Psychological hierarchy of races

Psychological classification is based, like anatomical
classification, on the statement of a small number of unchanged and major
heck. - Psychological classification of human races. - Primitive
races. - Lower races. - Middle races. - Higher races. - Psychological
elements which grouping allows this classification. - Elements,
having the most importance. - Character. - Morality. - Mental
qualities may vary by education. - Character qualities are constant and
make up the unchanging element of every nation. - Their role in the story. -
Why different races cannot understand and influence each other. - The reasons
the impossibility of forcing the lower people to accept the highest civilization.
When in the field of natural science it is necessary to establish the basis for
classification of species, then this work is facilitated by the fact that unchanged and,
therefore, the main features by which each species is determined are very
few in number. Their listing always takes a few lines. it
because in reality the naturalist does nothing but the same
signs, not paying any attention to temporary. However, these basic
signs entail inevitably a whole series of others.
The same - with psychological signs of races. If you enter
details, between one people and another, between one individual and
others can see innumerable and subtle differences; but if you pay
focus only on the main features, you will have to recognize that for each
people they are few. Only in examples (we will soon present a very
characteristic) can clearly show the effect of this small number of major
signs on the life of nations.
The grounds for the psychological classification of races can be stated only
after a detailed study of the psychology of various nations. It is work, for
which would require volumes; we restrict ourselves to outline them.
psychology large strokes. Considering only the main psychological
signs of human races, we can divide them into the following four groups:
primitive races, lower, middle and higher.
Primitive races - those who do not find the slightest trace
cultures, and who settled on the era of primitive animality, which
Our ancestors experienced in the Stone Age: these are the current Fijians and
Aussies.
In addition to primitive races, there are still lower races, the main
representatives of which are negros. They are capable of the beginnings of civilization,
but only to the rudiments. They never managed to rise above completely
barbaric forms of civilization, although the case made them (for example, blacks
San Domingo) heirs of higher civilizations.
By the middle races we include the Chinese, Japanese, Mongols and Semitic
nations. Through the Assyrians, the Mongols, the Chinese, the Arabs, they created high
types of civilizations that could be surpassed by European ones alone
peoples.
Among the higher races only Indo-European peoples can occupy a place.
As in antiquity, in the era of the Greeks and Romans, and in the present, some
only they were capable of great discoveries in the field of art, science
and industry. Only we owe them the high level we have reached.
now civilization. Steam and electricity are out of their hands. Least developed of
these higher races, for example, Hindus, have risen in the field of art,
literature and philosophy to a level that could never be reached
Mongols, Chinese and Semites.
Between the four large groups that we have just listed are not
perhaps no merger; the mental gap that separates them is obvious.
Difficulties begin only when they want to divide these groups.
The Englishman, the Spaniard, the Russian belong to the group of the highest nations; however we
well know that between them there are very large differences. To
to identify these differences, you need to take each people separately and describe
his character. This we will soon do for two of them in order to give
application to our method and show the importance of its results. In the meantime we
Outline only in the most general terms the nature of the main psychological
elements by which races can be distinguished.
In primitive and lower races (there is no need to look for them among
real savages, as the lower strata of European societies are like
primitive creatures), you can always state more or less
inability to reason, i.e. associate in the brain ideas to their
to compare and notice their similarities and differences - ideas inspired by the past
sensations, or words that serve as their signs, with ideas produced
real feelings. From this inability to reason arises great
credulity and the complete absence of critical thought. In a higher being,
on the contrary, the ability to associate ideas and draw conclusions from them is very
great, critical thought and the ability for accurate thinking is highly developed.
In people of lower races it is still possible to state a very weak degree.
attention and considerations, a very large imitative mind, the habit of making
particular cases, general inaccurate conclusions, poor ability to observe and
deduce from their observations useful results, extreme variability
character and a very large hindsight. Instinct of the moment -
their only guide. Like Esau - the type of primitive man -
they would willingly sell their future birthright for real
lentil soup. When a person is able to oppose the nearest
future interest, set a goal and persevere with it, then
he has already made great progress.
This inability to foresee the long-term consequences of their actions and
propensity to have no other guidebook, except for immediate motivations,
condemn an ​​individual, just like a race, to constantly
remain in very low condition. Only as the nations
learn to own their instincts, that is, as they
acquire will and, therefore, power over themselves, they begin to understand
the importance of order, the need to sacrifice yourself for the ideal and to rise to
civilization. If you had to measure the social level with one measure
peoples in history, then I would willingly take for my degree the degree of ability
own your instincts. Romans in antiquity and Anglo-Americans in
presently represent nations possessing this quality in
the highest degree. It strongly contributed to the preservation of their greatness.
A common grouping and relative development of various psychological
elements are formed types of mental organizations, which can
establish the classification of individuals and races. Of these psychological
the elements are related to character, others to the mind.
Higher races differ from lower races in character and intelligence; but higher
Peoples differ among themselves mainly in character. Since this item
is of great social importance, it should be made clear. Character
is formed by a combination in various proportions of various elements that
psychologists now denote the name of feelings.
Of those that play the most important role, it follows mainly
note: perseverance, energy, ability to control oneself, - abilities,
stemming from the will. We will also mention among the main elements of the character
morality, although it is a synthesis of rather complex feelings. This is the last
the word we take in the sense of hereditary respect for the rules on which
the existence of society rests. To have morality for the people means
have known solid rules of conduct and not retreat from them. Since these
rules vary in time and country, then morality
This seems like a very changeable thing, and it really is; but
for a given people, for a given moment, morality must be
completely unchanged. The daughter of character, but not at all crazy, she can be considered
firmly established only when it became hereditary and,
hence unconscious. In general, we can say that the greatness of nations
depends mainly on their level of morality.
