idea
Question Everything
"The Descent of Man" talks of savages, and a belief that black people are more primitive than white people.
The Racism of Charles Darwin
The Racism of Charles Darwin
The Racism of Charles DarwinBeginning of 1st chapter
A Compendium of Quotes
By Ryan Thoryk
Original textual analysis by James M. Foard, From The Nebulous Hypothesis: A Study of the Philosophical and Historical Implications of Darwinian Theory
-proposing the idea that there are variants of man
"He who wishes to decide whether man is the modified descendant of some pre-existing form, would probably first enquire whether man varies, however slightly, in bodily structure and in mental faculties; and if so, whether the variations are transmitted to his offspring in accordance with the laws which prevail with the lower animals."
Origin of Man, final paragraph of the Instinct chapter
-stating that the strongest in a species live, and the weakest die
"Finally, it may not be a logical deduction, but to my imagination it is far more satisfactory to look at such instincts as the young cuckoo ejecting its foster-brothers, ants making slaves, the larvae of ichneumonidae feeding within the live bodies of caterpillars, not as specially endowed or created instincts, but as small consequences of one general law leading to the advancement of all organic beings--namely, multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die."
First page, 1st chapter
-states that the variants could possibly be complete sub-species, not just variants
"It might also naturally be enquired whether man, like so many other animals, has given rise to varieties and sub-races, differing but slightly from each other, or to races differing so much that they must be classed as doubtful species?"
First page, 1st chapter
-wonders if a "race war" would be beneficial to mankind
"The enquirer would next come to the important point, whether man tends to increase at so rapid a rate, as to lead to occasional severe struggles for existence; and consequently to beneficial variations, whether in body or mind, being preserved, and injurious ones eliminated. Do the races or species of men, whichever term may be applied, encroach on and replace one another, so that some finally become extinct?"
1st page, 1st chapter
-answers YES to the previous question
"We shall see that all these questions, as indeed is obvious in respect to most of them, must be answered in the affirmative, in the same manner as with the lower animals."
Descent of Man, Chapter Six: On the Affinities and Genealogy of Man, On the Birthplace and Antiquity of Man
-dreams of a future for mankind when the black races of man, as well as the mountain gorilla of Africa, will hopefully become extinct, thus enhancing the chances for the evolutionary advancement of the more "civilized" races of man
-also states that both blacks and Aborigines occupy a sub-species between white Caucasians and Baboons
-he did not observe that they were "endangered species", he encouraged extinction
"At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes, as Professor Schaaffhausen has remarked, will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the Negro or Australian and the gorilla."
Chapter 7
-states that he will describe the differences between the sub-species (races) of man
"It is not my intention here to describe the several so-called races of men; but I am about to inquire what is the value of the differences between them under a classificatory point of view, and how they have originated."
-then gives opinions from both sides of the debate
Descent, Chapter 7, p.347, Benton Edition
-likens the terms "sub-species" and "race"
"Some naturalists have lately employed the term "sub-species" to designate forms which possess many of the characteristics of true species, but which hardly deserve so high a rank. Now if we reflect on the weighty arguments above given, for raising the races of man to the dignity of species, and the insuperable difficulties on the other side in defining them, it seems that the term "sub-species" might here be used with propriety. But from long habit the term "race" will perhaps always be employed. The choice of terms is only so far important in that it is desirable to use, as far as possible, the same terms for the same degrees of difference."
Descent, Chapter Seven: On the Races of Man: Sub-species
-refers to races as sub-species, and explains why they should be sub-species and not full species.
"In a series of forms graduating insensibly from some ape-like creature to man as he now exists, it would be impossible to fix on any definite point when the term "man" ought to be used. But this is a matter of very little importance. So again, it is almost a matter of indifference whether the so-called races of man are thus designated, or are ranked as species or sub-species; but the latter term appears the more appropriate."
Descent, Chapter Seven: On the Races of Man, pp.343
-differentiates between the different "races" and claims that some have different mental capabilities than others
"The races differ also in constitution, in acclimatization and in liability to certain diseases. Their mental characteristics are likewise very distinct; chiefly as it would appear in their emotional, but partly in their intellectual faculties."
Descent, Chapter Five: On the Development of the Intellectual and Moral Faculties During Primeval and Civilized Times: Natural selection as affecting civilized nations.
-shows that his racist viewpoint of non-Aryan races to include even the Irish
"A most important obstacle in civilized countries to an increase in the number of men of a superior class has been strongly insisted on by Mr. Greg and Mr. Galton, namely, the fact that the very poor and reckless, who are often degraded by vice, almost invariably marry early, whilst the careful and frugal, who are generally otherwise virtuous, marry late in life, so that they may be able to support themselves and their children in comfort. . .Those who marry early produce within a given period not only a greater number of generations, but, as shown by Dr. Duncan they produce many more children. Thus the reckless, degraded, and often vicious members of society, tend to increase at a quicker rate than the provident and generally virtuous members. Or as Mr. Greg puts the case: 'The careless, squalid, unaspiring Irishman multiplies like rabbits..."
Descent, ibid.
-claims that none of the European nations owe their "superiority" to Greek ancestry
"The western nations of Europe, who now so immeasurably surpass their former savage progenitors, and stand at the summit of civilization, owe little or none of their superiority to direct inheritance from the old Greeks", to whom he referred in a quote from Greg as "'corrupt to the very core.'"
Chapter Seven of the Descent, On the Races of Man: On the Extinction of the Races of Man
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