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Racism During The Enlightenment Essay

1007 Words5 Pages

During the Enlightenment period, any scientific knowledge eventually leads to the episteme associated with the Western society, empowering them to be justified for any relentless dominance toward their colonist. Regardless, it is easy to confuse the enlightenment itself with the racist thoughts brought up during enlightenment times.
One of the biggest ideas that lead to racism during the Enlightenment time is the misuse of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Darwin simply suggested “In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment” (Origin of Species, 1859) However; his theory not only revolutionized natural science, but also vindicated imperialist practices. After the Industrial Revolution, Europeans became technologically advanced compare to the rest. Darwin’s theory advocates “facts” that they were actually superior due to natural selection. Accordingly, it justifies their acts to extermination, colonization …show more content…

After all, he acts behalf as a European white male, defining moral agents in terms of a “rational thinker”. Nevertheless, these enlightenment thoughts underpin the foundation for moral progress in the modern world and provided a base for revolutionary acts, namely the French Revolution. (The real History Directory, ND) Slavery did not emerge during the 18th century and had blemished the entire human history long before the age of enlightenment. The validation of dominance over people- civilizers and barbarians and subjugation of colonisation only ended because of the new ideas about social applications of reasoning and source of naturel carried out at that period. It is invalid to say that just because slavery was at its peak during the Enlightenment, therefore the Enlightenment was used by the Europeans as a tool for European

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