The Rise of Scientific Exploration and the Development of Human Racial Classifications by François Bernier, Carl Linnaeus, Georges-Louis Leclerc Comte de Buffon, and Johann Friedrich Blumenbach
Kruglii, Vasil
Kruglii, Vasil
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Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to analyze, how François Bernier, Carl Linnaeus, Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, and Johann Friedrich Blumenbach contributed to the development of human racial classifications. By discussing how the rise of scientific voyages in the 18th century was crucial in providing travel literature and various specimens used by these figures in shaping their ideas about human classifications. Each of the thinkers’ ideas about human classification is examined individually, starting from one of the first systematically created human classifications by François Bernier to the more structured and detailed classifications of Linnaeus, Buffon, and Blumenbach. Within the introduction, a brief history will be given of the growth of European scientific explorations in the 18th century conducted by various naturalists as they played a crucial role in collecting specimens needed for the development of human racial classifications. The second chapter explores Bernier’s work, A New Division of the Earth according to the different types of races of men who inhabit it (1684) which is considered to be one of the first post-classical texts that divided humanity according to racial groups along with Linnaeus’ Systema Naturae (1735), where he incorporated humans into a taxonomic system based on physical traits and temperaments. The third chapter discusses Buffon's contribution, focusing on his theory of degeneration and his emphasis on environmental factors such as climate, geography, and diet as primary determinants of human diversity presented in his work Historie Naturelle (1749). Chapter four will look at Blumenbach's empirical examination of human skulls, which he used to study human diversity and presented in De generis humani varietate nativa (1775). By placing these figures in the intellectual context of their time, this research aims to show that science and exploration were not used only as tools for understanding the surroundings, but also as tools to enforce prejudice and social inequalities.
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Thesis (B.A. in History, Minor in International Affairs)--John Cabot University, Fall 2024.
Date
2024
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Keywords
Humanity, Miscegenation (Racist theory), Philosophical anthropology, Human beings
Citation
Kruglii, Vasil. "The Rise of Scientific Exploration and the Development of Human Racial Classifications by François Bernier, Carl Linnaeus, Georges-Louis Leclerc Comte de Buffon, and Johann Friedrich Blumenbach". BA Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2024.