Book ID: CBB092443917

Nature, Human Nature, and Human Difference: Race in Early Modern Philosophy (2015)

unapi

People have always been xenophobic, but an explicit philosophical and scientific view of human racial difference only began to emerge during the modern period. Why and how did this happen? Surveying a range of philosophical and natural-scientific texts, dating from the Spanish Renaissance to the German Enlightenment, Nature, Human Nature, and Human Difference charts the evolution of the modern concept of race and shows that natural philosophy, particularly efforts to taxonomize and to order nature, played a crucial role. Smith demonstrates how the denial of moral equality between Europeans and non-Europeans resulted from converging philosophical and scientific developments, including a declining belief in human nature’s universality and the rise of biological classification. The racial typing of human beings grew from the need to understand humanity within an all-encompassing system of nature, alongside plants, minerals, primates, and other animals. While racial difference as seen through science did not arise in order to justify the enslavement of people, it became a rationalization and buttress for the practices of trans-Atlantic slavery. From the work of François Bernier to G. W. Leibniz, Immanuel Kant, and others, Smith delves into philosophy’s part in the legacy and damages of modern racism. With a broad narrative stretching over two centuries, Nature, Human Nature, and Human Difference takes a critical historical look at how the racial categories that we divide ourselves into came into being.

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Reviewed By

Review Cristina Malcolmson (2017) Review of "Nature, Human Nature, and Human Difference: Race in Early Modern Philosophy". Archives of Natural History (pp. 181-181). unapi

Review Devin Vartija (2016) Review of "Nature, Human Nature, and Human Difference: Race in Early Modern Philosophy". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 832-833). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB092443917/

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Authors & Contributors
Boccaccini, Federico
Sparks, Randy J.
Fincham, Richard Mark
Goy, Ina
Balogh, Piroska
Bevilacqua, Alexander
Concepts
Philosophy
Science and race
Nature
Slavery and slaves
Western world, civilization and culture
Biology
Time Periods
18th century
17th century
Enlightenment
19th century
Early modern
Modern
Places
United States
Europe
Amazon River Region (South America)
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Spain
Hungary
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