Helen De Cruz
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For #BlackHistoryMonth , here's a portrait of Dido Elizabeth Belle (left on the picture) and her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray (right) painted by David Martin ca 1770. She was born into slavery, but grew up as an educated free woman with her great-uncle William Murray.
11:55 PM - Feb 05, 2023
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Helen De Cruz
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In response to Helen De Cruz.
Belle had a huge influence on the Scottish philosopher John Beattie ( 1735 – 1803). Beattie mentions how he became an anti-racist and how his beliefs (about the superiority of white people) got overturned when he met Belle when she was about 10 years old 2/
12:00 AM - Feb 06, 2023
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Helen De Cruz
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In response to Helen De Cruz.
While it's true that many 18th century philosophers held racist beliefs (such as Hume and Kant) this wasn't universal! Indeed, Beattie explicitly challenged Hume's racist views, here's a paper showing the influence of Beattie's views on Hume -- (I hope this link works) 3/
12:03 AM - Feb 06, 2023
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Helen De Cruz
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Here's an excerpt of Beattie's arguments against the racial superiority of white people (1770!)
tl;dr -
* Africans, Indigenous Americans etc all have great examples of art, government etc
* Slavery is not conducive to genius so one should take enslaved ppl as norm of what a group is capable of.
In response to Helen De Cruz.
12:06 AM - Feb 06, 2023
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Helen De Cruz
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In response to Helen De Cruz.
So, when people say "Kant and Hume aren't to blame, their racist views are of their time, everyone [of their society] thought that."
It's false! Dido Belle's uncle treated her as a full member of the family, and Beattie wrote explicitly anti-racist works. 5/
12:08 AM - Feb 06, 2023
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Helen De Cruz
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In response to Helen De Cruz.
Moreover, people such as Hume and Kant were supposed to be super-reflective critical thinkers and philosophers, so how can we not criticize them for holding racist beliefs (in both, their arguments pro white supremacy are very lazy) 6/
12:10 AM - Feb 06, 2023
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