Joseph Arthur comte de Gobineau

Joseph Arthur Gobineau, comte de , 1816-82, French diplomat and man of letters. The chief early French proponent of the theory of Nordic supremacy, he was antidemocratic and anti-Semitic. His major work was Essai sur l'inégalité des races humaines (1853-55, tr. The Inequality of Human Races, 1915). He also wrote short stories, notably Nouvelles asiatiques (1876, tr. Five Oriental Tales, 1925).

Gobineau, Joseph Arthur, Comte de (1816–82) French diplomat and scholar, the intellectual founder of racism. His most famous book, Essay on the Inequality of Human Races (1853–55), put forward the thesis that the races are innately unequal and that the White Aryan race is not only the purest but also superior to all others. His writings had a sinister influence on the German NAZI theorists, for whom they became a justification for ANTI-SEMITISM.