MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 02869cam a2200373 i 4500
001 2014048310
003 DLC
005 20150711085644.0
008 150202s2015 nju b 001 0 eng
010 $a 2014048310
020 $a9780691153643 (hardback : acid-free paper)
040 $aDLC$beng$cDLC$erda$dDLC
042 $apcc
050 00 $aGN269$b.S65 2015
082 00 $a305.8001$223
084 $aPHI009000$aHIS054000$aSOC031000$aSCI034000$2bisacsh
100 1 $aSmith, Justin E. H.
245 10 $aNature, human nature, and human difference :$brace in early modern philosophy /$cJustin E.H. Smith.
264 1 $aPrinceton :$bPrinceton University Press,$c2015.
300 $aviii, 296 pages ;$c25 cm
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$bn$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$bnc$2rdacarrier
520 $a"People have always been xenophobic, but an explicit philosophical and scientific view of human racial difference only began to emerge during the modern period. Why and how did this happen? Surveying a range of philosophical and natural-scientific texts, dating from the Spanish Renaissance to the German Enlightenment, Nature, Human Nature, and Human Difference charts the evolution of the modern concept of race and shows that natural philosophy, particularly efforts to taxonomize and to order nature, played a crucial role. Smith demonstrates how the denial of moral equality between Europeans and non-Europeans resulted from converging philosophical and scientific developments, including a declining belief in human nature's universality and the rise of biological classification. The racial typing of human beings grew from the need to understand humanity within an all-encompassing system of nature, alongside plants, minerals, primates, and other animals. While racial difference as seen through science did not arise in order to justify the enslavement of people, it became a rationalization and buttress for the practices of trans-Atlantic slavery. From the work of François Bernier to G.W. Leibniz, Immanuel Kant, and others, Smith delves into philosophy's part in the legacy and damages of modern racism. With a broad narrative stretching over two centuries, Nature, Human Nature, and Human Difference takes a critical historical look at how the racial categories that we divide ourselves into came into being"--$cProvided by publisher.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 273-292) and index.
650 0 $aRace$xPhilosophy.
650 0 $aEthnicity$xPhilosophy.
650 0 $aPhilosophy of nature.
650 0 $aScience$xPhilosophy.
650 0 $aEvolution (Biology)
650 7 $aPHILOSOPHY / History & Surveys / General.$2bisacsh
650 7 $aHISTORY / Social History.$2bisacsh
650 7 $aSOCIAL SCIENCE / Discrimination & Race Relations.$2bisacsh
650 7 $aSCIENCE / History.$2bisacsh