著者

藤森 かよこ

出版者

福山市立大学都市経営学部

雑誌

都市経営 : 福山市立大学都市経営学部紀要 = Urban management : bulletin of the Faculty of Urban Management, Fukuyama City University (ISSN:2186862X)

巻号頁・発行日

no.6, pp.11-28, 2014

---

『肩をすくめるアトラス』(1957年)に対する保守主義言論界から放たれた悪意に満ちた書評に応えて,アメリカの保守主義者たちの思想の矛盾と哲学的立脚点の曖昧さに対するアイン・ランドの攻撃が始まった.アイン・ランドとアメリカ保守主義の対立は決定的になった.以下のようにアイン・ランドは主張した.保守主義者たちは,建国の理念を寿ぐ.しかし,建国の理念が必然的に導き出す政治経済体制であるところの資本主義を明確に支持しないのは,なぜか.彼女の定義による資本主義とは,長期的視野に基づいた合理的自己利益を実現したい個人が,そのような個人と,各自の労働による生産物を,互恵的に交換することである.資本主義の弊害は,資本主義の過剰から起きるのではなく,資本主義の欠如から起きる.道徳としての資本主義を理解しない保守主義者たちは,利他主義の道徳を市民に強制する国家主義(リベラル)に敗北するしかない.さらに彼らは,アメリカが伝統を打破して建国されたことを忘れている.伝統を守ると言いつつ,現状維持したいだけである.また,アメリカの保守主義者が,家族を過度に重視するのは,一種の部族主義,集団主義である.個人の独立と自由を守るべく王制を否定し,共和国を史上初めて立ち上げたアメリカ建国の祖(Founding Fathers)は,人間の知力,理性以外に頼るものはなかった.しかし,現代の保守主義者は,人間の理性の力を認めず,政教分離したはずのアメリカで宗教を奉じ,神の存在に疑問を持つ知性の自由を恐れる.Ayn Rand's break with conservatism was caused by the publication of Atlas Shrugged in 1957. She was ostracized from American conservatives'circle.Ayn Rand's most specific attack on conservatism was developed in her essay, "Conservatism,an Obituary." Rand said as follows:The most crucial problem is that the conservatives do not stand for capitalism, because conservatives evade the conflict between capitalism and the morality of altruism; USA was founded on capitalism whose principle is that man has the inalienable rights to exist for his/her own sake, neither sacrificing himself/herself to others nor sacrificing others to himself/herself, and that men must deal with one another as traders by voluntary choice to mutual benefits; altruism holds that man has no right to exist for his/her own sake; self-sacrifice is his/her highest moral duty, virtue and value; the social systems based on altruism are socialism, fascism, Nazism,communism and statism, which immolate men for the benefit of the group, the tribe, the society and the state.Ayn Rand believed that conservatives and she shared the political philosophy, Enlightenment thought, emphasizing reason and individualism, on which USA was based. But some conservatives defend capitalism on the ground of man's depravity. Because men are lack of rationality, no man may be entrusted with the responsibility. They say that a free society is the proper way of life for human beings as imperfect creatures. They deny the power of man's mind as his/her basic means of survival. They also desecrate Western civilization which was founded as the product of reason and rationality.Ayn Rand also criticizes the worship of "tradition" of conservatives: some conservatives uphold the status quo, the given, regardless of whether it is good or bad, right or wrong, though USA was created by men who broke with all political traditions. Rand maintains that conservative obsession with the "Family" was a sort of tribalism; the Family is an institution that undercuts the individual's independence and autonomy.