古比諾《人種不平等之探源》－十九世紀末德國種族理論之基礎

Essay on the Inequality of Human Races from Joseph Arthur Comte de Gobineau- the Foundation of the Racial Theories in the End of the Nineteenth Century's Germany

伍碧雯(Pi-Wen Wu)

《成大西洋史集刊》 12期 (2004/06) Pp. 91-126

https://doi.org/10.7077/JWH.200406.0091

摘要

法國貴族古比諾於1853年至1855年以法文寫作四冊《人種不平等之探源》，其中以「種族天生不平等」之論點詮釋人類歷史之發展，此點深受音樂家華格納的讚賞，由其支持翻譯為德文，並積極向德國社會推廣種族思想；納粹時期此書已成為種族理論之經典作品。欲探究近代流行於德國社會的種族理論，此書成為重要的基礎史料。
本文將分析古比諾的種族論點，探討其如何運用種族概念，解釋人類歷史發展與文明現象，同時對於古比諾—這位學術圈外的文史工作者及這部非學術性的種族論著，在歐洲種族理論傳播過程中，給予一個恰當的歷史定位。

關鍵字

古比諾 ； 種族理論 ； 德國 ； 華格納 ； 納粹政權

並列摘要

Trying to understand the development of the racial theory and the reasons for its popularity in the end of the nineteenth century's Germany, the French nobleman Joseph Arthur Comte de Gobineau's Essay on the Inequality of Human Races is a basic document in the historical research. Gobineau was not an original thinker about the inequality of human races, but a synthesizer who constructed a fully furnished intellectual edifice where race explained everything in the human history and civilizations. It was Richard Wagner, the German composer, who supported the translation of Gobineau's work and introduced his racial theory to Germany. Until the Nazi regime, Gobineau's work was still a classical and laudatory book in the field of the racial theory. How did Gobineau use the term of race to explain the development of human history? What kind of the special social miliéu in the nineteenth century's Germany, which made the racial thinking easily to popularize? And what's the direction of the afterwards racial theories indicated from Gobineau? The aim of this research is to answer these questions.

並列關鍵字

Gobineau ； racial theory ； Germany ； Richard Wagner ； Nazi regime