Locke classed colonized peoples with children and idiots for lacking abstract reason

Evidence

A widely accepted theory in the nineteenth century was that human society was divided into different and distinct civilizations which existed in isolation from each other, each driven by its own core set of values. 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 a superior “West.” Predictably, the world of Islam was characterized as premodern, backward, primitive, despotic, static, undemocratic, and rigid. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 121 (#expands, via linked claim)

M. Mannoni makes his diagnosis: “The Madagascan does not even try to imagine such a situation of abandonment… He desires neither personal autonomy nor free responsibility.” — Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism, 156 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

The feeling of inferiority of the colonized is the correlative to the European’s feeling of superiority. Let us have the courage to say it outright: It is the racist who creates his inferior. — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 341 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Colonial psychology framed colonized peoples as incapable of desiring freedom — Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism, 156; Civilizational theory defined all non-Western peoples as inferior by default — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 121; People’s supposed deficiencies are historical facts, not natural traits (+2 more)

Related

• Colonial psychology framed colonized peoples as incapable of desiring freedom (similarity 0.82)
• Civilizational theory defined all non-Western peoples as inferior by default (similarity 0.81)
• Colonial rulers reject native self-determination as beyond subject capacity (similarity 0.80)
• Colonial rule systematically instills an inferiority complex in the colonized (similarity 0.80)
• Modernity’s logic defines those outside Western norms as less than human (similarity 0.79)
• The colonized person’s inferiority is created by the European’s superiority, not pre-existing. (similarity 0.79)
• The West’s entitlement to own the nonwhite world rests on defining it as subhuman (similarity 0.79)
• Western projects justify themselves by framing colonized peoples as incapable of self-improvement. (similarity 0.78)
• Language hierarchy alone does not create inferiority; colonization does (similarity 0.78)
• Colonial labels made the colonized simultaneously inferior and belonging to the land. (similarity 0.78)
• The belief that Muslims had different needs enabled colonial indifference. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Civilizational theory defined all non-Western peoples as inferior by default #expands (0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 121
• Colonial psychology framed colonized peoples as incapable of desiring freedom #exemplifies (0.80) — Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism, 156
• People’s supposed deficiencies are historical facts, not natural traits #complicates (0.80)
• The colonized’s inferiority is created by the racist, not innate #corroborates (0.80) — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 341