#and i can kind of see why some ppl criticize the racial elements in this book now | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

janiedean · 7 years

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Didn't say people shouldn't study Kant. Duh. I just said he contributed to the formation of a new world-view which included biological racism. Unlike Aristotle, who actually could not know better, Kant could, for there were anti-racists of all kinds in XVIII century Europe. That's it, no need to be stingy or to bring about Heidegger. And no, Greek (the romans had no racial notions) racism was not based on biology, but on language+culture. They were ethnic nationalists, not biological racists.

Also, nobody said Kant invented biological racism. That would be as absurd as the claim that *nobody was ever influenced by one of the greastest thinkers of the enlightenment*. The sound point that can be made by underlining the fact that Kant wrote these thing is that the Enlightenment had a very dark side, the classification of humans in biological races, something that did not exist before (and that's a fact). If that de-romanticizes the period and its heroes, without demeaning it, good.

it’s still not faith-based nationalism and actually while romans didn’t have our race/ethnicity based-on-skin-color concept vitruvius while going off someone greek I now can’t recall wrote things that really don’t sound very PC in that sense so someone used those notions in their work. and the greek-based descriptions were on the lines of ‘darker *races* are weaker at fighting and without a spine while *lighter races* are all the contrary’ so like... it wasn’t exactly an unknown concept. but like, no, I had to bring up heidegger because if people refuse to study kant because he was a white supremacist then they should doubly refuse to study heidegger but guess why I see no one and especially not mpoc mentions that but is all about kant.

whose *contribution* is, again, not relevant because if kant hadn’t written his opinion on racial theory biological racism still would have been a thing same and refusing to study his stuff on account of his racist opinions which did not contribute significally to the aforementioned theory. again, he wrote something about it in 1775 which is basically the beginning period when he’d write about all kinds of stuff that in some case he retconned or changed his mind about later and when no one thought he was an authority or anything and then there’s something in the anthropology, but the anthropology is from the 1790s and by then his additions wouldn’t have changed anything about the entire situation, so his contribution is... things literally no one cares about in the great scope of things.

like, I’ve been studying philosophy only six years and I can 100% assure you that at my first class ever which was about aristotle I’ve heard the misogyny thing about fifteen times when it wasn’t even about the book he wrote that in but it was on every monography and I only took one on aristotle only, I’ve taken like idk eight if not more on kant and the thing came up while I was reading the anthropology for my thesis. if it had been this relevant someone would have mentioned it, also because differently than with heidegger people these days have no issue listing **problematic** elements of classical/enlightenment thinkers if they’re useful to the class/to what you need to know. I’m not stingy. I’m saying that people refusing to study kant for his **white supremacism** are refusing to study kant in light of one of the most irrelevant (objectively) parts of his thought and he might not have gone against it but he didn’t even give a contribution that amounted to anything since literally no one followed him with his equal seeds turning into different races changed by weather theory. and if you want to know something about western philosophy and want to do it without kant good luck but you’re fucked.

also:

Also, nobody said Kant invented biological racism. That would be as absurd as the claim that *nobody was ever influenced by one of the greastest thinkers of the enlightenment*

too bad, mpoc actually said that. I followed her when I was on tumblr at the beginning because it seemed a cool blog, then I saw an ask which pretty much was like (approximated but it’s been five years pity on me):

anon: but if there were so many pocs in europe as your paintings show (spoiler: she darkens them in photoshops and thinks that southern italians are poc but nvm) then why is europe racist against black people?

her: europe wasn’t racist towards black people before the enlightenment (note by me: k maybe not black people tho I have reasons to call bullshit on that but she prob. wouldn’t consider moors black in this case so) but then KANT, HUME AND VOLTAIRE HAPPENED AND THEIR OPINIONS CHANGED EVERYONE ELSE’S.

so.... like... yes, someone actually thinks that he at least contributed to invent it when at most he hopped on the train with a half-assed suggestion that nobody picked up, and like I can give her voltaire tho he hardly invented it, but while hume had his extremely un-PC opinions too he had a very peculiar way of seeing things and anyway he hasn’t INVENTED anti-black racism in europe as well. same as kant. and medievalpoc is what she is and we all know how influent she is. so. and I never said that kant didn’t influence anyone, I’m saying that when it came to biological racism there was a long-ass list of people that would influence others more than kant could, while when it comes to revolutionary critical thinking there was no one on that long-ass list before kant, and if ppl refuse to touch that because of political reasons then they shouldn’t be in a philosophy curricula since everyone in a philosophy curricula is somehow problematic by our modern standards especially the moderns.

also obviously everything has a dark side and no one denies that the enlightenment had its own, but see, the thing is that every time I see this topic touched on tumblr it’s all ‘enlightenment thinkers were horrible racists I’m never even reading them!!!’ and it turns into ignoring the actual good that they did (including idk inspiring the american constitution and the entire way the system works because the division of powers is an enlightened construct) or their importance for good or bad in history, and the moment you say ‘thinker X was a white supremacist/a racist’ everything they say is suddenly valueless. now, maybe to you it’s not because you’re not the typical tumblr user, but a lot of people here are that black/white about these matters and if it starts spreading in unis we’re fucked.

and anyway I still have to mention heidegger because if anyone should be roasted for their racism/*****problematic opinions***** in this field it should be him but somehow it never his. ;)

#k guys i'm going to bed after this one #it's 1.40 am i have a limit #night #janie talks philosophy #wank for ts #racism cw #Anonymous #ask post

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