Main entry:

Todorov, Tzvetan, 1939-2017.

Title & Author:

On human diversity : nationalism, racism, and exoticism in French thought / Tzvetan, Todorov ; translated by Catherine Porter.

Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1993.

Description:

xvi, 424 pages ; 25 cm

Series:

Convergences : inventories of the present

Notes:
Translation of: Nous et les autres.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 401-413) and index.
1. The Universal and the Relative. Ethnocentrism. Scientism. Montaigne. Evolution of Relativism. Levi-Strauss -- 2. Races. Race and Racism. Gobineau. Renan. The Paths of Racialism -- 3. Nations. Nations and Nationalism. Tocqueville. Michelet. Renan and Barres. Peguy. Consequences of Nationalism -- 4. Exoticism. On the Proper Use of Others. Chateaubriand. Loti. Segalen. Modern Travelers -- 5. Moderation. Persian Letters. The Spirit of the Laws. A Well-Tempered Humanism.

Summary:

"How can we think about peoples and cultures unlike our own? In the early modern period, the fact of human diversity presented Europeans with little cause for anxiety: they simply assumed the superiority of the West. During the eighteenth century this view was gradually abandoned, as thinkers argued that other peoples possessed reason and sensibility, and thus deserved the same respect that Westerners accorded themselves. Since that time, however, Enlightenment belief in the universals of human nature has fallen into disrepute; critics allege that such notions have had disastrous consequences in the twentieth century, ranging from prejudice to persecution and outright genocide."
"Tzvetan Todorov, an internationally admired scholar, aims in this book to salvage the good name of the Enlightenment so that its ideas can once more inspire humane thought and action. The question he poses is of urgent relevance to the conflicts of our age: How can we avoid the dangers of a perverted universalism and scientism, as well as the pitfalls of relativism? Since the French were the ideologues of universalism and played a preeminent role in the diffusion of Enlightenment ideas in Europe, Todorov focuses on the French intellectual tradition, analyzing writers ranging from Montaigne through Tocqueville, Michelet, and Renan, to Levi-Strauss. He shows how theories of human diversity were developed in the eighteenth century, and later systematically distorted.
The virtues of Enlightenment thought became vices in the hands of nineteenth-century thinkers, as a result of racism, nationalism, and the search for exoticism. Todorov calls for us to reject this legacy and to strive once again for an acceptance of human diversity, through a "critical humanism" prefigured in the writings of Rousseau and Montesquieu." "This is a work of impressive erudition and insight - a masterly synthesis that can help us think incisively about the racial and ethnic tensions confronting the world today."--Jacket.

ISBN:

0674634381 (acid-free paper)
9780674634381 (acid-free paper)

Subject:

Ethnology Philosophy.
Ethnology France History.
Philosophy, French.
Nationalism.
Racism.
Ethnologie Philosophie.
Ethnologie France Histoire.
Philosophie française.
Nationalisme.
Racisme.
nationalism.
Ethnology
Ethnozentrismus
Französisch
Kulturkontakt
Literatur
Universalisme.
Relativisme.
Etnocentrisme.
Rassendiscriminatie.
Ethnology France.
Nationalism France.
Racism France.
Philosophie France.
Ethnocentrisme dans la littérature.
Littérature française Thèmes, motifs.
France
Frankreich

Form/genre:

History

Added entries:

Convergences (Cambridge, Mass.)

Holdings:

Location: Library main 324137
Call No.: 324137
Copy: 1
Status: Available