The Idea of Race (Hackett Publishing Co.) [Paperback]

Robert Bernasconi (Editor), Tommy Lee Lott (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2000 | ISBN-10: 0872204588 | ISBN-13: 978-0872204584 | Edition: 1

An ideal set of readings to introduce the study of the concept of race. In the first section, pre-20th century works are chronologically arranged to indicate the historical development of the idea of race with representative articles by the influential thinkers who held polygenetic, monogenetic, degeneracy, climatic, and early mixed-race theories. The remaining section offers classic 20th century sources that both reiterate and contest ideas of race as scientific, as well as several philosophically relevant essays that take into account the motives, or interests, behind these views. A general introduction gives an overview of the readings. Headnotes introduce each selection. Includes suggested further readings.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Bernasconi is Moss Professor of Philosophy, University of Memphis. Tommy L. Lott is Professor of Philosophy, San Jose State University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Hackett Publishing Co.; 1 edition (March 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872204588
• ISBN-13: 978-0872204584
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #265,155 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SOME SHOCKING AND DISTURBING QUOTATIONS FROM MAJOR PHILOSOPHERS, December 2, 2010

By 

Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Idea of Race (Hackett Publishing Co.) (Paperback)

Co-editor Robert L. Bernasconi (born 1950) is Professor of Philosophy at Pennsylvania State University, and was formerly at the University of Memphis. Tommy Lee Lott (born 1946) is Professor Philosophy at San Jose State University.

They state in the Introduction to this 2000 collecton of writings, "This anthology brings together some of the texts important for a critical study of the historical formation of the concept of race... The focus of this volume is the theorizing of race, not racism, but the two cannot readily be separated."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"The fact that Herder rejected Kant's notion of race suggests that the frequent tendency to identify Herder as one of the main sources for the racial ideology of National Socialism as the same time that Kant's cosmopolitanism is proposed as the antidote needs further scrutiny." (Pg. ix)
VOLTAIRE: "(N)egro men and women, being transported into the coldest countries, constantly produce animals of their own species; and that mulattoes are only a bastard race of black men and white women, or white men and black women, as asses, specifically different from horses, produce mules by copulating with mares." (Pg. 5-6)
KANT: "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." (Pg. 17)
HEGEL: "Negroes are to be regarded as a race of children who remain immersed in their state of uninterested naivete... They do not quite attain to the feeling of human personality, their mentality is quite dormant, remaining sunk within itself and making no progress, and thus corresponding to the compact, defenceless mass of the African continent." (Pg. 40-41)