to risks, is anxiety-provoking.

マーニャの客の大多数は

And it was already the famous Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard

「あちらの車」を買いました

who pointed out that anxiety is linked to the possibility of possibility.

必要でもなければ

Now, we think today that we can prevent these risks.

うんとお金のかかる車です

We have endless market analysis,

マーニャは車の販売で大成功して

projections of the future earnings.

まもなく航空機の販売に転身しました

Even with market, which is about chance, randomness, we think we can predict rationally where it’s going.

（笑）

Now, chance is actually becoming very traumatic.

人間の心理を熟知した彼女は 満を持して

Last year, my friend Bernard Harcourt at the University of Chicago organized an event,

現在の職に就きました

a conference on the idea of chance.

精神分析学者です

He and I were together on the panel, and just before delivering our papers,

何故マーニャの客たちは 分別を失ったのでしょうか

we didn’t know each other’s papers, we decided to take chance seriously.

マーニャが成功したのは

So we informed our audience that what they will just now hear will be a random paper,

彼女が客の頭の中に

a mixture of the two papers, which we didn’t know what you know, each was writing.

理想的な未来を描かせ

Now, we delivered the conference in such a way.

今より成功し 自由の多い

Bernard read his first paragraph.

自分たちの姿を 思い描かせることができたからです

I read my first paragraph.

客にとって「あちらの車」を選ぶことは

Bernard read his second paragraph, I read my second paragraph,

まるでその理想に 近づいているような感覚で

in this way towards the end of our papers.

マーニャがそれを見透かしたかのように 感じられたのです

Now, you will be surprised that a majority of our audience

私たちが完全に理性的な選択をするのは まれです

did not think that what they’d just listened was a complete random paper.

選択は私たち自身の無意識や

They couldn’t believe that speaking from the position of authority

周りの人たちに影響されます

like two professors we were, we would take you know, chance seriously.

私たちは選択するに当たり

They thought we prepared the paper together

大抵 他の人が自分の選択を

and was just joking that it’s random.

どう思うか考えています

Now, we live in times with a lot of information, big data,

他の人の選択を見て

a lot of knowledge about the insides of our body.

選択することもあります

We decoded our genome.

また社会的に容認される選択を 気にしてもいます

We know about our brains more than before.

このため私たちは

But surprisingly, people are more and more turning a blind eye in front of this knowledge.

選択をし終わった後でさえ

Ignorance and denial are on the rise.

たとえば車を買った後も

Now, in regard to current economic crisis,

車のレビューを読み漁るのです

we think that we will just wake up again and everything will be the same as before,

あたかも自分の選択は正しかったと

and no political or social changes are needed.

自分を納得させたいかのようです

In regard to ecological crisis, we think nothing needs to be done just now,

選択は不安を誘発します

or others need to act before us.

選択はリスクや損失と関係しています

Or even when ecological crisis already happens, like the catastrophe in Fukushima,

まったく予測不可能です

often we have people living in the same environment with the same amount of information

このため人々は

and half of them will be anxious about radiation and half of them will ignore it.

何一つ選べないという問題を

Now, psychoanalysts know very well that people surprisingly don’t have passion for knowledge,

ますます抱えるようになっています

but passion for ignorance.

先日 ある結婚式に出席して

Now, what does that mean?

若くて美しい女性に出会いました

Let’s say when we are facing a life-threatening illness,

彼女は会うなり私に選択に関する不安を 打ち明け始めました

a lot of people don’t want to know that.

「どのドレスにするか

They rather prefer denying the illness, which is why it’s not so wise to inform them if they don’t ask.

決めるのに１ヶ月かかったの」

Surprisingly, research shows that sometimes people who deny their illness live longer than those who are rationally choosing the best treatment.

さらに「今夜泊まるホテルを探すのに

Now, this ignorance, however, is not very helpful on the level of the social.

何週間もかかったわ」

When we’re ignorant about where we are heading,

「今は精子提供者を選ばなくちゃ ならないの」

you know, a lot of social damage can be caused.

（笑）

Now, on top of facing ignorance, we’re also facing today some kind of obviousness.

私は驚いて彼女の顔を見ました

Now, it was French philosopher Louis Althusser who pointed out

「精子提供者？何を急いでいるの？」

that ideology functions in such a way that it creates a veil of obviousness.

すると彼女はこう言いました 「今年で40歳になるんだけど

Before we kind of do any social critique,

私 男性を見る目がなくて」

it’s necessary really to lift that veil of obviousness

選択は リスクにつながるため

and to think through a little bit differently.

