Gobineau and the Origins of European Racism

Abstract

Race, VII, 3 (1966) The Nazi and Fascist philosophers owed many debts to the mental aberrations found in previous history. Their debt to Count Arthur de Gobineau was considerable and openly acknowledged. Yet their scant regard for truth ensured that the ’gobinism ’ known to the early twentieth century was a distortion of his theories. It is important not only to describe his ideas accurately but also to relate them to their true social and intellectual context. Gobineau was born near Paris in 1816, the son of a royalist who had worked for the recently achieved Bourbon restoration. The father had suffered imprisonment under Napoleon, but his hopes for lucrative employment with the restored Bourbons were dashed. The marriage of Arthur’s parents was unhappy. Most of his child-hood was spent with his mother and he was much influenced by his tutor, one Coindiere. The latter gave Gobineau a good knowledge