The Philosophical Basis of Eighteenth-Century Racism* Richard H. Popkin HlSTORIANS OF PHILOSOPHY are just beginning to become aware that many of the philosophical heroes of the Enlighten ment, such as Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Voltaire, Franklin, Jefferson, and Kant, expressed views that sound shockingly racist today. When I have given lectures on modern racism, and have quoted the following note which Hume added to his essay "Of National Characters," philosophers, for whom Hume is the major intellec tual hero before Russell and Wittgenstein, have been shocked and dismayed: I am apt to suspect the negroes and in general all the other spe cies of men (for there are four or five different kinds) to be naturally inferior to the whites. There never was a civilized na tion of any other complexion than white, nor even any individ ual eminent either in action or speculation. No ingenious manu factures amongst them, no arts, no sciences. On the other hand, the most rude and barbarous of the whites, such as the ancient Germans, the present Tartars, have still something eminent about them, in their valour, form of government, or some other particular. Such a uniform and constant difference could not happen in so many countries and ages, if nature had not made an original distinction betwixt these breeds of men. Not to men tion our colonies, there are Negroe slaves dispersed all over Europe, of which none ever discovered any symptoms of inge * I should like to thank Professors Harry M. Bracken and David F. Nor ton of McGill University for their helpful suggestions in the many con versations we have had on the problem of racism. I should also like to thank the Guggenheim Foundation for their support while I was doing some of the research for this study. 245 Racism in the Eighteenth Century nuity, tho’ low people, without education, will start up amongst us, and distinguish themselves in every profession. In Jamaica indeed they talk of one negroe as a man of parts and learning; but ’tis likely he is admired for very slender accomplishments like a parrot, who speaks a few words plainly.1 The immediate tendency has been to assume that this quotation represents an aberrant prejudice, and has nothing to do with Hume’s philosophy in general. People remember that Hume also made prejudicial remarks about the Irish, about Catholics, about religious people in general, and they conclude that he was just being human when he expressed his anti-colored view. But when one investigates Hume’s position in the totality of his essay, and in his philosophy in general, including his role as Under-Secretary of State (wherein he dealt in part with colonial affairs), and the influence of his essay "Of National Characters,” his view about non-whites cannot be dismissed as a fleeting observation. It is inti mately related to his thought, and to one of the problems of eigh teenth-century thought—the justification of European superiority over the rest of mankind. Historians of philosophy are, I believe, obliged to rethink and reevaluate the development of theories about the nature of man in the eighteenth century. As soon as one is willing to look into this, and compare the theories with the data concerning what prominent intellectuals of the Enlightenment said about non whites, Jews, Irish, etc., one is faced with a paradox. The dominant theories about the nature of man in modern times, from Mon taigne onward, including those of Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Malebranche, Locke, Leibniz, Bayle, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant, are all universalistic. They all define man in terms of mental and psychological characteristics. Size, skin color, religious beliefs, etc. do not enter into the question of whether a given individual is to be considered human, and whether he is to be treated in certain ways which differentiate him from animals or machines. However, the same people in the Enlightenment who could develop these theories of human nature could also provide the bases for theories claiming that some individuals, in fact millions of them, were less than men because they were dark, or accepted the wrong religion. How can one explain this phenomenon? 246 The Philosophical Basis of Racism It...