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
We have shown above that the only solid scientific stronghold of the
believers in unity of species is the prolificness of human hybrids. This
fact, which seems at present so difficult to refute, may not always
present the same difficulties, and would not, by itself, suffice to
arrest my conclusions, were it not supported by another argument which,
I confess, appears to me of greater moment: Scripture is said to declare
against difference of origin.
If the text is clear, peremptory, and indisputable, we must submit; the
most serious doubts must disappear; human reason, in its imperfection,
must bow to faith. Better to let the veil of obscurity cover a point of
erudition, than to call in question so high and incontestable an
authority. If the Bible declares that mankind are descended from the
same common stock, all that goes to prove the contrary is mere
semblance, unworthy of consideration. But is the Bible really explicit
on this point? The sacred writings have a much higher purpose than the
elucidation of ethnological problems; and if it be admitted that they
may have been misunderstood in this particular, and that without
straining the text, it may be interpreted otherwise, I return to my
first impression.
The Bible evidently speaks of Adam as the progenitor of the white race,
because from him are descended generations which--it cannot be
doubted--were white. But nothing proves that at the first redaction of
the Adamite genealogies the colored races were considered as forming
part of the species. There is not a word said about the yellow nations,
and I hope to prove, in my second volume, that the pretended black color
of the patriarch Ham rests upon no other basis than an arbitrary
interpretation. At a later period, doubtless, translators and
commentators, who affirmed that Adam was the father of all beings called
men, were obliged to bring in as descendants of the sons of Noah all the
different varieties with whom they were acquainted. In this manner,
Japheth was considered the progenitor of the European nations, while the
inhabitants of the greater portion of Asia were looked upon as the
descendants of Shem; and those of Africa, of Ham. This arrangement
answers admirably for one portion of the globe. But what becomes of the
population of the rest of the world, who are not included in this
classification?
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