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La Peyrère’s Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy
Open accessAbstract
abstract: In 1655, La Peyrère was the first to substantially argue for and popularize polygenism—the view that God created multiple original human mating pairs in separate acts of creation with numerous pairs created before Adam. Positing or rejecting polygenism has been central to modern theorizing about human types and origins. Prominent recent interpreters have maintained that La Peyrère’s polygenism does not imply a hierarchy of human types. This paper reconstructs La Peyrère’s account and, in opposition to the dominant view, argues that his polygenism produces a human species hierarchy. The Adamite species is superior to the pre-Adamite species in virtue of its material composition, mode of creation, and form. The upshot is that La Peyrère’s theological system posits a protoracialist conception of human types.
Overview
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TL;DR
The paper reconstructs La Peyrère’s polygenism and argues, against the dominant scholarly view, that it does imply a hierarchy of human species. It concludes that La Peyrère’s system is “protoracialist”: Adamites are essentially superior to pre-Adamites in material, mode of creation, and form, though the essences are not expressed through phenotype.
Key findings
- La Peyrère’s polygenism combines asynchronous and synchronous elements: God created multiple pre-Adamite pairs at T1 before Adam, then Adam at T2 and Eve at T3; pre-Adamites were created by God’s “word,” while Adam was made by God’s “hand.”
- The Adamite species is superior to the pre-Adamite species in material composition, mode of creation, and form: Adam was made from more refined “clay of the earth,” while pre-Adamites were made of primitive matter and created alongside other creatures.
- The hierarchy is essentialist and normative: pre-Adamites are sinners “from the womb,” “from nativity,” and “by nature,” while Adamites have a greater disposition for virtue; La Peyrère refers to the non-Adamic species as “beasts [bestiae]” over twenty times.
- The author labels this “protoracialist” rather than racialist because it attributes fixed essences with normative properties but does not ground them in distinctive visible phenotypes, challenging interpreters such as Popkin, Livingstone, and Smith.
Methods
- Conceptual and historical reconstruction of La Peyrère’s polygenetic account, primarily using the 1655 English translations of *Men Before Adam* and *A Theological Systeme*, with the Latin *Systema Theologicum* where appropriate.
- The paper proceeds by reconstructing the two creations, analyzing La Peyrère’s genus/species distinction, arguing for a species hierarchy and protoracialism, and surveying/criticizing prior interpretations.
- No empirical data or sample; the analysis is textual exegesis and philosophical argument.
Limitations
- The paper states that it forgoes criticism of La Peyrère’s Biblical interpretation to stay focused on reconstruction.
- The author acknowledges that the “protoracialist” label depends on definition: if a broader definition of racialism were adopted, La Peyrère’s account would be racialist.
- Evident from the text: the argument relies on contested translations and interpretive reconstruction of La Peyrère’s works, and the paper notes that little is known of La Peyrère’s education beyond his training as a lawyer.
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Claims the paper makes
57 Own interpretation · 42 Sources not found · 28 No basis given · 3 Not checked yet
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In the paper
“La Peyrère's solution is to claim that both the pre-Adamite and Adamite people were created in God's image.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 3 . s p e c i e s d i s t i n c t i o n
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In the paper
“La Peyrère maintains that Eve was created in a third action at T 3 , temporally after Adam was created (TS III.ii-iii, 139-44).”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 2 . t w o c r e a t i o n s
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TS III.ii-iii, 139-44
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In the paper
“As we will see, it turns out that La Peyrère also endorses synchronous polygenism, although in the first creation only:”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 2 . t w o c r e a t i o n s
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In the paper
“He preserves the greater perfection of the second species by claiming the two species are created in different images of God:”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 3 . s p e c i e s d i s t i n c t i o n
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In the paper
“On the view I defend, La Peyrère claims that the two human species—pre-Adamites and Adamites—are made of different materials, by different modes of creation, and have different forms.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > Abstract
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In the paper
“On the view I defend, La Peyrère claims that the two human species—pre-Adamites and Adamites—are made of different materials, by different modes of creation, and have different forms.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > Abstract
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In the paper
“On La Peyrère's view, the first humans were made of primitive matter, as all of creation was made (TS V.vii, 330).”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 3 . s p e c i e s d i s t i n c t i o n
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TS V.vii, 330
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“La Peyrère posits a difference of genus and species—as he understands these terms—between pre-Adamites and Adamites.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > Abstract
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In the paper
“La Peyrère's pre-Adamite and polygenetic theses attempt to explain the existence of Native Americans by reinterpreting the Biblical account of God's creation.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > Abstract
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“La Peyrère interprets the two narratives not as two accounts of the same event, but as accounts of two different creation events separated by a large amount of time that produced distinct original human mating pairs.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 2 . t w o c r e a t i o n s
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Probably not a substantial claim. 27
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In the paper
“The second creation expressed the internal image of God, the image of God's own nature.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 3 . s p e c i e s d i s t i n c t i o n
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In the paper
