Is Science Enough

In our reading of Kant I found it interesting how meticulous he was about every detail concerning each race. I know that Kant is a very rational philosopher, but the claims he makes in order to prove his point in his piece Of the Different Human Races are astonishing. It seems that one of Kant’s main focuses was to make a very strong and clear distinction between white Europeans and every other race on the globe. Yet, interesting enough he goes about this through a scientific approach in order to legitimize his claims.

As Kant begins to describe the causes of the different races he goes into detail about certain seeds indigenous to the different climates through a term he calls natural predisposition. Through this process these seeds can lead to certain species adapting specific characteristics needed for survival in their respected environments, such as thicker skin or an extra layer of feathers. Over time within these environments air, sun, and diet all have the capabilities to modify the growth of the body of an animal. He closes this thought stating that these adaptations or new species are just deviations from an original genus.  

With his theory of the deviations through the original genus, Kant describes the many characteristics of the other species that disqualifies them from being the original genus. Kant begins by deferring the Lapplanders due to their poor stature. “Displaced into an arctic region, human beings had gradually to take on a smaller build. This is because with a smaller build the power of the heart remains the same but blood circulation takes place in a shorter time.” (15) Kant also ventures to disqualify the other extreme climate found in Africa. Kant states that, “the humid warmth generally promotes the strong growth of animals. In short, all of these factors account for the origin of the Negro, who is well-suited to his climate, namely, strong, fleshy, and agile. However, because he is so amply supplied by his motherland, he is also lazy, indolent, and dawdling.”(17)  

To follow up his observations Kant finally describes the original genus of human beings. Here he claims that due to the perfect balance of hot and cold regions, the area of the old world must indeed have produced the perfect blend and original form of human beings. Consequently, since this was a new subject of study and Kant had some convincing arguments for the time, these acquisitions were believed by the public.

Today we might mock such acquisitions, but we have yet to evolve beyond the recognition of race. It was only about 70 years ago we had a mass genocide because of a similar theory of the perfect form of human beings. As well as, how after 9/11 every Middle Eastern person became a terrorist in the eyes of the United States. Also, I believe President Obama’s was the first president to mention LGBT rights during his inauguration. So is humanity finally realizing how to coexist with different races and ethnics or will we just find another way to classify ourselves in the future?