RaceEmpireandtheIdeaofHumanDevelopment

InanexcitingstudyofideasaccompanyingtheriseoftheWest,ThomasMcCarthyanalyzestheideologiesofraceandempirethatwereintegraltoEuropean-Americanexpansion.Hehighlightsthecentralrolethatconceptionsofhumandevelopment(civilization,progress,modernization,andthelike)playedinansweringchallengestolegitimacythroughahierarchicalorderingofdifference.FocusingonKantandnaturalhistoryintheeighteenthcentury,MillandsocialDarwinisminthenineteenth,andtheoriesofdevelopmentandmodernizationinthetwentieth,heproposesacriticaltheoryofdevelopmentwhichcancountercontemporaryneoracismandneoimperialism,andcanaccommodatethemultiplemodernitiesnowtakingshape.Offeringanunusualperspectiveonthepastandpresentofourglobalizingworld,thisbookwillappealtoscholarsandadvancedstudentsofphilosophy,politicaltheory,thehistoryofideas,racialandethnicstudies,socialtheory,andculturalstudies.