“La Peyrère's polygenism goes beyond an explanation of the existence of indigenous peoples.He uses his interpretation of the Bible to postulate a distinction in genus and species between first and second humans.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 3 . s p e c i e s d i s t i n c t i o n
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“La Peyrère's interpretation of the Bible relies heavily on Romans 5:12-14 and Genesis 1-2.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 2 . t w o c r e a t i o n s
plainstates an association- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“So, La Peyrère concludes, there must have been people in existence before Adam: Pre-Adamite thesis: People existed prior to Adam and Eve.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 2 . t w o c r e a t i o n s
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In the paper
“So, the first humans share their material composition and mode of creation with all other creatures, but the first humans express more of God's image-they were given a higher form-than nonhuman animals.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4.2 Beasts
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In the paper
“The grafting is a sort of adoption that does not change the Gentiles' essence:”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 54
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TS II.v-x, 83-117
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In the paper
“The election or grafting of the Gentiles onto the Jewish people is “mystical” and does not transform the material and form of the Gentiles into the material and form of the Jews.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 54
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TS II.v-x, 83-117
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“The two species are of the same flesh, blood, and clay, but La Peyrère interprets this as meaning “that the Jews were born unclean, as other men were born unclean” (TS II.i, 60).”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.1 Flesh and Blood
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TS II.i, 60
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plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Each species has good or bad properties that are unalterable and naturally determined by the material and form of the species.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4.1 Essential Superiority
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Some evidence for this comes from La Peyrère's apparent claims at TS I.x, 49-54 that Gentiles can rise to the same status as Jews through the mystical election of the Jews”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 54
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TS I.x, 49-54
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In the paper
“However, the form of the first humans is above that of nonhuman animals and below that of the second humans.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4.2 Beasts
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“La Peyrère argues that Acts 17:26 is not evidence against polygenism”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.1 Flesh and Blood
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Acts 17:26
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In the paper
“The nature of pre-Adamite people is bad and gives them a disposition for vice.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4.1 Essential Superiority
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TS II.x, 117
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plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“The excellence of Adam is what caused his election: “For this man in the second creation did so much excell all other men who were created before, and begotten till his time; for which cause he was to be the first, and the Father of a Nation chosen by God, and by which he was to represent, by Gods decree, all mankind” (TS III.ii, 140).”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 54
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TS III.ii, 140
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plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Further, as far as I can tell, La Peyrère nowhere says nymphs, satyrs, and pygmies are intermediate humanoids descended from the first creation”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.3 "Nymphs, Satyrs, Pygmies, and Wild Men"
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In the paper
“The hierarchy does not merely show that the pre-Adamite people are less developed than the Adamite people; it also shows that the first humans are “bad””
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4.1 Essential Superiority
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In the paper
“On La Peyrère's reading, however, God did not search through nonhuman beasts and fowl of the earth, but God did search through the first humans for an appropriate helper for Adam”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4.2 Beasts
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TS III.iii, 144
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“and Sardar et al. do not cite where they find this.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.3 "Nymphs, Satyrs, Pygmies, and Wild Men"
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In the paper
“La Peyrère goes on to suggest that God's future mystical election will eliminate any difference between the two human species”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 54
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TS I.x, 54
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hedgedstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“La Peyrère offers some clarification of what he means later in TS II.v-x, 83-117.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 54
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TS II.v-x, 83-117
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plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“La Peyrère thus adopts an essentialist view of the two species of humans.A human has good-making or bad-making properties that are essential, that is, built into their very nature, and arise from their species as a descendant of the first creation or the second creation.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4.1 Essential Superiority
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In the paper
“Though La Peyrère's species hierarchy adopts the essentialism of racialism, the biological essence of a person is not expressed in their phenotypic features on his account, as it is in later racialist conceptions.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > Abstract
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In the paper
“Additionally, the material composition of a thing determines the maximum capacity for perfection it can have, that is, the upper limit of God's nature it can express.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 3 . s p e c i e s d i s t i n c t i o n
