ABSTRACT
The debate in Germany reflected the changing climate of opinion, progressively tilting against the Enlightenment view of savagery as a stage in the evolution of humanity. The debate was wide-ranging, including Herder and Kant, but I shall concentrate on a small group of key figures in close contact, the most outstanding of whom was Blumenbach, whose views were diametrically opposed to those of Meiners, his colleague at the University of Göttingen. Meiners was a polygenist who wrote in defence of slavery, Blumenbach a monogenist who stressed the unity of the human species. Their personal styles were equally contrasting: Meiners a speculative philosopher with a heavy ideological commitment, Blumenbach a sober scientist concerned with empirical evidence.
