Essay on the inequality of human races. Experience on the inequality of human races

Gobineau Joseph Arthurdet (07/14/1816, Ville-Avre - 10/13/1882, Turin) - French. social philosopher, writer, amateur Orientalist and diplomat; in the 60-70s. Ambassador of France to Iran, Greece, Brazil, Sweden. One of the first prophets of the inevitable death of Western civilization. This is the main idea of his main work, “The Inequality of Human Races.”
Gobineau proposed a radical biological explanation of the historical process. The main factor of civilization is “purity of race,” which, however, can never be preserved for long. Hence the short-lived nature of the flourishing of civilization. “Ethnic mixtures” destroy the unity of lifestyle and lead to “degeneration of man,” and at the same time the collapse of the entire social structure.

Gobineau postulates an unchanging “hierarchy of races”: blacks are entirely sensual and incapable of rational self-control, the yellow race is imbued with utilitarianism and therefore heroic impulses and high achievements are unknown. The only "historical race" is white. She “originally held a monopoly on beauty and umisilu.” Wherever and whenever civilization arose (Gobineau believes that there were ten of them), “white blood” was sure to take part in its birth. The white race is heterogeneous within itself; it is represented by three variations: “Hamites”, “Semites” and “Japhetids”. The first two varieties turned out to be less resilient and quickly mixed with the black race; Gobineau extols the Isaphetids as “the family of Aryans,” to whom he associates all the best that is on Earth. This is a born "race of rulers", physically the strongest and most attractive, it is characterized by exceptional energy, fearlessness and creative genius.
Aware of their uniqueness, the Aryans, Gobineau believed, cared about preserving the purity of the breed, which resulted in a rigid hierarchy social life(for example, caste system Ancient India). The incompatibility of the racial explanation of history with the numerous and varied facts did not bother Gobineau much.

Thus, in “History of the Persians” (1869) he declares the traditional version of the Greco-Persian wars a “monstrous lie,” since the “Aryans” of Darius and Xerxes could not be worse than the “Semitized Greeks.” The dramatic pentalogy “Renaissance” (1877) is imbued with the same motif of the inevitability of decadence due to the deterioration of the human race. Gobineau's historical arbitrariness reaches its climax in the book “The History of Ottar Jarl and His Descendants” (1879). This is a semi-fantastic genealogy of the Gobineau family, which he was pleased to trace back to the “Norwegian pirate” mentioned in the Norwegian chronicles under 843. With the posthumously published poem “Amadis,” Gobineau tried to revive the heroic knightly epic, perhaps under the influence of R. Wagner, with whom he became close in the last years of his life.

Already at its inception, Gobineau’s racial concept was convincingly criticized by an outstanding political thinker Tocqueville and a famous philosopher and Orientalist scientist E. Renan. Gobineau anticipated the concept in many ways Nietzsche. B20c. his ideas contributed to the formation and spread of the ideology of Nazism.
Works: 1) LaRenaissance. P., 1877.2) Essai sur I`inegalite des races humaines. P., 1884.

Joseph Arthur de (14.7.1816, near Paris, - 13.10.1882, Turin), French sociologist, writer and publicist, one of the founders of racist theory and the racial-anthropological school (See Racial-anthropological school) in sociology. In 1849–77 in the diplomatic service. In his main work “On the Inequality of Human Races” (1853-1855), he tried to substantiate the need for the existence of a ruling elite and put forward a reactionary theory according to which inequality associated with racial differences (white - Aryan, yellow and black races), and the resulting struggle of races are the driving force behind the development of nations. According to G., the most capable of cultural development is the white race, especially its German race. branch. In an effort to expand its influence, the white race mixes with other races, which, according to G., leads to a decrease in its abilities and culture. This leads to the loss of the dominant position by the higher races and the emergence of democracy, which G. considered the worst form of state.

G. is the author of ethnographic works on the East; he owns one of the first studies of Babism, as well as literary and literary-critical works, a number of which have been translated into Russian (“The Age of Renaissance,” 1913; “Kandahar Lovers,” 1923; “The Great Sorcerer” ", 1926).

