Answer to Question #278972 in History for Kelsey Jand

Question

Context Link: https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/ranking-humankind

Question: Why do you think Blumenbach regarded physical beauty as proof of superiority? Would he agree that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”? How do notions of beauty affect the value we attach to individuals and groups?

Answer 1

Blumenbach regarded Physical beauty as a proof superiority because according to him among the five principal races, the most beautiful one was also the most superior as they were considered to be primate and intermediate. The other races looked as a degeneration from the primate race.

Blumenbach would not agree with the statement “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” because to him beauty is superiority and not about love. Though he also agreed that all human kinds run into one another sensibly pass into another that you cannot mark out the limits between them.

The notion of beauty affects the value we attach on individuals and groups because we tend to put much value on beautiful things compared to the others. For example people from a certain origin are more respected than others from another region.