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In the paper
“The election of Gentiles is derivative: it”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 54
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TS II.v, 83-84
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In the paper
“To track racialism among thinkers before the modern era, Benjamin Isaac proposes the concept of “protoracism,” which he defines as attributing to groups of people essential natures without grounding those essential natures in the “biological determinism” that emerged in the modern period.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4.1 Essential Superiority
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Isaac
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plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Commentators have suggested that the election of Gentiles precludes any hierarchy.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 54
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Popkin
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- Not matchedcites Livingstone
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In the paper
“Following Michael Hardimon, a racialist conception of race “maintains that races have intrinsic biological essences, are distinguished by normatively important features such as intelligence and moral character, and can, on the basis of these features, be objectively ranked as superior and inferior.””
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4.1 Essential Superiority
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Hardimon, Rethinking Race, 2, 12-26
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Further, the essential superiority of the Adamites over the pre-Adamites has normative implications and is protoracialist.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4 . h i e r a r c h y a m o n g h u m a n s p e c i e s
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“La Peyrère's species hierarchy is protoracialist and not racialist, on my view, because his system maintains that species have unalterable essences that entail normative properties, but those essences are not fully biological.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4.1 Essential Superiority
hedgedstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim could be matched to a paper in Crossref, so there is nothing to check it against.
In the paper
“In addition to the evidence presented in section 3 that the two human species are materially different, a closer look at the context of La Peyrère's claim about flesh and blood suggests that Popkin and Almond have misinterpreted La Peyrère's claim.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.1 Flesh and Blood
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Popkin
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites Almond
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
None of the sources cited for this claim could be matched to a paper in Crossref, so there is nothing to check it against.
In the paper
“The scholarly consensus has been that La Peyrère's polygenism does not create a hierarchy of human kinds.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5 . p r i o r i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Popkin
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites Livingstone
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites Smith
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: fails — The authors may not put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The authors may not put it forward as true.
- Not matched
In the paper
“Put succinctly, a racialist conception attributes to a group of people an unchangeable essence that is biological, underlies phenotypic properties, and entails normatively important features like goodness or intelligence.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4.1 Essential Superiority
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Hardimon, Rethinking Race, 2, 12-26
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Yet on La Peyrère's account, (non-Jewish) Europeans themselves were descendants of the first creation and therefore of the lesser pre-Adamite stock.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.3 "Nymphs, Satyrs, Pygmies, and Wild Men"
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: unclear — It is unclear why the paper says it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“I say “not fully” because although La Peyrère appears to have a de re (and not de dicto) biological conception of human essences, the biological essences he posits do not express themselves in patterns of distinctive visible phenotypes.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4.1 Essential Superiority
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Even on their own, these passages do not clearly support Livingstone's interpretation.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 54
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Livingstone
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not matched
In the paper
“Beginning at TS II.v, 83, La Peyrère specifies that the election and grafting of the Gentiles is something that does not change the nature of the first human species-it does not change their material composition and form.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 54
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TS II.v, 83
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In sum, La Peyrère claims that the two human species are materially different, which may amount to a “biological” difference, but he is not explicit that this amounts to phenotypic differences, which is a feature of many subsequent modern conceptions of race.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4.1 Essential Superiority
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“While I agree with Sardar et al. that La Peyrère's polygenism creates a hierarchy of human types”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.3 "Nymphs, Satyrs, Pygmies, and Wild Men"
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“In comparison to racism, a protoracist (or protoracialist) view thus attributes unalterable essences to types or classes of people, and those essences entail further normative properties.However, protoracism (or protoracialism) does not include a biological essence that is expressed through phenotypic features.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4.1 Essential Superiority
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Isaac
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In particular, the higher Adamite nature is superior in its disposition to act virtuously:”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4.1 Essential Superiority
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
None of the sources cited for this claim could be matched to a paper in Crossref, so there is nothing to check it against.