Biography

Gobineau came from a noble family. In 1835 he came to Paris. He worked as an employee in the French gas lighting company, then in the postal department, while earning extra money as a journalist and writer. In 1849, Alexis de Tocqueville, who briefly served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, recruited him as head of his chancellery. Since Tocqueville's resignation, Gobineau has been in the diplomatic service, serving as first secretary and then head of the diplomatic missions in Bern, Hanover, Frankfurt am Main, Tehran, Athens, Rio de Janeiro and Stockholm. However, he did not become an ambassador and was forced to resign prematurely.

Gobineau's activities were not limited to the sphere of diplomacy: he was a talented writer who wrote in a variety of genres: short stories, novels, poems, dramas. He wrote works on the history of the East and left a linguistic Treatise on Cuneiform. Gobineau's journalistic activities were also active. He was also interested in sculpture. His main work, the four-volume Essay on the Inequality of Human Races (1853, 1855), was not successful during the author’s lifetime. Contemporaries hardly noticed his work. Died on October 13, 1882 in Turin.

Ideas

Joseph-Arthur de Gobineau left a mark on the history of social thought as one of the founders of modern racist ideology. Gobineau was essentially the first in the 19th century to formulate in a detailed form an objective thesis about racial inequality as an explanatory principle of historical development, thus reflecting a subjective spiritual assessment of equality as an idea that is humiliating for a person. Gobineau identified equality with the triumph of mediocrity, averageness, sameness, dullness. Thus, Gobineau's racism is an integral component his elitist worldview. All types of equality are capable of causing disgust, but racial inequality seems to be the most fundamental, original and primary, from which, according to Gobineau, all other hierarchies flow.

The central problem that Gobineau poses and seeks to resolve in his main work is the problem of the decline and death of various civilizations. Initially, in Gobineau’s concept, the main subject of consideration and the main subject of the historical process is race, or, which is synonymous for Gobineau, ethnic group. In his opinion, social institutions do not determine the life activity of races (ethnic groups), but, on the contrary, are determined by them. Institutions that are not in harmony with the deep tendencies of the race are not grafted in unless racial mixing occurs. As a result, Gobineau denies the civilizing role of world religions, for example, Christianity, which, being accepted by a wide variety of peoples, cannot in itself shake their deep characteristics and inclinations.

In his interpretation of the origin of human races, Gobineau gravitates towards the polygenetic concept, according to which different races have different origins. However, he expresses his commitment to the polygenetic concept very carefully.

Skin color serves as the basis for Gobineau to distinguish three main races: white, yellow and black. Gobineau considers these races in the form of a three-level hierarchical ladder with the white race at the top and the black race at the bottom. Within the white race, the highest place is occupied, according to Gobineau, by the “Aryans”. Races, in his opinion, are distinguished by the constancy and indestructibility of physical and spiritual traits; The white race is superior to the rest in physical strength, beauty, perseverance, etc. But the most important criterion for a place in the racial hierarchy is intelligence.

Gobineau attributes the real existence of three “pure” racial types to the distant past. Thus, “pure” original races have long ceased to exist, and in modern era There are racial types that are mixed with each other countless times. Gobineau's concept of “race” emerges from narrow anthropological definitions, acquiring a symbolic meaning.

Gobineau seeks to discover internal, “natural laws governing the social world” that have an unchanging character. These two laws, according to Gobineau, are the laws of repulsion and attraction between human races. These “laws” are concretized by the fatal phenomenon of mixing of separated races and their countless combinations. Mixing is a necessary source of the emergence and development of civilizations (with the obligatory participation of the “white” race), but it is also the cause of their degeneration in the future.

The thesis about the harmful nature of racial mixing determines Gobineau's anti-colonialist position, since colonial conquests, in his opinion, contribute to mixing and, consequently, the degeneration of European civilization.

In Gobineau's interpretation of the fate of civilizations, fatalism is closely related to pessimism. He states the degeneration of European civilization and prophesies its imminent end. Gobineau denies the existence of social progress and believes that European civilization is largely moving along the path of regression.

