Nature, Human Nature & Human Difference – Race in Early Modern Philosophy - Hardcover

Smith, Justin E. H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691153647 ISBN 13: 9780691153643

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2015

Synopsis

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 Francois 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.

About this title

Product Description:

Nature, Human Nature, and Human Difference

Review:

"In this innovative, thought-provoking book, Smith (history and philosophy of science, Universite Paris Diderot, Paris 7) looks at the construction and evolution, in natural science and anthropology, of 17th- and 18th-century modern views of racial difference--views that led to racial typing, racial profiling, prejudice, and implicit bias. . . . This is a valuable book for those interested in philosophy, sociology, cultural studies and multiculturalism, the history of race, and the history of natural science and anthropology."--Choice

-In this innovative, thought-provoking book, Smith (history and philosophy of science, Universite Paris Diderot, Paris 7) looks at the construction and evolution, in natural science and anthropology, of 17th- and 18th-century modern views of racial difference--views that led to racial typing, racial profiling, prejudice, and implicit bias. . . . This is a valuable book for those interested in philosophy, sociology, cultural studies and multiculturalism, the history of race, and the history of natural science and anthropology.---Choice

"It is a study that I would recommend for all those interested in developing a better understanding of the origins of ideas about human diversity and race in modern thought."--John Solomos, Renaissance Quarterly

"A sophisticated history . . . [and] an important contribution to the pressing task of understanding and remedying our seemingly intractable color prejudice. . . . [Smith's] discussion is profound and absorbing throughout."--Bernard Boxill, Journal of the History of Philosophy

"Smith's survey of the race concept in the early modern period is original, provocative, and stimulating all at once, balancing a sharp awareness of the enormous damage that the idea of racial divisions has had and an appreciation of how the concept relates to advances in our understanding of humanity's place in the natural world. His study is a powerful demonstration of the role history can play in raising ethical awareness of such dangerous and tenacious concepts as race."--Devin Vartija, Isis

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0691153647
• ISBN 13: 9780691153643
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 312