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De Discrimen Gentis - On Racial Discrimination

What Did Philosophers Say?

 
Racial discrimination plagued mankind since the dawn of civilisation.
Fuelled by ignorance and fear, religion played, and continues to play the starring role.
 
In a German-language letter to philosopher Eric Gutkind, dated 3 January 1954, the physicist Albert Einstein wrote:

“The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can (for me) change this.... For me, the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people.... I cannot see anything “chosen” about them.”

It is a great comfort to see that, with only a couple of exceptions, philosophers of all ages fought adamantly discrimination of all forms.

De Consolatione Philosophiae, so true!

In this essay, I’ll take you through Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Ancient China, Ancient India, Ancient Israel, Ancient Islam, the Low Middle Age, the Renaissance, the 17th, 18th (the Enlightenment), 19th, 20th and 21st century, to discover how philosophers dealt with racial discrimination.

Starring

Socrates, The Greek Atomists, Democritus, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Cicero, Lucretius, Seneca, Saint Augustine, Laozi, Confucius, Moses Maimonides, Avicenna, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, Blaise Pascal, Baruch (de) Spinoza, John Locke, Voltaire, David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant, Thomas Robert Malthus, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach, John Stuart Mill, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Max Weber, Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Guest Star

Albert Einstein

Homo Sapiens first evolved in Africa, their skin was dark (OMG!), and much of human evolution occurred on that continent. Is this not great? I love it!

Please note that in this essay, the terms “race” and “ethnicity” mean exactly the same.

All those who support racial discrimination may find this essay interesting, and, perhaps, find valid arguments to change their mind.

Don’t be put off by its length, I promise you that it is well worth reading it.

Cogita et disce!

Enjoy.

Paolo Bolzoni

LIBERTAS IVS

Huize Eyll, Maastricht, May 2023

Download the full essay here:

De Discrimen Gentis - On Racial Discrimination 


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