From Twitter:
"You are not you're body and hair style,
but your capacity for choosing well.
If your choices are beautiful,
so too will you be.
- #Epictetus
(Italics, mine)
The Greek philosopher meant:
a. Mind is better than body.
b. Fashion is choice.
c. Our choices make us.
d. We are mind, not body.
日本語訳
引用文と問題の日本語訳
「あなたを決めるのは体や髪型ではなく、よい選択をする力だ。選択が美しければ、あなたも美しくなる」――原文がエピクテトスに帰する言葉。何を意味するでしょう。a 心は体より優れている、b ファッションは選択だ、c 私たちを形作るのは選択だ、d 私たちは体ではなく心だ。
解答・解説
Answer And ExplanationI think the answer is C. I mean--that is the best answer, in my view--because yes d.sounds correct, but I think it isn't; we are notmind or body; we are both (many philosophers, scientists, and physiologists, these days, think it is true that mind and body are not separate; they are one thing).
Choice a. also could be mistaken for the answer; surely, religion teaches people that "the soul" (really a spiritual word for the mind) is the thing that matters. This is what leads people to think that they are (a spirit or a mind) "riding around in their heads", as philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris says. This also seems wrong. "You," or your mind, is no more separate from your body than your cornea is separate from your eye.
Choice b. is probably correct, but anyone who thinks that the great and honored philosopher #Epectitus was merely talking about fashion (in this statement) must be missing the point.
筆者が最も適切だと考えるのは c「私たちを形作るのは選択だ」です。d も正しく見えるかもしれませんが、筆者は心と体を切り離して考えることに反対し、両者は一体だと考えています。宗教などが「魂」や「心」だけを重視すること、サム・ハリスの「頭の中に乗っている」ような自己像にも触れ、それは違うと述べています。角膜が目と無関係ではないように、心も体と切り離せないというたとえです。
b は字面としては成り立っても、この哲学者が単に服装の話をしていると読むのは本題を外す、と筆者は考えます。引用の帰属・哲学的主張は原文に従ったもので、ここでは検証していません。原文には you're body などの誤記があります。