EigoPro 1級 読解 — The Self That Persists: Theseus's Ship and the Riddle of Personal Identity

Consider a wooden ship whose planks are replaced one by one until none of the originals remain. Is it the same vessel? The puzzle, ancient as Plutarch, acquires a vertiginous urgency when transposed onto persons, for our cells turn over relentlessly, and the body that wakes today shares scarcely an atom with the infant from which it sprang. If material constancy grounded identity, none of us would survive a decade. Yet we unhesitatingly claim continuity with our former selves, signing contracts that bind us for years and accepting blame for deeds long past. What, then, underwrites this conviction, and is it anything more than a comforting habit of speech? One school locates the answer in bodily continuity: provided the organism persists through gradual, uninterrupted change, it remains numerically the same, however thoroughly its constituents are exchanged. The replacement is incremental, never wholesale, and unbroken continuity of process is held to suffice for sameness. Critics retort that this merely relocates the difficulty, since the very gradualness that reassures us also dissolves any sharp boundary at which sameness could be said to lapse. We are handed a criterion that explains everything precisely because it forbids nothing. A rival tradition, descending from Locke, anchors identity in psychological continuity—the overlapping chains of memory, intention, and character that thread one moment to the next. On this view, were your mind transplanted into another body, you would go where your memories went, the flesh left behind a mere vehicle. But the criterion strains badly under thought experiments in which a self is duplicated: if two beings each inherit your psychology entire, neither can be uniquely you, though identity, by its very logic, admits no ties. Perhaps the lesson is deflationary. Personal identity may be less a metaphysical fact awaiting discovery than a convenient fiction we impose upon a flux that answers to no such tidy verdict. What matters practically—responsibility, anticipation, care—may persist even where strict identity proves illusory, and that residue, rather than any hidden essence, is arguably all we ever truly sought.

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この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

1級 · 読解 · 全5問

問 1

What is the central argument the passage advances about personal identity?

  • That bodily continuity decisively answers the puzzle because the organism persists through gradual change.
  • That psychological continuity is the only coherent criterion once thought experiments are taken into account.
  • That neither bodily nor psychological criteria fully resolve the puzzle, and identity may be a useful fiction we impose rather than a fact we discover.
  • That because our cells are continually replaced, no one genuinely survives over time.
Phrase

a convenient fiction we impose upon a flux

1級読解主旨把握論旨
⚡ひとことで

両基準とも難点を抱え、同一性は発見される事実ではなく便宜的な虚構かもしれない、という結論。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「That neither bodily nor psychological criteria fully resolve the puzzle, and identity may be a useful fiction we impose rather than a fact we discover.」

正解

本文は身体的連続性と心理的連続性という二つの基準を順に検討し、いずれも反論に晒されることを示す。最終段で "Personal identity may be less a metaphysical fact awaiting discovery than a convenient fiction we impose upon a flux" と述べ、同一性は形而上学的事実ではなく便宜的な虚構かもしれないと結論づける。これが全体の論旨である。

  • 「That bodily continuity decisively answers the puzzle because the organism persists through gradual change.」

    = 身体的連続性が決定的に問いを解くとする立場 ━ 本文は身体説に対し "merely relocates the difficulty" という批判を提示しており、決着したとは述べていない。。

  • 「That psychological continuity is the only coherent criterion once all the thought experiments are properly taken into account.」

    = 思考実験を踏まえれば心理的連続性のみが整合的とする主張 ━ 本文は心理説も複製の思考実験で "strains" すると指摘し、唯一の基準とは認めていない。。

  • 「That because our cells are continually replaced, no one genuinely survives over time.」

    = 細胞が入れ替わるため誰も真に存続しないという主張 ━ "we unhesitatingly claim continuity with our former selves" とあり、存続を否定するのは本文の最終的立場ではない。。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
underwrite a conviction確信を裏づけるWhat underwrites this conviction is unclear.
anchor identity in X同一性をXに据えるLocke anchors identity in memory.
relocate the difficulty困難を別の場所に移すだけSuch a reply merely relocates the difficulty.
a convenient fiction便宜的な虚構Nations may be a convenient fiction.
answer to no verdictいかなる判定にも応じないReality answers to no such tidy verdict.
❝例文

  • The passage refuses to crown either criterion as decisive.

    本文はどちらの基準も決定的とは認めない。

  • Identity, it suggests, may be imposed rather than found.

    同一性は発見されるより課されるものかもしれないと示唆する。

  • What survives is our practical concern, not strict sameness.

    存続するのは厳密な同一性でなく実際的関心だという。

  • A deflationary reading dissolves the metaphysical pretension.

    縮減的読解は形而上学的気取りを解消する。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

主旨設問では最終段の "Perhaps the lesson is deflationary" のような著者の総括的合図に注目。

問 2

According to the passage, why does material constancy fail to ground personal identity?