In the paper
“In sum, the dominant view holds that La Peyrère's polygenism does not create a species hierarchy and does not set up a basis for a racial hierarchy.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.3 "Nymphs, Satyrs, Pygmies, and Wild Men"
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [72]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites [73]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: fails — The authors may not put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The authors may not put it forward as true. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
In the paper
“Jews are”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 54
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TS II.v, 84
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
In the paper
“La Peyrère's distinction between the external and internal image of God allows him to claim that all humans are made in God's image and hence are “of one blood,” so to speak, even while maintaining a species distinction based in part on creation in the external or internal image of God (TS I.iv, 18-19).”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.1 Flesh and Blood
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TS I.iv, 18-19
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Yet even in this passage, La Peyrère's claim is that both species are subject to corruption and sin, even though God framed Adam as a higher being.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 54
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“By saying humans all have the same “flesh and blood,” La Peyrère means that all humans are made of corruptible matter-to a lesser or greater extent-even while all humans derive from God.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.1 Flesh and Blood
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“So, when La Peyrère says the two species are made of the same flesh, blood, and clay, he clarifies that he means this in a nonliteral way, that is, it means that both species of humans are born unclean and unelect even though they both derive from God.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.1 Flesh and Blood
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The higher status of Adamite people is a natural property with normative implications.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4.1 Essential Superiority
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The second humans are by nature permanently better than the first humans.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 54
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“La Peyrère's insistence that Jewish blood is the same as non-Jewish blood and his claims that the form and material constitution of Jewish people are superior to those of non-Jewish people suggest that his account of polygenesis represented an effort to undermine Christian Europe's “sustained intellectual rejection of its Jewish origins,” as Keel describes the general trend (Divine Variations, 9).”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.1 Flesh and Blood
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Keel, Divine Variations, 9
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedgedstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
In the paper
“Although TS I.x, 51-54 suggests that resurrection and eternal life will be equally distributed to Jews and Gentiles, there is no indication that this will change the nature of the Gentiles in this lifetime, let alone in a beatific afterlife.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 54
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites TS I.x, 51-54
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
In the paper
“On my reading, La Peyrère's discussion of blood here is an attempt to interpret Acts 17:26 as meaning that we are not all descendants of Adam, but we are all descendants of God.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.1 Flesh and Blood
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Acts 17:26
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It does not mean that the two species are materially or biologically the same, nor does it nullify the lesser normative status of pre-Adamite people.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.1 Flesh and Blood
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“He thus does not have a racialist view, but he does have a protoracialist view.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 4.1 Essential Superiority
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The possibility of the first species of humans becoming elect suggests that their lower status can be nullified, and they can become part of the Adamic species in a material, formal, and normative sense.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 54
hedgedstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Though La Peyrère's account attributes a material difference to human species-which is a biological difference in some sense-he does not appeal substantially to phenotypes.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.3 "Nymphs, Satyrs, Pygmies, and Wild Men"
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The essence or nature of each species entails normative properties-the pre-Adamites are more wicked and the Adamites have a greater propensity for virtue.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.3 "Nymphs, Satyrs, Pygmies, and Wild Men"
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Given their differences, according to La Peyrère, the first men are closer to”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.3 "Nymphs, Satyrs, Pygmies, and Wild Men"
plainstates an association- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“La Peyrère does not distinguish humans according to races such as white and black, nor does he distinguish human types based on other phenotypic features, as other early anthropologists and nineteenthcentury Americans did.”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.3 "Nymphs, Satyrs, Pygmies, and Wild Men"
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“La Peyrère's polygenism did create a hierarchy of human types; it was not”
§ La Peyrère's Polygenism and Human Species Hierarchy > 5.3 "Nymphs, Satyrs, Pygmies, and Wild Men"
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Popkin
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
The paper relies on this without support.