不安を誘発します

If we go back to this ideology of individual, rational choice we often embrace,

かの有名なデンマークの哲学者

it’s necessary precisely here to lift this obviousness

セーレン・キェルケゴールは

and to think a little bit differently.

こう指摘しています

Now for me, a question often is,

「不安は可能性のための可能性と つながっている」

why we still embrace this idea of a self-made man on which capitalism relied from its beginning?

現在の私たちは こうしたリスクを 防ぐことができると考えます

Why we think that we are really such masters of our lives

市場分析はいくらでもあるし

that we can rationally make the best ideal choices,

将来の収益の予測も立ちます

that we don’t accept losses and risks?

市場というのは危険性や偶然性を

And for me, it’s very shocking to see sometime very poor people,

はらんでいるものですが それですら私たちは理性を持って

for example, not supporting the idea of the rich being taxed more.

予測できると思っています

Quite often here they still identify with a certain kind of a lottery mentality.

偶然は時に劇的なことを起こします

Okay, maybe they don’t think that they will make it in the future,

昨年 友人であるシカゴ大学の

but maybe they think, my son might become the next Bill Gates.

バーナード・ハーコートが 偶然という概念について

And who would want to tax one’s son?

学会を催しました

Or, a question for me is also, you know why would people who have no health insurance not embrace universal healthcare?

彼と私は共にパネリストでした

Sometimes they don’t embrace it, again identifying with the idea of choice, but they have nothing to choose from.

論文発表の直前になって

Now, Margaret Thatcher famously said,

お互いの論文の内容を知らないまま

that there is nothing like a society.

真面目に「偶然」に 取り組んでみることにしました

Society doesn’t exist.

私たちは聴衆に伝えました

It is only individuals and their families.

「これからお聞きになるのは

Sadly, this ideology still functions very well,

２つの論文を

which is why people who are poor might feel ashamed for their poverty.

適当に混ぜたものです

We might endlessly feel guilty that we are not making the right choices and that’s why we didn’t succeed.

私たちは相手の論文が どんな内容か知りません」

We are anxious that we are not good enough.

そうやって学会を行いました

That’s why we work very hard, long hours at the workplace

バーナードが最初の段落を読み

and equally long hours on remaking ourselves.

私が最初の段落を読み

Now, when we are anxious over choices,

バーナードが次の段落を読み

sometimes we easily give our power of choice away.

私が次の段落を読む

We identify with the guru who tells us what to do, self-help therapists,

そういう具合で最後まで進めました

or we embrace a totalitarian leader who appears to have no doubts about choices, who sort of knows.

驚いたことに

Now, often people ask me,

聴衆の大多数は

“What did you learn by studying choice?”

自分たちが今 聞いた論文が

And there is an important message that I did learn.

ごちゃ混ぜだったとは思いませんでした

When thinking about choices, I stopped taking choices too seriously, personally.

教授という私たちのような

First, I realized a lot of choice I make is not rational.

権威ある立場の者が

It’s linked to my unconscious, my guesses of what others are choosing,

真面目に偶然を捉えるなどと

or what is a socially embraced choice.

聴衆は信じられなかったのです

I also embrace the idea that we should go beyond thinking about individual choices,

聴衆は私たちが共同で 論文を用意していて

that it’s very important to rethink social choices,

デタラメというのは冗談だと思っていました

since this ideology of individual choice has pacified us.

私たちが暮らす現代は情報のあふれる

It really prevented us to think about social change.

ビッグデータの時代です

We spend so much time choosing things for ourselves and barely reflect on communal choices we can make.

人体に関する知識も たっぷりある時代です

Now, we should not forget that choice is always linked to change.

ゲノムも解読しました

We can make individual changes, but we can make social changes.

脳についても 多くのことがわかっています

We can choose to have more wolves.

しかし驚くべきことに 人々はこうした知識に対し

We can choose to change our environment to have more bees.

ますます目をつぶるようになってきています

We can choose to have different rating agencies.

無知と否定が増大しています

We can choose to control corporations instead of allowing corporations controlling us.

現在の経済危機について

We have a possibility to make changes.

私たちが考えているのは こうです

Now, I started with a quote from Samuel Johnson,

ある朝 目覚めたら すべて元どおり

who said that when we make choice in life, we shouldn’t forget to live.

政治的変革も社会的変革も必要なし

Finally, you can see I did have a choice to choose one of the three quotes with which I wanted to start my lecture.

生態上の危機についても

I did have a choice, such as nations, as people,

今は何もしなくていい あるいは―

we have choices too to rethink in what kind of society we want to live in the future.

自分より先に誰かが 行動すると思っています

Thank you.

たとえば福島での大惨事のように