  • Because our cells turn over so completely that the body shares scarcely an atom with the infant it once was.
  • Because memory and intention are more durable than any physical substance.
  • Because we deliberately refuse to claim continuity with our former selves.
  • Because the wooden ship in Plutarch's puzzle physically collapses over time.
Phrase

shares scarcely an atom with the infant from which it sprang

1級読解詳細把握
⚡ひとことで

細胞が絶え間なく入れ替わり、幼児期の身体とはほぼ原子を共有しないため、物質的恒常性は同一性の根拠になりえない。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「Because our cells turn over so completely that the body shares scarcely an atom with the infant it once was.」

正解

本文は "our cells turn over relentlessly, and the body that wakes today shares scarcely an atom with the infant from which it sprang" と述べる。続けて "If material constancy grounded identity, none of us would survive a decade" と論じ、物質の恒常性では同一性を支えられないことを示す。よって理由は細胞の全面的な入れ替わりである。

  • 「Because the wooden ship in Plutarch's puzzle physically collapses over the long course of time.」

    = プルタルコスの船が物理的に崩壊するから ━ 船は planks を一枚ずつ交換する例であり、崩壊するとは述べられていない。。

  • 「Because we deliberately refuse to claim continuity with our former selves.」

    = 我々が前の自己との連続性を意図的に拒むから ━ 本文は逆に "we unhesitatingly claim continuity" と述べており、拒否はしていない。。

  • 「Because memory and intention are more durable than any physical substance.」

    = 記憶や意図が物質より耐久的だから ━ これは心理説の主張で、物質的恒常性が失敗する理由の説明にはなっていない。。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
turn over relentlessly絶え間なく入れ替わるCells turn over relentlessly throughout life.
share scarcely an atomほとんど原子を共有しないThe adult shares scarcely an atom with the child.
ground identity in X同一性をXに基づかせるMaterial constancy fails to ground identity.
spring from XXから生じるThe oak sprang from a single acorn.
survive a decade十年を生き延びるFew firms survive a decade unchanged.
❝例文

  • Atom by atom, the body is silently rebuilt.

    原子単位で身体は静かに作り直される。

  • The infant's matter has long since dispersed.

    幼児期の物質はとうに散逸している。

  • Physical sameness offers no stable footing here.

    物理的同一性はここで安定した足場を与えない。

  • Constant flux undercuts any material criterion.

    絶え間ない流転が物質的基準を掘り崩す。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

詳細設問は本文の語句にほぼ対応する。"scarcely an atom" を直接言い換えた選択肢を選ぶ。

問 3

What objection do critics raise against the bodily-continuity criterion?

  • It wrongly assumes that replacement happens all at once rather than incrementally.
  • It depends on overlapping chains of memory that may be duplicated.
  • Its very gradualness dissolves any sharp boundary at which sameness could be said to lapse.
  • It cannot accommodate cases where a mind is transplanted into another body.
Phrase

dissolves any sharp boundary at which sameness could be said to lapse

1級読解詳細把握
⚡ひとことで

身体説が頼る漸進性そのものが、同一性が失われる明確な境界を消し去ってしまう、という批判。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「Its very gradualness dissolves any sharp boundary at which sameness could be said to lapse.」

正解

本文は身体説について "Critics retort that this merely relocates the difficulty, since the very gradualness that reassures us also dissolves any sharp boundary at which sameness could be said to lapse" と述べる。安心材料である漸進性が、逆に同一性の喪失点を不明瞭にするという自己反転的な批判である。

  • 「It cannot accommodate cases where a mind is transplanted into another body.」

    = 心が別の身体に移植される事例を扱えない ━ これは心理説の議論で持ち出される事例であり、身体説への批判として本文に挙げられていない。。

  • 「It wrongly assumes that replacement happens all at once rather than incrementally.」

    = 交換が一斉に起きると誤って想定している ━ 本文はむしろ "The replacement is incremental, never wholesale" と身体説の前提を正確に紹介しており、誤想定とは述べていない。。

  • 「It depends on overlapping chains of memory that may be duplicated.」

    = 複製されうる記憶の鎖に依存している ━ 記憶の鎖は心理説の特徴であり、身体説への批判ではない。。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
retort that ...…と反論するCritics retort that the reply fails.
relocate the difficulty困難をずらすだけThe move only relocates the difficulty.
dissolve a boundary境界を消し去るGradualness dissolves the boundary.
be said to lapse失効すると言えるNo point at which it could be said to lapse.
reassure us我々を安心させるThe continuity meant to reassure us misleads.
❝例文

  • No precise plank marks the ship's loss of identity.

    どの一枚の板で船が同一性を失うかは定まらない。

  • Gradual change blurs the very line it relies upon.

    漸進的変化は依拠する線そのものをぼかす。

  • The criterion undermines itself by degrees.

    その基準は徐々に自らを掘り崩す。

  • Smoothness, here, becomes a liability.

    ここでは滑らかさが弱点となる。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

批判の対象を取り違えないこと。"the very gradualness" の主語が身体説の利点である点が鍵。

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