Study Guide for Week 7
Assigned Documents
1. JEFFERSON, Thomas.
"The Difference is Fixed in Nature," excerpts from his Notes on the State of Virginia (1787).
Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826) was the third President of the United States (1801-1809) and the
principal author of the "Declaration of Independence." We
figure that you probably do not need much of an initial introduction to
Jefferson, in contrast to someone like Pereira or even Las Casas.
For this reading, click here.
2. DIDEROT, Dennis.
Excerpt from Supplement to the
Voyage of Bougainville (1772).
Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was a French thinker and writer (a philosophe) most well known for his work as
one of the co-editors of the Encyclopédie project.
This project, which tried to bring together all of human knowledge in a
multi-volume publication, was considered one of the major projects of the
Enlightenment. In 1771, Louis Antoine de Bougainville published A Voyage around the World,
recounting his circumnavigation of 1766-1769. In this account, he
described a brief stop in Tahiti, where he commented on Tahitian people’s
attitudes toward sexuality. The Tahitian Aotourou
traveled with Bougainville back to France, where Aotourou’s
reactions to French society were recorded with great interest. Diderot’s
1772 Supplement to the Voyage
of Bougainville(Supplément au Voyage de
Bougainville) responded to both the material presented by Bougainville and
a 1770 book claiming to describe Aotourou’s views on
France. Your reading is an excerpt from this text by Diderot.
For this excerpt by Diderot, click here.
Questions:
1. In the assigned reading
from Jefferson, Jefferson speaks of slavery in his Virginia as
objectionable. What, specifically, are the objections he gives to slavery
in his social world? Be sure to ground your answer with well-chosen
quotations from the text.
2. Jefferson repeatedly
claims that “blacks” are inferior to “whites,” and that the difference is
most likely “fixed in nature.” Reading through the entire document,
identify any portions of the text in which Jefferson offers a sustained
argument to support these racist views (as opposed to places where he asserts
them). Summarize any such argument or arguments, using quoted passages as
you see fit. (Please note that the key to a successful response here is
to work with the distinction between “arguments” and “assertions”; if you have
questions about this, ask.)
3a. What does Diderot find
objectionable in French social organization?
3b. What does he find
objectionable in Christianity as practiced in France?
4a. According to
Diderot, how is the Tahitian family organized?
4b. According to
Diderot, what constitutes desirability in Tahiti?
In the case of the following two questions, rather than
having you turn in written answers, we are assigning you the task of preparing
notes for yourself, so that you can speak about any of them if you are called
on in class. Your notes should include both points you would make in addressing
them and quotations and page citations that you would need to support your
answer.
1. Diderot compares
Tahitian society to French society. What evidence does he offer in favor
of one or the other?
2. What do you think is his point in writing this fictitious text?