|
The definition of luck (or chance) varies by the philosophical, religious, mystical, or emotional context of the one interpreting it; according to the classic Noah Webster's dictionary, luck is ''"a purposeless, unpredictable and uncontrollable force that shapes events favourably or unfavourably for an individual, group or cause"''.〔Gunther, 1977. (View on Google Books ).〕 Yet the author Max Gunther defines it as "events that influence one's life and are ''seemingly'' beyond one's control".〔Ibidem, Gunther, 1977.〕 When thought of as a factor beyond one's control, without regard to one's will, intention, or desired result, there are at least two senses that people usually mean when they use the term, the ''prescriptive'' sense and the ''descriptive'' sense. In the prescriptive sense, luck is a supernatural and deterministic concept that there are forces (e.g. gods or spirits) that prescribe that certain events occur very much the way laws of physics will prescribe that certain events occur. It is the prescriptive sense that people mean when they say they "do not believe in luck". In the descriptive sense, people speak of luck after events that they find to be fortunate or unfortunate, and maybe improbable. Therefore, cultural views of luck vary from perceiving luck as a matter of random chance to attributing to such explanations of faith or superstition. For example, the Romans believed in the embodiment of luck as the goddess Fortuna,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Fortuna )〕 whereas the philosopher Daniel Dennett believes that "luck is ''mere'' luck" rather than a property of a person or thing.〔(Elbow Room ) by Daniel Clement Dennett, p. 92. "We know it would be superstitious to believe that "there actually is such a thing as luck" - something a rabbits' foot might bring - but we nevertheless think there is an unsuperstitious and unmisleading way of characterizing events and properties as ''merely'' lucky."〕 Carl Jung viewed luck as synchronicity, which he described as "a meaningful coincidence". Lucky symbols are popular worldwide and take many forms. ==Etymology and definition== The English noun ''luck'' appears comparatively late, during the 1480s, as a loan from Low German (Dutch or Frisian) ''luk'', a short form of ''gelucke'' (Middle High German ''gelücke''). Compare to old Slavic word ''lukyj'' (''лукый'') - ''appointed by destiny'' and old Russian ''luchaj'' (''лучаи'') - ''destiny, fortune''. It likely entered English as a gambling term, and the context of gambling remains detectable in the word's connotations; luck is a way of understanding a personal chance event. Luck has three aspects〔(Luck: the brilliant randomness of everyday life ) p. 32. "Luck accordingly involves three things: (1) a beneficiary or maleficiary, (2) a development that is benign (positive) or malign (negative) from the stand point of the interests of the affected individual, and that, moreover, (3) is fortuitous (unexpected, chancy, unforeseeable.)"〕〔(CHANCE News 4.15 ) ...the definition in the Oxford English dictionary: "the fortuitous happening of an event favorable or unfavorable to the interest of a person"〕 which make it distinct from chance or probability.〔(Luck: the brilliant randomness of everyday life ) p. 28. "Luck is a matter of having something good or bad happen that lies outside the horizon of effective foreseeability."〕 * Luck can be good or bad.〔(Luck: the brilliant randomness of everyday life ) p. 32. "Luck thus always incorporates a normative element of good or bad: someone must be affected positively or negatively by an event before its realization can properly be called lucky."〕 * Luck can be accident or chance.〔(Luck: the brilliant randomness of everyday life ) p. 32. ..."that as a far as the affected person is concerned, the outcome came about "by accident." "〕 * Luck applies to a sentient being. Some examples of luck: * Finding a valuable object or money * Winning an event despite negative logical assumptions * You correctly guess an answer in a quiz which you did not know. * Avoiding an accident at the last moment * Being born in a wealthy family Before the adoption of ''luck'' at the end of the Middle Ages, Old English and Middle English expressed the notion of "good fortune" with the word ''speed'' (Middle English ''spede'', Old English ''spēd''); ''speed'' besides "good fortune" had the wider meaning of "prosperity, profit, abundance"; it is not associated with the notion of probability or chance but rather with that of fate or divine help; a bestower of success can also be called ''speed'', as in "Christ be our speed" (William Robertson, ''Phraseologia generalis'', 1693). The notion of probability was expressed by the Latin loanword ''chance'', adopted in Middle English from the late 13th century, literally describing an outcome as a "falling" (as it were of dice), via Old French ''cheance'' from Late Latin ''cadentia'' "falling". Fortuna, the Roman goddess of fate or luck, was popular as an allegory in medieval times, and even though it was not strictly reconcilable with Christian theology, it became popular in learned circles of the High Middle Ages to portray her as a servant of God in distributing success or failure in a characteristically "fickle" or unpredictable way, thus introducing the notion of ''chance''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「luck」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|