新しい道徳 「いいことをすると気持ちがいい」のはなぜか

by Takeshi Kitano

日本人にとって、「道徳」とは何か。この世の中に生まれて、私たちはどう在るべきなのか——？「時代を作る人は、いつだって古い道徳を打ち壊してきた。誰かに押しつけられた道徳ではなく、自分なりの道徳で生きた方がよほど格好いい。自分なりの道徳とはつまり、自分がどう生きるかという原則だ。今の大人たちの性根が据わっていないのは、道徳を人まかせにしているからだ。それは、自分の人生を人まかせにするってことだと思う。誰かに押しつけられた道徳に、唯々諾々と従うとバカをみる。それはすでに昔の人が経験済みだ」稀代の天才が、現代日本に一石を投じる、普遍的道徳論!

Tankobon Hardcover

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Native name for Takeshi Bīto

Reviews

[Kusaimamekirai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before starting this review, I should say that this book took an extraordinary amount of time to finish. Not because of the content, which is amazing, but because well....Japanese isn't my first language and my small brain gets fatigued reading it for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. That being said, this is a fantastic book.
Recently, Japan has started implementing in elementary and junior high schools(perhaps senior high school as well?) something called "moral education". In truth, it's not a particularly new idea as the Meiji government back in the mid 19th century first implemented it and was taught right up until the end of WW2 when the Allies saw it as a vehicle of the state to teach nationalism. That it is being taught again is a controversial issue among both the public and teachers (as of next year it will become an official graded subject as well).
Kitano's book asks whether this is a positive thing. By using multiple examples in trying to define "morality", he makes a strong argument that rather than have the state present a monolithic idea of it, we should instead take into account that human beings and their values vary wildly. What may be "moral" for you may not be for me. By way of example he cites the practice of samurai who used to decapitate their defeated enemies. At the time, nobody questioned this practiced and was generally seen as being the honourable thing to do. Yet thankfully, nobody today sees this practice the same way.
Furthermore, he makes an important distinction between morality and manners. Moral Education textbooks often teach the example of giving up your seat on the train to an older person because when you do good things everyone feels good.
Is this a moral act? Or is it simply good manners? Does this even need to be taught?
In addition, if we give up our seat to an elderly person in order to "feel good", is this moral or is it selfish? Is it moral to do good things for selfish reasons?
These are the questions this book asks and as he says at the end, it's up to all of us to think about them for ourselves. 『それがいたくて、この本を書いた。あとは自分で考えてほしい』。

[Arthur · Rating 4 out of 5]

北野武的新道德，簡單說呢，就是莊子的「聖人不死，大盜不止」。

[Yadi Yang · Rating 5 out of 5]

论辛辣点评针砭时弊还得看北野武老爷子