Scientific Racism - Origins of Scientific Racism

Origins of Scientific Racism

In the 18th century, racialist written works proposed geographically based "scientific" differences among "the races"; notably, 17th- and 18th-century interpretations of natural history excluded the concept of evolution. In the 17th century, the historian Henri de Boulainvilliers (1658–1722) divided the French as two races: (i) the aristocratic "French race" descended from the invader Germanic Franks, and (ii) the indigenous Gallo-Roman race (the political Third Estate populace). The Frankish aristocracy dominated the Gauls by innate right of conquest, the contrary of modern nationalism.

In his time, Henri de Boulainvilliers, a believer in the "right of conquest", did not understand "race" as biologically immutable, but as a contemporary (racist) cultural construct. His racialist account of French history was not entirely mythical: despite "supporting" hagiographies and epic poetry, such as The Song of Roland (La Chanson de Roland, ca. 12th c.), he sought scientific legitimation by basing his racialist distinction on the historical existence of genetically and linguistically distinguished Germanic and Latin-speaking peoples in France. His theoretic racialism was distinct from the biologic facts manipulated in 19th-century scientific racism. (cf. Cultural relativism)

An early scientist who studied race was Robert Boyle, a 17th century natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor. Boyle believed in monogenism, that is, that all races, no matter how diverse, came from the same source, Adam and Eve. He studied reported stories of parents' giving birth to different coloured albinos, and he believed that Adam and Eve were originally white and that Caucasians could give birth to different coloured races. His views were described as both "disturbing" and "amusing" and were rejected by the scientific community.

During the Enlightenment period, concepts of monogenism and polygenism became popular. In these theories of racial origins, monogenism contends that all races have a single origin, while polygenism is the idea that each race has a separate origin.