4 Aralık 2011 Pazar
Was Linnaeus racist?
According to Linnaeus, Americans are copper-coloured, choleric and regulated by custom; Asiatics are sooty, melancholic, governed by opinions; Africans are black, phlegmatic and governed by caprice; Europeans are fair, sanguine and governed by laws. It seems like a racist idea, however it might not be racist as much as it seems. Living conditions depend on the place that people live. All of the mainlands are not the same according to the living conditions. People are affected by the habitats that they live. As the result, different life conditions can cause different characteristics of people that live in different mainlands. According to me, Linnaeus was not racist at all even though his ideas seem likely racist.
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Gülşen, you wrote that he seems like a racist but I think he is the "racist" because he was defeated to his prejudices. He categorized different races and he made "othering". These type of people such as Linnaeus qualified as a "racist". And racists cause very big problems in the societies. Linnaeus judged humans by his values and described races like melancholic, phlegmatic. His thought are against human rights.
YanıtlaSilhey gulsen:)
YanıtlaSilgenerally you have explained the issue very well but unfortunately i dont agree with your ideas about Linnaeus. Because if we consider the qualities that he gave for each class that he divided( americans, Africans..) are completely different with each other. Also these qualities does not supporting by any research or scientific explanation. He is being racist at this point since he simply categorize human.
Gülşen, I agree with you because we can not judge Linnaeus as a racist because of his ideas and biological difference between people. His ideas are related to scientific racism and he came up with this theory to contribute to the science even if it cause some problems and different opinions about the topic, but we are all humans and equal at the end.
YanıtlaSilGülşen,
YanıtlaSilYou explained that he is not racist, but I agree with Cem, he is the racist. He judges people by their races but race is not the thing that tells about humans personality and where is the difference between people who discriminate people whose color are different? ''Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature and which is often justified by recourse to racial stereotyping or pseudo-science.'' discriminate human by their races is stereo-typing them and discriminate and stereo-type are branches of racism.