The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of Races: With Particular Reference to Their Respective Influence in the Civil and Political History of MankindGobineau, Arthur, comte de
Philosophy
The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of Races: With Particular Reference to Their Respective Influence in the Civil and Political History of Mankind
One more reason why the unity of the human species cannot be considered
a proof of equal intellectual capability of races. It is a favorite
method of naturalists to draw an analogy between man and the brute
creation; and, so far as he belongs to the animal kingdom, this method
is undoubtedly correct and legitimate. But, with regard to man's higher
attributes, there is an impassable barrier between him and the brute,
which, in the heat of argument, contending parties have not always
sufficiently respected. The great Prichard himself seems sometimes to
have lost sight of it.[7] Thus, he speaks of "psychological" diversities
in varieties of the same undoubted species of animal, though it is
obvious that animals can have no psychological attributes. But I am
willing to concede to Mr. Prichard all the conclusions he derives from
this analogy in favor of unity of the human species. All dogs, he
believes, are derived from one pair; yet, there are a number of
varieties of dogs, and these varieties are different not only in
external appearance, but in what Mr. Prichard would call psychological
qualities. No shepherd expects to train a common cur to be the
intelligent guardian of a flock; no sportsman to teach his hounds, or
their unmixed progeny, to perform the office of setters. That the
characteristics of every variety of dogs are permanent so long as the
breed remains pure, every one knows, and that their distinctive type
remains the same in all countries and through all time, is proved by the
mural paintings of Egypt, which show that, 2,000 years B. C., they were
as well known as in our day.[8] If, then, this permanency of
"psychological" (to take Mr. Prichard's ground) diversity is compatible
with unity of origin in the dog, why not in the case of man? I am far
from desiring to call into question the unity of our species, but I
contend that the rule must work both ways, and if "psychological"
diversities can be permanent in the branches of the same species of
animals, they can be permanent also in the branches of the human family.
In the preceding pages, I have endeavored to show that the unity of
species is no proof of equal intellectual capability of races, that
mental imparities do not conflict with the universality of the gospel
tidings, and that the permanency of these imparities is consistent with
the reasoning of the greatest expounder of the unity theory. I shall now
proceed to state the facts which prove the intellectual diversities
among the races of man. In doing so, it is important to guard against an
error into which so many able writers have fallen, that of comparing
individuals rather than masses.
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