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
There is no human being so degraded, so brutish, in whom a twofold
instinct, if I may be permitted so to call it, is not manifest; the
instinct which incites to the gratification of material wants, and that
which leads to higher aspirations. The degree of intensity of either of
these two is the first and principal measure of the differences among
races. In none, not even in the lowest tribes, are the two instincts
precisely balanced. Among some, the physical wants or animal
propensities preponderate; in others, these are subordinate to the
speculative tendencies--the cravings for the abstract, the supernatural.
Thus, the lowest of the yellow races seem to me to be dominated rather
by the first, the physical instinct, without, however, being absolutely
deprived of all capacity for abstractions. On the contrary, among the
majority of the black races of corresponding rank, the habits are less
active than pensive; imagination there attaches greater value to the
things of the invisible than to those of the visible world. I do not
thence deduce any conclusion of superior capacity for civilization on
the part of those latter races over the former, for history demonstrates
that both are equally insusceptible to attain it. Centuries, thousands
of years, have passed by without either of them doing aught to
ameliorate their condition, because they have never been able to
associate a sufficient number of ideas with the same number of facts, to
begin the march of progress. I wish merely to draw attention to the
fact, that even among the lowest races we find this double current
differently constituted. I shall now follow the ascending scale.
Above the Samoyedes on the one hand, and the Fidas and Pelagian negroes
on the other, we must place those tribes who are not content with a mere
hut of branches, and a social condition based upon force only, but who
are capable of comprehending and aspiring to a better condition. These
are one degree above the most barbarous.
If they belong to the first category of races--those who act more than
they think, among whom the material tendency predominates over that for
the abstract--their development will display itself in a greater
perfection of their instruments of labor, and of war, in a greater care
and skill in their ornaments, etc. In government, the warriors will
take precedence over the priests; in their intercourse with others, they
will show a certain aptitude and readiness for trafficking. Their wars,
though still characterized by cruelty, will originate rather in a love
of gain, than in the mere gratification of vindictive passions. In one
word, material well-being, physical enjoyments, will be the main pursuit
of each individual. I find this picture realized among several of the
Mongol races, and also, to some extent, among the Quichuas and Azmaras
of Peru.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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