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托斯丹·凡勃伦：有闲阶级论·摘录 88
托斯丹·凡勃伦《有闲阶级论》· The Theory of the Leisure Class · 投资
The life of man in society, just like the life of other species, is a struggle for existence, and therefore it is a process of selective adaptation. The evolution of social structure has been a process of natural selection of institutions. The progress which has been and is being made in human institutions and in human character may be set down, broadly, to a natural selection of the fittest habits of thought and to a process of enforced adaptation of individuals to an environment which has progressively changed with the growth of the community and with the changing institutions under which men have lived. Institutions are not only themselves the result of a selective and adaptive process which shapes the prevailing or dominant types of spiritual attitude and aptitudes; they are at the same time special methods of life and of human relations, and are therefore in their turn efficient factors of selection. So that the changing institutions in their turn make for a further selection of individuals endowed with the fittest temperament, and a further adaptation of individual temperament and habits to the changing environment through the formation of new institutions.
出处：
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/833
定位：Excerpt 88 · 核对日期：2026-10-19 · 核验：短摘录
白话
人在社会中的生活，就像其他物种的生活一样，是一场生存斗争，因此是一个选择性适应的过程。社会结构的演化一直是制度自然选择的过程。人类制度和人类性格已经取得和正在取得的进步，大体上可以归结为最适宜的思想习惯的自然选择，以及个人被迫适应环境的过程，这种环境随着社区的增长和人们所生活于其下的制度的变化而逐渐改变。制度本身不仅是选择和适应过程的结果，该过程塑造了主流或主导的精神态度和才能；同时它们也是特殊的生活方式和人际关系方法，因此反过来又是选择的有效因素。所以，不断变化的制度反过来又进一步选择具有最适宜气质的个人，并通过新制度的形成使个人气质和习惯进一步适应变化的环境。
上下文
凡勃伦《有闲阶级论》开篇阐述其社会演化理论，强调制度是自然选择的结果，又反过来影响选择。
今日一问
我们身处的制度如何塑造了我们的思维习惯，我们又该如何反思？
公版作品；原文逐字取自 Project Gutenberg，仅摘录段落并附全书链接。
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