Gobineau's fatalism and pessimism excluded the practical application of racist postulates, for which Houston Chamberlain criticized him.

Fiction

Joseph de Gobineau also carried out his views in works of fiction, emphatically sharply depicting the class struggle, while taking the side of the aristocracy. Being an Orientalist by passion, Gobineau conveys the “couleur locale” in “Asian Novels”, his “Tiffen Abbey”, “Renaissance”. Gobineau is a student of Stendhal and Mérimée.

Gobineau and National Socialism

Fame and recognition came to Gobineau only after his death and at first not in his homeland, but in Germany. In Germany, the Gobineau Society was founded, the number of whose members in the city reached 360. The founder of this society, Ludwig Scheman, played a particularly active role in the spread of Gobinism in Germany, who published a number of Gobineau’s works and studies about him. He was the same in 1897-1900. first published “An Essay on the Inequality of Human Races” in German. National Socialist theorists rated this work so highly that specially selected fragments from it were published in the 1930s in popular anthologies on race and even included in school textbooks. Thus, Gobineau's ideas were useful in the ideology of the Third Reich, although he was not, like X.C. Chamberlain, elevated to the rank of "people's thinker".

Bibliography

Abbaye des Typhaines (Typhaines Abbey, from the era of the 12th-century revolt of the communes,).
Les Pléiades (Pleiades);
Nouvelles Asiatiques, .
Histoire d'Ottar Jarl, .
La Renaissance (Savonarole, Cesar Borgia), .
Alexandre (Alexander the Great).
Amadis (posthumous).
Etudes critiques (-), P., Sim. Kra, .
Kandahar Lovers, translation by I. Mandelstam, ed. "Book Corner", P., .
Lovers from Kandahar, Guiz, M., .
The Great Sorcerer, translation by R. Ivnev, Guiz, M., .
Kretzer E., A. Graf v. Gobineau, Lpz., .
Magazine "Europe" from 1/X- (article and detailed bibliography).
Schemann C. L., Quellen und Untersuchungen zum Leben Gobineaus, 2 Bde, .
Lange M., Le comte A. de Gobineau, étude biographique et critique, .

Notes

Literature

Pierre-André Taguieff Color and blood. French theories of racism = La couleur et le sang doctrines racistes a la francaise. - M.: Ladomir, 2009. - 240 p. - ISBN 978-5-86218-473-0

Biography

Ideas

2010.

Joseph-Arthur de Gobineau left a mark on the history of social thought as one of the founders of modern racist ideology. Gobineau was essentially the first in the 19th century to formulate in a detailed form an objective thesis about racial inequality as an explanatory principle of historical development, thus reflecting a subjective spiritual assessment of equality as an idea that is humiliating for a person. Gobineau identified equality with the triumph of mediocrity, averageness, sameness, dullness. Thus, Gobineau's racism is an integral part of his elitist worldview. All types of equality are capable of causing disgust, but racial inequality seems to be the most fundamental, original and primary, from which, according to Gobineau, all other hierarchies flow.

Gobineau attributes the real existence of three “pure” racial types to the distant past. Thus, “pure” original races have long ceased to exist, and in the modern era there are racial types that have been mixed together countless times. Gobineau's concept of “race” emerges from narrow anthropological definitions, acquiring a symbolic meaning.

Gobineau's fatalism and pessimism excluded the practical application of racist postulates, for which Houston Chamberlain criticized him.

Fiction

Gobineau and National Socialism

Bibliography

Abbaye des Typhaines (Typhaines Abbey, from the era of the 12th-century revolt of the communes,).
Les Pléiades (Pleiades);
Nouvelles Asiatiques, .
Histoire d'Ottar Jarl, .
La Renaissance (Savonarole, Cesar Borgia), .
Alexandre (Alexander the Great).
Amadis (posthumous).
Etudes critiques (-), P., Sim. Kra, .
Kandahar Lovers, translation by I. Mandelstam, ed. "Book Corner", P., .
Lovers from Kandahar, Guiz, M., .
The Great Sorcerer, translation by R. Ivnev, Guiz, M., .
Kretzer E., A. Graf v. Gobineau, Lpz., .
Magazine "Europe" from 1/X- (article and detailed bibliography).
Schemann C. L., Quellen und Untersuchungen zum Leben Gobineaus, 2 Bde, .
Lange M., Le comte A. de Gobineau, étude biographique et critique, .

