Shelly's Philosophy

[navaburo]

Hi All,

Just joined. I'm having trouble translating this sentence from a biography of Nobel I'm reading. This sentence is supposed to sum up the philosophy of the poet Shelly, who was an influence of Nobel's.

人間とは、平和と報復を目指して、苦しみながら戦いつづけるものである。

My best guess: "People continue to fight while suffering and aiming for peace and happiness."

What's throwing me off is the ものである and the relationship between the second and third phrases.

Thanks a million.

 

[Toritoribe]

There's a typo 平和と幸福を目指して.;-)

～（と）は…ものである is a structure to explain a definition or characteristic of a concrete thing. Incidentally, こと is used instead of もの for abstract concepts, e.g., 幸福とは心が平静なことである.