Mental qualities can easily change under the influence of education;
the qualities of the character almost completely elude his action. If a
education affects them, it happens only in natures that are indifferent, not
having almost no will and therefore easily leaning into that
the side they are being pushed. These indifferent natures are found in individual
individuals, but extremely rarely - with an entire people, and if they can be met in
it, then only in moments of extreme decline.
Discoveries of the mind are transmitted easily from one nation to another. Qualities
character can not be transmitted. These are the same basic elements
which allow to distinguish the mental makeup of higher peoples. Discoveries,
owing to the mind, constitute the common heritage of mankind; benefits or
character flaws constitute the exclusive property of every nation. it
- unchanging cliff, in which the wave should hit every day for
centuries to grind only its contours; it corresponds to the specific
species, fin fish, bird's beak, carnivorous tooth. Character
people, but not his mind, determines its development in history. Character influence
can always be found in the visible whims of a completely powerless case and
a very powerful fate that, according to various creeds, governs
deeds of people.
The influence of character is the most powerful factor in the life of nations, between
how the influence of the mind is really very weak. Romans times of decline
had a more refined mind than the mind of their crude ancestors, but they lost their former
qualities of character: perseverance, energy, invincible perseverance,
the ability to sacrifice yourself for the ideal, the inviolable respect for the laws,
who created the greatness of their ancestors. Only due to the character of 60 thousand
the British are under the rule of 250 million Indians, of whom many
at least equal to them in the mind, and some immeasurably surpass them
aesthetic taste and depth of philosophical views. Only thanks
character, they stand at the head of a giant colonial empire, which
ever knew the story. On the character, but not on the mind based society,
religion and empire. Character will give peoples the opportunity to feel and
act. They never won much by wanting too much.
talk much and think too much.
The extreme weakness of the work of professional psychologists and their insignificant
practical interest depends mainly on what they dedicate themselves
exclusively to the study of the mind and the study of
character I know only one Ribot, which is on several pages, to
misfortune too brief, showed the value of character and acknowledged that he
forms the true foundation of spiritual development. "Mind," writes quite
a thoroughly academic professor at the “College de France”, is only a secondary form
mental evolution. Its main type is character. Mind when he is too
developed, rather leads to its destruction. "
I will try here to prove that if they wish to familiarize themselves with
comparative psychology of peoples, then we must first proceed to
learning character. The fact that such an important science (as from it
history and politics follow) has never been the subject of research
would remain completely incomprehensible if we were not aware that such
science is not acquired either in laboratories or in books, but only
long journeys. Nothing, however, gives reason to predict
that professional psychologists will start it soon. They leave in
nowadays it is more and more what was once their area to
devote themselves to anatomical and physiological research. Dissect
brains, examine cells under a microscope, determine the laws that bind
excitement and reaction, it all refers to the general physiology, touching
equally frogs and humans, but remains without any close or
remote application to the knowledge of the psychological warehouse of various types
our species. Therefore, it is impossible not to encourage such essays as
Pollak's interesting study Les Caracteres.
Although the size of our work is very limited, they still allow us
show by some perfectly clear examples the extent to which character
peoples determines their fate. I will also show in other examples that contrary to
all historical appearances, mental makeup of races, when he is already
formed, has almost as stable signs as
anatomical features of the species.
From the mental makeup of the races their concept of the world and life flows, and
hence their behavior and, finally, their history. Perceiving the famous
impression of external things, every individual feels, thinks and
acts completely differently than they will feel, think and act
who have a completely different mental warehouse. This implies,
that mental organizations built for completely different types are not
can achieve complete merger.
The age-old clashes of races are mainly based on intransigence.
their characters.
Nothing can be understood in history if you do not constantly have in mind that
different races can neither feel nor think nor act the same
way, nor, therefore, understand each other. No doubt different
peoples have common words in their languages, which they consider to be synonymous, but
these common words wake up those who listen to them, quite dissimilar
feelings, ideas, ways of thinking. You need to live with the people, mental warehouse
which is sensitively different from ours, even choosing between them only
those who speak our language and have received our education in order to understand
the depth of the abyss that exists between the mental makeup of different nations.
It is possible and without distant travel to make yourself about it some
representation, stating the profound mental difference that exists between
civilized man and woman, even when the latter is very
formed. They may have common interests, common feelings, but never -
identical associations of ideas. They talk to each other for centuries,
not understanding each other because their spiritual organisms are built along too
different types so that they can perceive external
things. Already one difference in their logic would be sufficient to
create an impassable gulf between them.
This gap between the mental makeup of various races explains to us
why the higher nations never managed to get the lower ones to accept them
civilization. Such a popular belief that education can
to accomplish such a thing is one of the saddest illusions ever
created theorists of pure reason. Without a doubt, education allows
thanks to the memory possessed by the lowest creatures, and which is not
constitutes, however, the exclusive privilege of man, to give to the individual,
standing quite low on the human ladder, the totality of knowledge,
what a european has. You can easily make a bachelor or lawyer from
Negro or from Japanese; but by this they give him a pure external gloss, without
effects on his mental nature, from which he cannot extract
no good That which no education can give him (because
heredity alone creates them) - these are forms of thinking, logic, and
mainly the character of western people. This black or this Japanese can
receive as many diplomas as you like, but they will never rise to the level
ordinary European. For ten years he can easily be educated
a very enlightened englishman. But to make him real
Englishman, i.e. a person acting like an Englishman in various
the circumstances of life, in which it will be put, for that barely enough
it would be thousands of years. Only on the outside view people coolly changes their
language, its state system, its beliefs and its art. For,
to make such changes in reality, you need to change it
soul.