Ashley Montagu

Man's Most Dangerous Myth

The Fallacy of Race

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

DR. ASHLEY MONTAGU'S book possesses two great merits rarely found in current discussions of human problems. Where most writers over-simplify, he insists on the principle of multiple and interlocking causation. And where most assume that "facts will speak for themselves," he makes it clear that facts are mere ventriloquists' dummies, and can be made to justify any course of action that appeals to the socially conditioned passions of the individuals concerned. These two truths are sufficiently obvious; but they are seldom recognized, for the good reason that they are very depressing. To recognize the first truth is to recognize the fact that there are no panaceas and that therefore most of the golden promises made by political reformers and revolutionaries are illusory. And to recognize the truth that facts do not speak for themselves, but only as man's socially conditioned passions dictate, is to recognize that our current educational processes can do very little to ameliorate the state of the world. In the language of traditional theology (so much more realistic, in many respects, than the "liberal" philosophies which replaced it), most ignorance is voluntary and depends upon acts of the conscious or subconscious will. Thus, the fallacies underlying the propaganda of racial hatred are not recognized because, as Dr. Montagu points out, most people have a desire to act aggressively, and the members of other ethnic groups are convenient victims, whom one may attack with a good conscience. This desire to act aggressively has its origins in the largely unavoidable frustrations imposed upon the individual by the processes of early education and later adjustments to the social environment. Dr. Montagu might have added that aggressiveness pays a higher dividend in emotional satisfaction than does coöperation. Coöperation may produce a mild emotional glow; but the indulgence of aggressivness can be the equivalent of a drinking bout or sexual orgy. In our industrial societies, the goodness of life is measured in terms of the number and intensity of the excitements experienced. (Popular philosophy is moulded by, and finds expression in, the advertising pages of popular magazines. Significantly enough, the word that occurs more frequently in those pages than any other is "thrill.") Like sex and alcohol, aggressiveness can give enormous thrills. Under existing social conditions, it is therefore easy to represent aggressiveness as good. Concerning the remedies for the social diseases he has so penetratingly diagnosed, Dr. Montagu says very little, except that they will have to consist in some process of education. But what process? It is to be hoped that he will answer this question at length in another work. ALDOUS HUXLEY

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Whitley Press
• Seitenzahl: 324
• Erscheinungstermin: 4. November 2008
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 222mm x 145mm x 23mm
• Gewicht: 592g
• ISBN-13: 9781443725002
• ISBN-10: 1443725005
• Artikelnr.: 25592286

Inhaltsangabe

Part 1 Abridged Student Edition Table of Contents Chapter 2 Foreword to the
First Edition Chapter 3 Foreword to the Sixth Edition Chapter 4 Preface to
the Sixth Edition Chapter 5 Introduction Chapter 6 1. The Origin of the
Concept of Race Chapter 7 2. The Fallaciousness of the Older
Anthropological Conception of Race Chapter 8 3. The Genetical Theory of
Race Chapter 9 4. The Biological Facts Chapter 10 5. Natural Selection and
the Mental Capacities of Humankind Chapter 11 6. The Mythology of Race, or
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" Chapter 12 7. Race and Society Chapter 13 8.
Biological and Social Factors Chapter 14 9. Psychological Factors Chapter
15 10. Race and Culture Chapter 16 11. Racism and Social Action Chapter 17
12. Intelligence, IQ, and Race Part 18 Unabridged Table of Contents Chapter
19 Foreword to the First Edition Chapter 20 Foreword to the Sixth Edition
Chapter 21 Preface to the Sixth Edition Chapter 22 Introduction Chapter 23
1. The Origin of the Concept of Race Chapter 24 2. The Fallaciousness of
the Older Anthropological Conception of Race Chapter 25 3. The Genetical
Theory of Race Chapter 26 4. The Biological Facts Chapter 27 5. Natural
Selection and the Mental Capacities of Humankind Chapter 28 6. The
Mythology of Race, or "For Whom the Bell Tolls" Chapter 29 7. Race and
Society Chapter 30 8. Biological and Social Factors Chapter 31 9.
Psychological Factors Chapter 32 10. The Creative Power of Ethnic Mixture
Chapter 33 11. Eugenics, Genetics, and Race Chapter 34 12. Race and Culture
Chapter 35 13. Race and War Chapter 36 14. Race and Blood Chapter 37 15.
Innate Aggression and Race Chapter 38 16. Myths Relating to the Physical
Traits of Blacks Chapter 39 17. Are the Jews a Race? Chapter 40 18. The
First Americans Chapter 41 19. The Meaning of Equal Opportunity Chapter 42
20. Race and Democracy Chapter 43 21. Racism and Social Action Chapter 44
22. Sociocultural Behavioral Influences Chapter 45 23. Intelligence, IQ,
and Race Chapter 46 Appendix A: Ethnic Group and Race Chapter 47 Appendix
B: The Fallacy of the Primitive Chapter 48 Appendix C: The Term
Miscegination Chapter 49 Appendix D: Intelligence of Northern Blacks and
Southern Whites in the First World War Chapter 50 Bibliography