Anthropological Society of London

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Anthropological Society of London
purpose Promotion of anthropology
Establishment date: 1863 from the Ethnological Society of London
Seat : London

The Anthropological Society of London ( English Anthropological Society of London ) was founded in 1863 by Richard Francis Burton and James Hunt . It was split off from the Ethnological Society founded in 1843 and from then on saw itself as a counterpart to the older institution.

The anthropological scientific society , so Hunt, deals with the collection of facts and determination of natural laws , which could provide explanations for the diversity of humanity . She "throws out her intellectual networks broader" and dedicates herself to both the physical and cultural aspects of humans.

The real differences between the two organizations, however, lay deeper. Without exception, the members of the Ethnological Society believed that people are shaped by their environment; when Charles Darwin published his theory of natural selection , they supported it. They were also advocates of monogenism and politically liberal , especially on racial issues.

In contrast, Hunt and his followers were vehemently anti-Darwinist and strong supporters of the theory of polygenism. They hated the politics of the rest of their society. B. in the American Civil War the Confederates . The subject that divided the two groups the most, however, was the so-called Negro question . Hunt believed that black Africans were of a different species from whites (the polygenic view), inevitably inferior to them, and therefore best suited to slave labor .

However, many leading members of the Ethnological Society were involved in the British Empire's quest to eradicate the slave trade , and many of them also believed that all human beings were of the same ancestry (the monogenistic view) and that the African population was human. Black Africans (and others) also did not consider them to be “capable of civilization” and therefore best suited to work (and also, subsequently, to slave labor ).