criminal psychology-第20节
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s use of the appropriate rule with pleasure; and I might say; with thanks for one's own efforts。
One essential and often useful symbol to show what a man makes of himself; what he counts himself for; is his use of the word _*we_。 Hartenstein'1' has already called attention to the importance of this circumstance; and Volkmar says: ‘‘The _*we_ has a very various scope; from the point of an accidental simultaneity of images in the same sensation; representation or thought; to the almost complete circle of the family _*we_ which breaks through the _*I_ and even does not exclude the most powerful antagonisms; hatred; just like love; asserts its _*we_。'' What is characteristic in the word _*we_ is the opposition of a larger or smaller group of which the _*I_ is a member; to the rest of the universe。 I say _*we_ when I mean merely my wife and myself; the inhabitants of my house; my family; those who live in my street; in my ward; or in my city; I say _*we_ assessors; we central…Austrians; we Austrians; we Germans; we Europeans; we inhabitants of the earth。 I say we lawyers; we blonds; we Christians; we mammals; we collaborators on a monthly; we old students' society; we married men; we opponents of jury trial。 But I also say _*we_ when speaking of accidental relations; such as being on the same train; meeting on the same mountain peak; in the same hotel; at the same concert; etc。 In a word _*we_ defines all relationships from the
'1' Grundbegriffe der ethisehen Wissensehaft。 Leipzig 1844。
narrowest and most important; most essential; to the most individual and accidental。 Conceivably the _*we_ unites also people who have something evil in common; who use it a great deal among themselves; and because of habit; in places where they would rather not have done so。 Therefore; if you pay attention you may hear some suspect who denies his guilt; come out with a _*we_ which confesses his alliance with people who do the things he claims not to: _*we_ pickpockets; _*we_ house…breakers; _*we_ gamblers; inverts; etc。
It is so conceivable that man as a social animal seeks companionship in so many directions that he feels better protected when he has a comrade; when he can present in the place of his weak and unprotected _*I_ the stronger and bolder _*we_; and hence the considerable and varied use of the word。 No one means that people are to be caught with the word; it is merely to be used to bring clearness into our work。 Like every other honest instrument; it is an index to the place of the man before us。
Section 13。 (Cc Particular Character…signs。
It is a mistake to suppose that it is enough in most cases to study that side of a man which is at the moment importanthis dishonesty only; his laziness; etc。 That will naturally lead to merely one…sided judgment and anyway be much harder than keeping the whole man in eye and studying him as an entirety。 Every individual quality is merely a symptom of a whole nature; can be explained only by the whole complex; and the good properties depend as much on the bad ones as the bad on the good ones。 At the very least the quality and quantity of a good or bad characteristic shows the influence of all the other good and bad characteristics。 Kindliness is influenced and partly created through weakness; indetermination; too great susceptibility; a minimum acuteness; false constructiveness; untrained capacity for inference; in the same way; again; the most cruel hardness depends on properties which; taken in themselves; are good: determination; energy; purposeful action; clear conception of one's fellows; healthy egotism; etc。 Every man is the result of his nature and nurture; i。 e。 of countless individual conditions; and every one of his expressions; again; is the result of all of these conditions。 If; therefore; he is to be judged; he must be judged in the light of them all。
For this reason; all those indications that show us the man as a whole are for us the most important; but also those others are valuable which show him up on one side only。 In the latter case; however; they are to be considered only as an index which never relieves us from the need further to study the nature of our subject。 The number of such individual indications is legion and no one is able to count them up and ground them; but examples of them may be indicated。
We ask; for example; what kind of man will give us the best and most reliable information about the conduct and activity; the nature and character; of an individual? We are told: that sort of person who is usually asked for the informationhis nearest friends and acquaintances; and the authorities。 Before all of these nobody shows himself as he is; because the most honest man will show himself before people in whose judgment he has an interest at least as good as; if not better than he isthat is fundamental to the general egoistic essence of humanity; which seeks at least to avoid reducing its present welfare。 Authorities who are asked to make a statement concerning any person; can say reliably only how often the man was punished or came otherwise in contact with the law or themselves。 But concerning his social characteristics the authorities have nothing to say; they have got to investigate them and the detectives have to bring an answer。 Then the detectives are; at most; simply people who have had the opportunity to watch and interrogate the individuals in question;the servants; house… furnishers; porters; corner…loafers; etc。 Why we do not question the latter ourselves I cannot say; if we did we might know these people on whom we depend for important information and might put our questions according to the answers that we need。 It is a purely negative thing that an official declaration is nowadays not unfrequently presented to us in the disgusting form of the gossip of an old hag。 But in itself the form of getting information about people through servants and others of the same class is correct。 One has; however; to beware that it is not done simply because the gossips are most easily found; but because _people show their weaknesses most readily before those whom they hold of no account_。 The latter fact is well known; but not sufficiently studied。 It is of considerable importance。 Let us then examine it more closely: Nobody is ashamed to show himself before an animal as he is; to do an evil thing; to commit a crime; the shame will increase very little if instead of the animal a complete idiot is present; and if now we suppose the intelligence and significance of this witness steadily to increase; the shame of appearing before him as one is increases in a like degree。 So we will control ourselves most before people whose judgment is of most importance to us。 The Styrian; Peter Rosegger; one of the best students of mankind; once told a first…rate story of how the most intimate secrets of certain people became common talk although all concerned assured him that nobody had succeeded in getting knowledge of them。 The news…agent was finally discovered in the person of an old; humpy; quiet; woman; who worked by the day in various homes and had found a place; unobserved and apparently indifferent; in the corner of the sitting… room。 Nobody had told her any secrets; but things were allowed to occur before her from which she might guess and put them together。 Nobody had watched this disinterested; ancient lady; she worked like a machine; her thoughts; when she noted a quarrel or anxiety or disagreement or joy; were indifferent to all concerned; and so she discovered a great deal that was kept secret from more important persons。 This simple story is very significantwe are not to pay attention to gossips but to keep in mind that the information of persons is in the rule more important and more reliable when the question under consideration is indifferent to them than when it is important。 We need only glance at our own situation in this matterwhat do we know about our servants? What their Christian names are; because we have to call them; where they come from; because we hear their pronunciation; how old they are; because we see them; and those of their qualities that we make use of。 But what do we know of their family relationships; their past; their plans; their joys or sorrows? The lady of the house knows perhaps a little more because of her daily intercourse with them; but her husband learns of it only in exceptional cases when he bothers about things that are none of his business。 Nor does madam know much; as examination shows us daily。 But what on the other hand do the servants know about us? The relation between husband and wife; the bringing…up of the children; the financial situation; the relation with cousins; the house…friends; the especial pleasures; each joy; each trouble that occurs; each hope; everything from the least bodily pain to the very simplest secret of the toilettethey know it all。 What can be kept from them? The most restricted of them are aware of it; and if they do not see more; it is not because of our skill at hiding; but because of their stupidity。 We observe that in these cases there is not much that can be kept secret and hence do not trouble to do so。
There is besides another reason for allowing subordinate or indif