La Peyrère's work is the first major defense of polygenism.
“the first major defense of polygenism itself embodies many elements of racialism.”
Citations
Cites
The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex
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Adam's ancestors: race, religion, and the politics of human origins
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Genealogical Fictions: Limpieza de Sangre, Religion, and Gender in Colonial Mexico
Martínez, M. E. (2008) · Cited by 160
The Forging of Races: Race and Scripture in the Protestant Atlantic World, 1600-2000
Kidd, C., & Glasson, T. (2008) · Renaissance and Reformation · doi:10.33137/rr.v31i4.9155 · Cited by 140
The primitive origination of mankind, considered and examined according to the light of nature.
Hale, M. (1677) · William Shrowsbury eBooks · doi:10.1037/11756-000 · Cited by 90
The fall of natural man The American Indian and the origins of comparative ethnology
Pagden, A. (1982) · Cited by 89
The anthropological treatises of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach
Blumenbach, J. F., Bendyshe, T., Marx, K., et al. (1865) · doi:10.5962/bhl.title.50868 · Cited by 81
Research works printed but not linked: 13
- I am grateful to Deborah Boyle, John Carriero, Sam Rickless, Don Rutherford, Justin Smith-Ruiu, two anonymous reviewers, and especially Michael Hardimon for comments on earlier drafts of this paper. [102.129.202.62Project MUSE (2025-04-26 00:22 GMT) journal of the history of philosophy 63:2 april 2025
- Coogan, Michael D., ed. The New Oxford Annotated Bible. New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha. 5th ed. Oxford University Press, 2018. [NRSV
- Fredrickson, George M. The Black Image in the White Mind: The Debate on Afro-American Character and Destiny, 1817-1914. Wesleyan University Press, 1987.
- ---. Racism: A Short History. Princeton University Press, 2002.
- Gliddon, George Robins. "The Monogenists and the Polygenists: Being an Exposition of the Doctrines of Schools Professing to Sustain Dogmatically the Unity or the Diversity of Human Races." In Indigenous Races of the Earth, edited by George Robins Gliddon and Josiah Clark Nott. J. B. Lippincott & Company, 1857.
- Grotius, Hugo. Dissertation on the Origin of the Native Races of America. Translated by Edmund Goldsmid. Edinburgh, 1884.
- ---. Rethinking Race: The Case for Deflationary Realism. Harvard University Press, 2017.
- Kant, Immanuel. "On the Different Races of Man." In Anthropology, History, and Education, edited by Günter Zöller and Robert B. Louden, translated by Holly Wilson and Günter Zöller. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
- La Peyrère, Isaac de. Men Before Adam. Or A Discourse upon the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth Verses of the Fifth Chapter of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans. By which are prov'd, That the first Men were created before Adam. N.p., 1656.
- Nirenberg, David. "Was There Race Before Modernity? The Example of 'Jewish' Blood in Late Medieval Spain." In The Origins of Racism in the West, edited by Miriam Eliav-Feldon, Benjamin Isaac, and Joseph Ziegler. Cambridge University Press, 2009.
- Nott, Josiah Clark, and George Robins Gliddon. Types of Mankind. Lippincott, Grambo, 1854.
- ---. "Spinoza and La Peyrère." Southwest Journal of Philosophy 8 (1977): 177-95.
- Robinson, Ira. "Isaac de la Peyrère and the Recall of the Jews." Jewish Social Studies 40 (1978): 117-30.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Ancient Greek Philosophy of Race
Maréchal, P., & Proios, J. D. (2026) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197804438.003.0002
Metadata
- Authors
- Zellmer, J.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Corresponding author
- Zellmer, Jacob
- Venue
- Journal of the History of Philosophy
- Publisher
- Project MUSE
- Published
- 2025-04
- Volume
- 63
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 211-234
- ISSN
- 0022-5053 (ISSN-L)
- 1538-4586
- OpenAlex
- W4409773906
- Cited by
- 1
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1
- FWCI
- 3.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of the history of philosophy (publishedVersion)
- PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Historical Philosophy and Science
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Reformation and Early Modern Christianity
- Keywords
- polygenism, creation theology, human types, 17th-century theology
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