polygenism
Sign in to savePolygenism is a theory of human origins which posits the view that humans are of different origins (polygenesis). This view is opposite to the idea of monogenism, which posits a single origin of humanity. Modern scientific views find little merit in any polygenic model due to an increased understanding of speciation in a human context, with the monogenic "Out of Africa" hypothesis and its variants being the most widely accepted models for human origins. Polygenism has historically been heavily used in service of white supremacist ideas and practices, denying a common origin between European an
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Article
21 sectionsContents
- Origins
- Main beliefs
- The Bible
- Pre-Adamism
- Co-Adamism
- Criticism of the ''Table of Nations''
- Atheist polygenism
- Scientific polygenism
- 18th century
- 19th-century views
- Georges Cuvier
- Prichard
- Retzius
- Later European trends
- American views
- Effect of evolutionary ideas and debates from the 1860s
- 20th Century
- Polygenist evolution
- Modern religious adherents
- See also
- References
Polygenism is a theory of human origins which posits the view that humans are of different origins (polygenesis). This view is opposite to the idea of monogenism, which posits a single origin of humanity. Modern scientific views find little merit in any polygenic model due to an increased understanding of speciation in a human context, with the monogenic "Out of Africa" hypothesis and its variants being the most widely accepted models for human origins. Polygenism has historically been heavily used in service of white supremacist ideas and practices, denying a common origin between European and non-European peoples. It can be distinguished between Biblical polygenism, describing a Pre-Adamite or Co-Adamite origin of certain races in the context of the Genesis narrative of Adam and Eve, and scientific polygenism, attempting to find a taxonomic basis for ideas of racial science.
== Origins ==