欧美早期自然史研究中的“种族”概念与黑人地位之争  

The Concept of“Race”in Early European and American Natural History Studies and the Debate over the Status of Blacks

作　　者：张陆昱文 Zhanglu Yuwen

机构地区：[1]东北师范大学美国研究所

出　　处：《全球史评论》2024年第1期112-131,340-341,共22页Global History Review

摘　　要：18世纪下半叶,伴随欧洲启蒙运动和物种分类学的兴起,以林奈、布丰等人为代表的欧洲博物学家通过自然史研究对不同人类族群进行的分类归纳,标志着现代生物学意义上的“种族”概念开始形成。北美殖民地白人精英也通过跨大西洋的知识互动,积极推动了“种族”概念的发展演变。美国建国前夕,以白人优越为基调的“多种族社会”已然成形。建国初期,白人知识精英围绕黑人的自然地位展开了争论。以托马斯·杰斐逊和查尔斯·考德威尔为代表的一派基于“人种多源论”,强调黑人在本质上与白人之间的“固有差异”和“劣等性”,意欲把黑人排除在美国社会生活之外;以本杰明·拉什和塞缪尔·史密斯为代表的另一派则基于“人种同源论”,强调黑人与白人本质上的“同源性”,认为黑人经“改造”后可以融入美国社会。这场白人精英运用彼时自然史研究中的“种族”概念对黑人社会地位的争论,也揭露了美国建国初期“自由与奴役”的经典悖论,且在很大程度上印证了现代“种族”概念形成对美国种族等级社会所产生的深刻影响。In the late 18th century,with the rise of the European Enlighten-ment,European naturalists represented by Linnaeus and Buffon classified and summarized different human groups through the study of natural history,marking the beginning of the formation of the concept of“race”in the modern biological sense.White intellectuals in the North American colonies also promoted the de-velopment and evolution of the concept of“race”through transatlantic knowledge interaction.Before the American revolution,white intellectuals widely embraced a belief in white superiority and established a societal framework centering around this ideology.In the early days of the founding of the United States,white intel-lectual started a debate around the natural status of blacks.Thomas Jefferson and Charles Caldwell,based on the“polygenism”,emphasized the“inherent differ-ences”and“inferiority”between blacks and whites and intended to exclude blacks from American social life.On the contrary,BenjaminRush and Samuel Samuel Stanhope,based on the“monogenism”,emphasized the“homology”be-tween blacks and whites,believing that black people could be integrated into A-merican society after being“improved".This debate not only reflected the explo-ration of the social status of the black race by white elites using the concept of“race”in the study of natural history at that time,but also exposed the“Ameri-can paradox of freedom and slavery”in early American history.This debate also reflects the impact of the modern concept of“race”on the emergence of a racial hierarchy in American society.

关 键 词：“种族”概念 自然史 人种同源论 人种多源论 

分 类 号：D771.2[政治法律—政治学] D066[政治法律—中外政治制度]