Ein kleines Experiment zum Anfang: Aufklärung... war da was? Was bewegte noch mal Kant und Co.? Wer weiß, dass "Race" eins der Top-Themen der Aufklärer war?



Dass rassistische Thesen zur Grundausstattung und zum common sense der Aufklärung gehörte, vor dem auch große Köpfe wie Kant, Hume etc. nicht gefeit waren, wird in dem großartigen Reader "Race and the Enlightenment" (Cambridge, Oxford; 1997) von Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze überdeutlich. Die Rassentheorien Kants, Meiners und ihrer Zeitgenossen haben direkt und indirekt noch bis in den Nationalsozialismus hinein die Rassenforschung beeinflusst und sind in ihrer Verknüpfung von Klima und Kultur bzw. Biologie und Kultur bis heute tief in Alltagsdiskursen über andere Völker verwurzelt (Bsp.: „Die Afrikaner haben den Rhythmus im Blut“) - dem/der LeserIn der folgenden kleinen - sich aus oben genanntem Buch speisenden - Zitatesammlung wird daher vieles auf unheimliche Weise bekannt vorkommen. Um aber gleichzeitig der Verfestigung eines apologetischen „Andere-Zeiten“-Diskurses vorzubeugen, habe ich auch explizit antirassistische Stimmen in die folgende kleine Zitatesammlung aufgenommen, so z.B. einen Ausschnitt aus James Beattie´s „A Response to Hume“ (1770) und solche, die einen romantisierend-humanitären Rassismus vertraten, wie J.G. v. Herder.



Da notwendigerweise vieles hier ungenannt bleiben musste und die Argumentation der Autoren in diesem Reader nicht zur Geltung kommen kann empfehle ich natürlich jedem/r die Lektüre des ganzen Buches. Emmanuel Chukwudi Ezes Buch stellt eine der wenigen Arbeiten zu einem Thema dar, das in den meisten Texten zur Aufklärung großzügig ausgeklammert wird. Es enthält ein einführendes Vorwort und kurze Kommentare zu den Texten. Da das Buch in deutscher Übersetzung leider nicht vorliegt, sind die Zitate alle auf Englisch. Alle Seitenzahlen beziehen sich auf Ezes Buch.



Carl von Linné (1707 – 1778), Homo in The System of Nature (1735):



HOMO

Sapiens. Diurnal; varying by education and situation

1. Four-footed, mute, hairy. Wild man.

2. Copper-coloured, choleric, erect. American.

Hair black, straight, thick; nostrils wide; face harsh; beard scanty; obstinate, content, free. Paints himself with fine red lines. Regulated by customs.

3. Fair, sanguine, brawny. European.

Hair yellow, brown, flowing; eyes blue; gentle, acute, inventive. Covered with close vestments. Governed by laws.

4. Sooty, melancholy, rigid.

Hair black; eyes dark; fevere, haughty, covetous. Covered with loose garments. Governed by opinions.

5. Black, phlegmatic, relaxed.

Hair black, frizzled; skin silky; nose flat; lips tumid; crafty, indolent, negligent. Anoints himself with grease. Governed by caprice.



Monstruosus. Varying by climate or art



1. Small, active, timid. Mountaineer

2. Large, indolent. Patagonian

3. Less fertile. Hottentot

4. Beardless. American

5. Head conic. Chinese

6. Head flattened. Canadian



(Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze 1997:13,f.)





Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707 – 1788), A Natural History, General and Particular (French publication 1748-1804).



„... We may therefore presume, that the want of civilization in America is owing to the paucity of ist inhabitants; for, though each nation had peculiar customs and manners, though some were more savage, cruel, and dastardly than others; yet they were all equally stupid, ignorant and destitute of arts and of industry“ (ebd, 17,f.)



„... It is not by force and by slavery that savages are civilized ... The natural ferocity and stubbornness of these savages [of Paraguay] were overcome by the gentleness, humanity, and venerable example of the missionaries. They often spontaneously solicited to be instructed in that law which rendered men so perfect ... Nothing can reflect greater honour on religion than the civilizing of these nations of barbarians, and laying the foundations of an empire, without employing any other arms but those of virtue and humanity“ (ebd., 20).





David Hume (1711 – 1776), Of National Characters (Zuerst veröffentlicht 1748, hier in der Version von 1754)



„[in a footnote] I am apt to suspect the negroes and in general all other species of men ... to be naturally inferior to the whites. There never was a civilized nation af any other complexion than white, nor even any individual eminent either in action or speculation. No ingenious manufacturs among them, no arts, no sciences. On the other hand, the most rude and barbarous of the whites ... 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 ... if nature had not made an original distinction between these breeds of men. Not to mention our colonies, there are negroe slaves disposed all over Europe, of whom none ever discovered any symtoms of ingenuity ... In Jamaica, indeed, they talk of one negroe as a man of parts and learning; but it is likely he is admired for slender accomplishments, like a parrot who speaks a few words plainly. [End of footnote] (ebd. 33)





James Beattie (1735 – 1803) An Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth, in Opposition to Sophistry and Scepticism (1770).



„A Response to Hume ... That a negroe-slave, who can neither read nor write, nor speak any european language, who is not permitted to do anything but what his master commands, and who has not a friend on earth, but is universally considered and treated as if he were of a species inferior to the human – that such a creature should so distinguish himself among Europeans, as to be talked of throughout the world for a man of genious, is shurely no reasonable expectation. To suppose him of an inferior species, because he does not thus distinguish himself, is just as rational as to suppose any private European of an inferior species, because he has not raised himself to the condition of royalty ... That every practice and sentiment is barbarous which is not according to the usages of modern Europe, seems to be a fundamental maxim with many of our critics and philosophers ... If a Lucian or a Voltaire from the coast of Guinea, or from the Five Nations, were to pay us a visit, what a picture of European manners he would present to his countrymen at his return!“ (ebd.,36,f.)





Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804): Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime (1764)



„The Negroes of Africa have by nature no feeling that rises above the trifling. Mr Hume challenges anyone to cite a single example in which a Negro has shown talents ... So fundamental is the difference between these two races of man, and it appears to be as great in regard to mental capacities as in color ... The blacks are very vain, but in the Negro´s way, and so talkative that they must be driven apart from each other with thrashings.“ (ebd., 55f.)



„Of course, Father Labat reports that a Negro carpenter, whom he reproached for haughty treatment towards his wives, answered: „You whites are indeed fools, for first you make great concessions to your wives, and afterward you complain when they drive you mad.“ And it might be that there were something in this which perhaps deserved to be considered; but in short, this fellow was quite black from head to foot, a clear proof that what he said was stupid.“ (ebd. 57)



On the Different Races of Man (1775).

„The superabundance of the iron particles, which are present in all human blood, and which are precipitated in the reticular substance through evaporation of the acids of phosphorus (which make all Negroes stink) cause the blackness, that shines through the superficial skin.“ (ebd., 46)



Rewiew of Herder´s Ideas on The Philosophy of the History of Mankind, Part Two (1785).

„Does the author [Herder] really mean that, if the happy inhabitants of Tahiti, never visited by more civilized nations, were destined to live in their peaceful indolence for thousands of centuries, it would be possible to give a satisfactory answer to the question of why they should exist at all, and of wether it would not have been just as good if the island had been occupied by happy sheep and cattle as by happy human beings who merely enjoy themselves?“ (ebd., 70)





Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744 – 1803): Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind (1785?)



„It is but just, that when we proceed to the country of the blacks, that we lay aside our proud prejudices, and consider the organisation of this quarter of the globe with as much impartiality, as if there were no other. Since whiteness is a mark of degeneracy in many animals near the pole, the negro has as much right to term his savage robbers albinoes and white devils, degenerated through the weakness of nature, as we have to deem him the emblem of evil ... I, might he say, I, the black, am the original man ... let us then enter the country appropriate to him with modesty.“ (ebd. 71)



„But how many happy and peaceful nations may dwell at the feet of the Mountains of the Moon! Europeans are unworthy to behold their happiness; for they have unpardonably sinned, and still continue to sin, against this quarter of the globe.“ (ebd, 75)



„...Since then a nobler boon could not be conferred on the negro in such a climate, let us pity, but not despise him ... What to him are the tormenting sensations of superior joys, for which he was not formed? The materials were not wanting; but Nature took him in hand, and formed of him what was most fit for his country, and the happiness of his life. Either no Africa should have been created, or it was requisite, that negroes should be made to inhabit Africa“ (ebd., 77)





Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752 – 1840): On the Natural Varieties of Mankind (1776).



„The assertion that is made about the Ethiopians, that they come nearer the apes than othe men, I willingly allow so far as this, that it is in the same way that the solid-hoofed ... variety of the domestic sow may be said to come nearer to the horse than other sows. But how little weight is for the most part to be attached to this sort of comparison is clear from this, that there is scarcely any other out of the principal varieties of mankind, of which one nation or other ... has not been compared ... with the apes; as we find said in express words of the Lapps, the Esquimaux, the Caaiguas of South America, and the inhabitants of the Island Mallicollo.“ (ebd., 87).





Encyclopaedia Britannica (1798)



„...[N]egroes ... differ far from other men in all the features of their face ... ugliness, and irregularity of shape, characterize their external appearance ... Vices the most notorious seem to be the portion of this unhappy race: idleness, treachery, revenge, cruelty, impudence, stealing, lying, profanity, debauchery, nastiness and intemperance, are said to have extinguished the principles of natural law, and to ha´ve silenced the reproofs of conscience. They are strangers to every sentiment of compassion, and are an awful exemple of the corruption of man when left to himself.“ (ebd. 94)





Georges Léopold Cuvier (1769 – 1832): Animal Kingdom (1797)



„The Negro race is confined to the south of Mount Atlas ... The projection of the lower parts of the face, and the thick lips, evidently approximate it to the monkey tribe; the hordes of which it consists have always remained in the most complete state of utter barbarism.“ (ebd., 105)





Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 – 1831): Lectures on the Philosophy of World History (1822-8)



„We do have information concerning America and it´s culture, especially as it had developed in Mexico and Peru, but only to the effect that it was a purely natural culture which had to perish as soon as the spirit approached it. America has always shown itself physically and spiritually impotent, and it does so to this day ... Even the animals show the same inferiority as the human beings ... As for the human population, few descendants of the original inhabitants survive, for nearly seven million people have been wiped out ... Culturally inferior nations such as these are gradually eroded through contact with more advanced nations which have gone through a more intensive cultural development. For the citizens of the independent states of North America are all of European descend and the original inhabitants were unable to amalgamate with them.“ (ebd. 114)



„Africa has no historical interest of its own, for we find its inhabitants living in barbarism and savagery in a land which has not furnished them with any integral ingredient of culture ... it is the land of gold, for ever pressing in upon itself, and the land of childhood, removed from the light of self-conscious history and wrapped in the dark mantle of night.“ (ebd., 124)



„The Negro is an example of animal man in all his savagery and lawlessness, and if we wish to understand him at all, we must put aside all our European attitudes ... We must not think of a spiritual God or of moral laws; ... we must abstract from all reverence and morality, and from everything which we call feeling ... [W]e cannot properly feel ourselves into his nature, no more than into that of a dog... This primitive state of nature is in fact a state of animality.“ (ebd., 127,f.)