To the contrary…: On the ethnological foundations of the Scottish Enlightenment as established by physiognomical sciences

The debate over the philosophical significance and historiographic impact of racism and colonialism in the writings of Enlightenment era thinkers remains an ongoing contestation of intellectual history and a battle for the dominant historiography that will frame the Scottish Enlightenment. The recent pressure applied to majority white institutions and disciplines to decolonize—and acknowledge the erased, denied, and refused history of white supremacism—have not only emboldened more radical departures from canonical interpretations of Enlightenment era philosophers but also inspired traditionalists who aim to limit the scope of decolonial critique and preserve the importance of these foundational figures to account for the contradictions between producing liberal political theories advocating the freedom of rational individuals while describing all African peoples as incapable of reason, morality, and philosophical reflection.