Notes

Literature

Pierre-André Taguieff Color and blood. French theories of racism = La couleur et le sang doctrines racistes a la francaise. - M.: Ladomir, 2009. - 240 p. - ISBN 978-5-86218-473-0

Links

Goffman A. B. Elitism and racism (criticism of the philosophical and historical views of A. de Gobineau) // Races and Peoples. Issue 7. - M., 1977. - P.128-142

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Representatives of aristocratic movements put forward and develop various nationalist ideas and teachings. Mention should also be made of the “chemistry of races” by Zh.A. de Gobineau. Graph(1816–1882), Gobineau came from a decaying noble family. In 1835 he arrived in Paris. He worked as an employee in the French gas lighting company, then in the postal department, while earning extra money as a journalist and writer. In 1849, A. de Tocqueville, who briefly held the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs, accepted him into service as the head of his chancellery. After Tocqueville's resignation, Gobineau was in the diplomatic service, serving as first secretary and then head of the diplomatic missions in Bern, Hanover, Frankfurt am Main, Tehran, Athens, Rio de Janeiro and Stockholm. However, he did not become an ambassador and was forced to resign prematurely. Gobineau's diplomatic career did not bring him satisfaction. He died on October 13, 1882 in a psychiatric hospital in Grenoble.

Major works: “Essays on the Inequality of Races” (4 vols.).

Gobineau was a talented writer who wrote in a variety of genres: short stories, novels, poems, dramas. He wrote works on the history of the East and left a linguistic Treatise on Cuneiform. Gobineau's journalistic activities were also active. He was also interested in sculpture.

Zh.A. de Gobineau tries to explain the entire course of human history based on the characteristics that are arbitrarily attributed to races and peoples. In this case, he attaches the most important importance, on the one hand, to “purity”, on the other, to the “mixing” of races. Gobineau proceeds from the fact that once there was no division into races, but there was a single humanity - primitive man, “Adamite,” completely unknown to us. Later, a division of humanity into three races, accessible to our observation, arises: white, yellow and black. The mixing of these basic races gives rise to further racial divisions of humanity.

Absolutely without any reason Zh.A. de Gobineau declares that the “purity” of race is of decisive importance for the physical and mental qualities of peoples, and no less arbitrarily ascribes racial “purity” to some peoples, while declaring others to be the product of “mixing” of races. The purer the race, the more perfect it is, in his opinion. As long as the race is pure, the mentality of all representatives of a given people is the same, the institutions remain unchanged.

Zh.A. de Gobineau tries to explain the French bourgeois revolution of the 18th century. and the formation of bourgeois democracies in Western Europe"mixing of races", which, in his opinion, is steadily increasing in the history of mankind. He assures that the “heterogeneity” of blood creates differences in views, that as a result of the mixing of races, degeneration, turmoil, painful stagnation occur, a “spirit of frivolity”, “a pitiful changeable character” is revealed.

The most “purest” race, according to him, is white; she surpasses all others with her beauty, intelligence and strength; she alone praises life and honor: “The most important point on earth is the one where this moment lives the purest, most intelligent and powerful group of white people. If, under the influence of irresistible forces, she was forced to move to the polar countries, then the center of mental life would also tilt in this direction.” .

Observing the strengthening of bourgeois democracy and foreseeing the growing role of the masses, Zh.A. de Gobineau prophesies the “collapse” of civilization; the future fate of humanity does not inspire him with any hope, since the fatal influence of the steadily occurring “mixing of races” will continue.

44) historical school of law in Western Europe at the end of the 18th century

18th century (Era of Enlightenment)

A new turning point in the emergence of bourgeois relations, when the old school and education did not suit anyone. Social institutions, the ideology of feudalism turned into a brake on the development of upbringing and education. Hence, the concept of relations between man and the world was radically revised.

