From an Interview published by Zenit 2/7/05:
http://www.zenit.org/english/
Q: What are the conceptual and organizational origins of the racial theories and anti-Semitism which spread in Europe in the '30s and '40s?
Macrobio: To understand the conceptual roots of racism as a racial theory one must go back to the second half of the 19th century in England.
In that nation, in fact, for some 30 years, from 1853 to 1883, some essays were published that established the theoretical basis for the birth of racial laws. I am referring to works whose titles and authors do not require special comments: Joseph Arthur Gobineau in 1853-55 writes "Essai sur l'inégalité des races humaines"; Charles Darwin in 1859 publishes "The Origin of Species," from which stemmed the theory of the survival of the fittest.
In 1862, Herbert Spencer applied the Darwinian theory to society in the essay "First Principles," giving birth to the movement of social Darwinism. In 1869, Francis Galton took up the works of Darwin, Spencer and Gobineau in "Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry
into Its Laws and Consequences." Only in 1871, in line with the just-mentioned studies, Darwin decided to apply his evolutionist theory to man in the volume "The Descent of Man."
Finally, in 1883, Galton published "Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development," in which, for the first time, the term "eugenics" appeared. All these works introduce the concept according to which life is for the fittest, while the weakest succumb.
The definition of "fit" or "weak" is vague and by its nature requires specification. The problem, to which the racial laws would give their tragic solution, is the following: Who can say who is fit -- and therefore deserves to live -- and who is weak -- and therefore, by nature, is destined to succumb)?
The climate at the end of the 19th century in which these theories developed found an appropriate answer in medical science: The canons of worth were indicated by the physiognomic sciences and, more generally, by the anthropometric. In other words, there was an attempt to justify scientifically an ideological assumption, namely, that there are
inferior and superior races.
According to these theories, Jews were considered an inferior race. And even though the eugenic theories considered a large category of people inferior, a virulent form of anti-Semitism developed throughout the world.
http://www.zenit.org/english/
Q: What are the conceptual and organizational origins of the racial theories and anti-Semitism which spread in Europe in the '30s and '40s?
Macrobio: To understand the conceptual roots of racism as a racial theory one must go back to the second half of the 19th century in England.
In that nation, in fact, for some 30 years, from 1853 to 1883, some essays were published that established the theoretical basis for the birth of racial laws. I am referring to works whose titles and authors do not require special comments: Joseph Arthur Gobineau in 1853-55 writes "Essai sur l'inégalité des races humaines"; Charles Darwin in 1859 publishes "The Origin of Species," from which stemmed the theory of the survival of the fittest.
In 1862, Herbert Spencer applied the Darwinian theory to society in the essay "First Principles," giving birth to the movement of social Darwinism. In 1869, Francis Galton took up the works of Darwin, Spencer and Gobineau in "Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry
into Its Laws and Consequences." Only in 1871, in line with the just-mentioned studies, Darwin decided to apply his evolutionist theory to man in the volume "The Descent of Man."
Finally, in 1883, Galton published "Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development," in which, for the first time, the term "eugenics" appeared. All these works introduce the concept according to which life is for the fittest, while the weakest succumb.
The definition of "fit" or "weak" is vague and by its nature requires specification. The problem, to which the racial laws would give their tragic solution, is the following: Who can say who is fit -- and therefore deserves to live -- and who is weak -- and therefore, by nature, is destined to succumb)?
The climate at the end of the 19th century in which these theories developed found an appropriate answer in medical science: The canons of worth were indicated by the physiognomic sciences and, more generally, by the anthropometric. In other words, there was an attempt to justify scientifically an ideological assumption, namely, that there are
inferior and superior races.
According to these theories, Jews were considered an inferior race. And even though the eugenic theories considered a large category of people inferior, a virulent form of anti-Semitism developed throughout the world.
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