Herder ranked Arabs as permanently stalled at a middle degree of civilization
Evidence
In the nineteenth century it was widely believed that human society was divided into different and distinct civilizations, each of which had a core set of values driving it. This theory held that the West, as a unique civilization with roots in ancient Greece, had certain qualities that differentiated it from all other civilizations. These included “freedom, law, rationality, science, progress, intellectual curiosity, and the spirit of invention, adventure and enterprise.” Every other civilization was then defined in relation to this notion of the “West.” One of the first articulations of a general view of the history of humankind divided into different groups based on way of life, customs, and beliefs was advanced by J. G. von Herder in the eighteenth century. He argued that the basic units of humankind were groups of peoples or nations who shared a common language and customs that differentiated them from one another. Arabs were a simple people who were “for the most part solitary, romantic men.” While Islam had raised these people up from their simple and “savage” state to “a middle degree of civilization,” they were unable to grow further, he asserted. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 181
Categorization
Category: Factual Claims