Character traits:

· The number of secular educational institutions is growing.

· Criticism of class upbringing and education and the scope of education for the third estate is expanding.

· Ideas for reorganizing society through education.

A program of educational reforms was proposed (the adoption of edicts in Prussia and France, school education projects of the Great French Revolution). Thus, the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen” (1789) proclaimed the task of organizing “ public education available to all citizens, free in those parts of education that are necessary for all people without exception."

The educational reforms are based on the following ideas:

· Universality of learning

· Training in native language

· The importance of natural science knowledge

· Attending school as a civic duty

· Active motivated learning

· Refusal of verbal teaching

· Study of national history

· The need to form a person useful to society.

Pedagogical issues are becoming the most prestigious branch of scientific research, as a result of which it is turning into an independent science . Ideal personality becomes a free person, an enlightened citizen.

Most of the ideas of the Enlightenment remained unimplemented, but they became guidelines for the development of the school.

WITH mid-17th century until the end of the 18th century. the scale of education of the first and second, as well as the upper classes, expanded third estate. As a result rivalry between the Catholic and Protestant churches Tasks and training programs are becoming more complex, and the effectiveness of educational institutions is increasing.

Primary School

The development of primary education institutions in Western Europe presented a complex picture of the struggle between the new and the old. Generally Primary School was unable to cope with her tasks. The bulk of the population (primarily peasants) remained illiterate. The ruling classes neglected the education of the people. For example, in England at the end of the 18th century. There was an average of only one student per 1,712 residents. The situation in France looked no better. The royal authorities did not allocate a single sou for schools for the lower classes. Most provinces lacked primary educational institutions.

European countries are making attempts to change the situation. Thus, in Prussia, from 1717 and 1732, edicts were issued on compulsory education for children aged 5-12 years.

The same is true in France, but they are not implemented. However, despite all the shortcomings, the scale and effectiveness of primary education are growing. At the end of the 17th century. The literacy rate of the male urban population ranged from 40 to 80%. Its level was especially high in the first and second estates: for men up to 100%, for women - up to 70%. Literacy also spread among the urban part of the third estate: representatives of the “liberal professions” and industrialists - over 60%, businessmen - about 40%. An even larger part of the population was covered by elementary education at the end of the 18th century. Literacy increased in cities. As a result, by the end of the century, 47% of men and 26% of women in France were literate.

High school.

Receives further development. The main type of school education becomes classical school: in Germany - a city (Latin) school and gymnasium, in England - a grammar school, in France - a college.

The bulk of educational time in classical gymnasiums was devoted to the study of classical languages, ancient literature and art. Mathematics, geography, and natural sciences were taught at the same time.

Representatives of the movement contributed a vital spirit to the organization of primary schools. Reformation in Germany, England and the USA.

Thus, a striking example of the program of elementary schools created by the leaders of the Reformation, the so-called. Gothic school charter (1642), for many relevant educational institutions in Germany (the ideas of J. A. Komensky and W. Rathke are reflected). The charter planned training in three classes: lower, middle and senior. In the first two classes they taught catechism, their native language (reading, writing), arithmetic, and church singing. In the senior class, “worldly subjects” were added to this: the study of customs, the beginnings of natural science, and local geography. The latter contained knowledge about nature (for example, why lightning is visible before thunder is heard), about farming (advice to the farmer), the first information about legal proceedings and property (for example, what are the boundaries between private holdings). “Worldly subjects” were to be taught based on visualization and observation; The teacher had to ensure that students achieve a certain level of preparation.

The initial age of the student was determined by the Gothic Charter at 6 years; A student could study until he passed the exam (but not longer than until he was 14 years old). Classes were in progress all year round, five days a week (except Wednesday and Saturday), six hours daily. Village schools had a six-week summer vacation, and city schools had a four-week summer vacation. All subjects, except the “worldly” ones, were taught by one teacher - the Schulmeister. “Secular subjects” were taught by special teachers. It was intended to raise the social status of the teacher by creating special institutions for training schoolmasters and introducing constant remuneration for teachers.